In the Orient, smoking a shisha (shisha) is part of the tradition and is a significant part of Arab culture. In recent years, smoking the water pipe, shisha, has also become established in Germany. Especially in cities, there is a wide range of shisha bars and shisha restaurants where the hookah can be consumed in public. Often, hookah smoking is seen as a far more harmless alternative to cigarettes. But experts caution that smoking a hookah can also pose a health hazard.
Shisha smoking: Popular with young people
Especially among teenagers and young adults, shisha is very popular. In sociable round is met among friends, together you then smoke the hookah. Their origin have hookahs from the Orient. A hookah consists of a glass container, which is filled with water and a smoke column. The so-called tobacco head is filled with special tobacco. The tobacco is then inhaled through a long tube via a mouthpiece. The tobacco in the shisha is added with fruity flavors, which make the tobacco far tastier than is normally the case. However, this is exactly where experts and medical professionals see the problem.
Hookah and cigarettes compared
For precisely because the inhaled tobacco in a hookah does not taste bitter, a hookah can serve as a so-called gateway drug. In addition, the tobacco smoke of a hookah smells pleasantly sweet, unlike the smoke of a cigarette. Health risks of a hookah are largely underestimated by the taste and smell. Thus, many parents also do not know that hookahs can be harmful. But just as with cigarettes, the tobacco of a hookah can also contain substances that are hazardous to health, such as nicotine, carbon monoxide, tar, lead or nickel. If you want to compare how many cigarettes are equivalent to smoking a hookah, two methods can be used: One method measures the volume of smoke, the other measures the amount of cotinine in urine. Nicotine is metabolized in the body, producing cotinine. This is then excreted in the urine.
Comparison of smoking volumes
Smoking a hookah with friends takes about an hour. According to the German government’s drug and addiction report, each participant pulls on the hookah about 100 times in those 60 minutes. About 500 milliliters of smoke are inhaled per puff. So compared to smoking a cigarette, which you smoke in about 12 puffs of 50 milliliters each in a few minutes, that’s the equivalent of smoking 100 cigarettes. However, this does not mean that one hour of shisha smoking is as harmful as 100 cigarettes. According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, meaningful comparisons can only be made based on the nicotine ingested.
Comparison of cotinine levels
If one smokes one hookah per day, the cotinine content in the urine corresponds to the consumption of ten cigarettes per day. If one smokes hookah only occasionally about every four days, it is comparable to the consumption of two cigarettes a day.
Lack of hygiene and tobacco as risk factors
In addition, it is a misconception that the water present in the hookah filters the tobacco and cleans it, so to speak. Even if the smoke of a hookah is not inhaled directly as with a cigarette, an increased amount of nicotine enters the blood. It should not be forgotten that especially when smoking hookah is often inhaled deeper and more intense than when pulling a cigarette. The statement of 0 percent tar on the special hookah tobaccos is misleading. But tar is always produced when the tobacco is heated, which is the case with shisha. By the way, it is not only the tobacco with its harmful substances that poses a possible risk to health. Likewise, lack of hygiene can lead to infections such as hepatitis or herpes. Because if several people share a mouthpiece when smoking shisha, saliva residues can transmit diseases.
Risk of addiction from smoking hookah.
Smoking and addiction are closely related. The trigger for addiction in smoking is nicotine. And this is just also present in a hookah. Whether the risk of becoming addicted to cigarettes is significantly higher than with hookah smoking or vice versa, is not yet sufficiently proven. What is certain, however, is that hookah smoking is in no way beneficial to health.Arguments of hookah smokers that consuming a hookah leads to relaxation of mind and body, medical experts counter that an actual stress reduction in the body through a hookah can not be proven. Currently, intensive research is still being conducted around the topic of hookah. Nevertheless, there are already currently binding facts:
- By flavored tobacco Shisha is often referred to as a “tasty” gateway drug
- Significantly higher nicotine concentration in the blood detectable than after smoking a cigarette
- Cardiovascular patients should better abstain from shisha smoking completely
- Shisha smoking during pregnancy can have negative consequences for the health of the unborn baby
- Increased risk of infections such as herpes.
- Nicotine can be addictive, regardless of the form in which it is consumed
