Hookah began to appear in all menus of pizzerias, cafes and restaurants. Such a mysterious word pulls you to try the “meal” so glorified by oriental traditions, especially surrounded by a pleasant company. And having tried, we feel the strength, taste, aroma and light euphoric dizziness. Is at that moment you will begin to think how harmful the hookah is?
Next time we prefer to try something new: a hookah on wine, on fruit, with aromatic herbs. Then we give it as a gift to a friend, and the same one flaunts on our shelf. Stop, but what about health? Here it’s worth considering what harm we can do from a hookah to our body, often getting it off the shelf.
If everything is known about smoking a long time ago (what harm this harmful habit does to the body) - thanks to the doctors and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, many people still doubt about the hookah: is the hookah harmful or not? And some even claim that it is safe.
Is it so? Hookah structure, special tobacco - is this enough to call it safe to smoke? Not! Rather, it is worth asking how harmful the hookah is.
This method of smoking originated in eastern countries and has come to us recently. It is completely different than smoking regular tobacco (cigarettes, cigarettes, pipes). A jug of liquid (water, milk, and others) is an obstacle to smoke in our lungs. The filter in its upper part cleans the smoke of nicotine, harmful substances (up to 40% of them becomes less). Due to the liquid, it turns out to be moist, with water vapor, useful for colds, including chronic ones. And various additives give the smoke a pleasant taste. Yes, and the tobacco used in the hookah differs from the usual way of preparation (peeling, washing, drying).
Smoking is harmful in itself, but how harmful is hookah? A special method of smoking allows you to reduce the effect of smoke on the lungs of a smoker, but does not purify all harmful substances that are contained in the smoke (resins, carcinogens, carbon monoxide, nicotine). The content in the inhaled mixture of steam in the amount of 90% - not every lung can withstand. But…
Smoking a hookah allows you to get rid of the addiction - cigarettes. Hookah also relieves the smoker's environment of the harmful effects of secondhand smoke (they do not have to inhale smoke with many dangerous substances, by-products).
There is an opposite point of view, confirmed by research by scientists. Using a device that simulates the process of smoking a hookah by a person, they were able to measure the harm and compare it with that of smoking cigarettes. It turned out that when smoking 7 grams (10 minutes) in the lungs, the same amount of harmful substances from the smoke settles as when smoking 5 cigarettes (at one time!). Doctors agreed with these researchers, finding that smoking hookah causes a stronger harmful effect. That’s why such a different ratio: 10 minutes of hookah = 5 cigarettes. Isn’t it too much for one time? Such an attack of harmful substances on your lungs will immediately do more harm than cigarettes smoked during the day. It also turned out that the smoke of the hookah contains other harmful substances that replace nicotine (cotonin, which causes a similar dependence).
So, we can conclude that the eastern method of smoking has its advantages, but there is harm, which remains to be found out by scientists. So far, we can answer our question about how harmful a hookah is: so much so that it’s worth switching from cigarettes to smoking a hookah. But everyone must decide for himself what will be better for him, to relate the harm (we smoke less hookah and we get more satisfaction from the process than from a pack of cigarettes a day), but it’s better not to smoke tobacco in any way!