HOOKED ON THE HOOKAH

Like the trippy caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, hipsters are hitting the hookah pipe. These days it’s the ‘hep’ thing to do. Youngsters who haven’t even had their first puff of cigarette have started to visit hookah spots. Yes, cigarettes are not the current fad. This is surely not because of the statutory warning on every cigarette pack but due to a particular myth- hookah is not harmful as cigarette smoking. A typical case of jumping from the boiling water into the frying pan.

Now that the hookah bug seems to have bitten everyone - lets get down to the brass-tacks of what a hookah is all about - and what it means in terms of health bytes. Medical research on hookahs shows that they have many health benefits. Hookah is known to contain vitamin A, B and C. A review of the health effects of hookah use in the medical journal ‘Pediatrics’ concludes that the harmful effects of hookahs are much less than those caused by cigarette Many people familiar with the hookah say they are not as bad as cigarettes because the water in the basin of the pipe absorbs the dangerous chemicals found in the tobacco, a theory that is not too far from the truth.

Tobacco is placed on a metal plate with a hole in the bottom that connects to a water-filled metal container below and is heated by special charcoal. When the smoker inhales, smoke travels through the water, down the tube and into the smoker's mouth. The result, enthusiasts say, is a delicious assault on the senses that has none of the harshness of cigarette or cigar smoking.

Passing the smoke through water, as is done in a hookah pipe, does remove some toxic compounds, but existing research documents that still many toxins do remain in the water-filtered smoke. One study, detailed in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, indicates an average session of hookah smoking lasts an hour, or 171 puffs of tobacco smoke. By smoke volume, this adds up to inhaling about 100 cigarettes.

Another study in the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal that reports each puff of hookah smoke packs about the same amount of tar and almost three times the nicotine, the addictive chemical found in tobacco. “What’s worse is how hookahs are lit, with a piece of charcoal” said epidemiologist Samira Asma, the associate director for the Centers for Disease Control’s global tobacco program. “On top of extra nicotine and cancer-causing compounds, you inhale a lot more toxic carbon monoxide.” A case-control study of 214 Chinese tin miners found there was a two-fold increased risk for lung cancer among those who had ever used water pipes compared with nonsmokers. Twenty two of twenty five cases of lung cancer in a study in India were among those who were regular hookah users. Research with a series of Egyptian patients showed that hookah smokers who smoked in groups had increased rates of infection when compared with nonsmokers. Thomas Eissenberg, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and co-author of a hookah study, noted that he found that "Every risk of cigarette smoking is also associated with water pipes." Yes it also gives rise to testicular cancer, that sure must scare a lot of you

The reason why many people resort to hookah, apart from the fact that it’s the ‘in’ thing is that it tastes delicious. Unlike cigarettes, hookahs don’t leave a bad taste in your mouth. What’s more, hookah comes in loads of flavors. Flavors include mint, jasmine and mango. Double apple - a mixture of red and green apples - remains a bestseller. In our very own local ‘Mocha’ there’s rose, peach, orange, coffee and a lot more. The special flavors are Casablanca and red wine and so on. Casablanca has a mint touch and that makes it a cool favorite among Chennaites.What’s more, it’s easy on the pocket too. Two hundred bucks for a single pipe and a fifty extra gives you a double pipe.

Cool smoke or hot smoke, cigarette or hookah, everything is the same vice with different names. Yeah, it does analogies with Ram or Rahim, but that’s not the point. The day is not too far when our government wakes up, as usual- after it’s too late, to the harmful effects of hookah, raise a big cry, burn two dozen buses and do nothing but stick this piece of message on the hookah glass- “Statutory warning: hookah smoking is injurious to health”. That day is not too far.