Spring Break
The Daily OrangeUp in smoke
By Erinn Connor
Posted: 3/4/08, 11:20 PM EST Section: Feature
"Apple and watermelon are really good," Cosgrave said. "The smoke tastes good and goes down smooth."
Davis agrees, saying the flavor is what makes hookah so appealing.
"It's more like a cigar in that it has a variety of flavors," Davis said. "If you hold the smoke in your mouth, you can savor the flavor and taste more."
Even the hookah itself looks intriguing, with its complex structure that delivers almost the same effects as one cigarette.
Originating in India, the hookah is made up of a bowl that holds the tobacco and coal on top, a jar at the bottom to hold the water used for filtering and a tube that connects the bowl and jar. A gasket placed near the bottom clears smoke from the water jar. A hose with a mouthpiece attaches to the body to draw the smoke out.
The tobacco, usually wrapped in tin foil, is placed on top of hot coals in the bowl of the hookah and the water jar is filled. When a person inhales from the hose, the air heats the tobacco and it travels down into the water and back up to the hose, where a person gets a lungful of flavored smoke - if everything is prepared right.
"If you don't pack the tobacco in the tin foil right, you end up inhaling coal," Burkhoff said. "That really hurts your throat and lungs."
Cosgrave added sometimes he adds ice to the water so that the smoke doesn't burn his lungs as much.
Despite its different flavors and elaborate smoking process that makes it appealing to many young people, some experts say hookah has the same detrimental health effects as cigarettes, and in some instances remains even more harmful.
Tibor Palfai, a psychology professor at Syracuse University who specializes in drugs and human behavior, said that when one smokes hookah, one inhales almost 100 times more smoke than with a cigarette.
"Hookah is not a solution to smoking," Palfai said. "The water cools off the smoke but a lot of harmful things in the tobacco aren't water soluble, so you're still inhaling them."
Davis agrees, saying the flavor is what makes hookah so appealing.
"It's more like a cigar in that it has a variety of flavors," Davis said. "If you hold the smoke in your mouth, you can savor the flavor and taste more."
Even the hookah itself looks intriguing, with its complex structure that delivers almost the same effects as one cigarette.
Originating in India, the hookah is made up of a bowl that holds the tobacco and coal on top, a jar at the bottom to hold the water used for filtering and a tube that connects the bowl and jar. A gasket placed near the bottom clears smoke from the water jar. A hose with a mouthpiece attaches to the body to draw the smoke out.
The tobacco, usually wrapped in tin foil, is placed on top of hot coals in the bowl of the hookah and the water jar is filled. When a person inhales from the hose, the air heats the tobacco and it travels down into the water and back up to the hose, where a person gets a lungful of flavored smoke - if everything is prepared right.
"If you don't pack the tobacco in the tin foil right, you end up inhaling coal," Burkhoff said. "That really hurts your throat and lungs."
Cosgrave added sometimes he adds ice to the water so that the smoke doesn't burn his lungs as much.
Despite its different flavors and elaborate smoking process that makes it appealing to many young people, some experts say hookah has the same detrimental health effects as cigarettes, and in some instances remains even more harmful.
Tibor Palfai, a psychology professor at Syracuse University who specializes in drugs and human behavior, said that when one smokes hookah, one inhales almost 100 times more smoke than with a cigarette.
"Hookah is not a solution to smoking," Palfai said. "The water cools off the smoke but a lot of harmful things in the tobacco aren't water soluble, so you're still inhaling them."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Douglas L. Hom
posted 3/05/08 @ 5:18 AM EST
If anyone thinks that there aren't health risks, they are nuts or ignorant. Smoking of Tobacco is addictive and passing it through water isn't likely to make it less so. (Continued…)
Michael
posted 5/07/08 @ 9:52 PM EST
i personally find cigar smoking to be just as enjoyable as the hookah experience, and similarly for the non-inhaler, a more reasonable health risk with respect to typical tobacco health concerns. (Continued…)
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