The Daily Orange

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Feature

Media Credit: Lucas McComb

James Cosgrave prefers the fruity flavors of apple, mango and strawberry. He doesn't like the weird flavors like coffee or vanilla - they don't feel as smooth when the smoke hit his lungs.

Cosgrave is describing smoking flavored tobacco filtered through water through a device known as a hookah. Smoking hookah is rapidly becoming a popular social activity among college-age students, despite the health risk.

"It's just something I do with my friends," Cosgrave, a freshman in SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry said. "It's relaxing, just hanging out and smoking."

Hookah smokers are joining cigarette smokers outside the dorms and apartments on South campus - as smoking is illegal in any University building - as more and more students can be seen sitting around the strange looking contraption.

Kevin Davis got into hookah smoking back in his hometown of Baltimore, Md., where he visited a hookah bar on a regular basis.

"It's really relaxing, more so than regular smoking," said Davis, a freshman in the College of Arts and Science. "Now my friends and I just sit outside Skyhall [on South campus] and smoke and hang out. Though we don't do it as often in the winter, it's too cold outside."

The sociality of hookah is also evidenced on a national level, with hookah bars beginning to open up in major cities as it becomes a trendy activity among teenagers and 20-somethings.

A New York state ban as well as national bans on smoking in bars has had a detrimental effect on hookah bars and retailers opening up. There are no hookah bars or hookah retailers in Syracuse, but students are finding ways to get a hold of their own.

"I was using my friends' hookah so often that I finally bought my own," said Cosgrave. "But still, I always smoke with friends."

The structure of the hookah allows the user to inhale more smoke, which creates more pronounced physical effects than smoking a cigarette or cigar.

"It's not a pot high or a drunk buzz," said Debbie Burkhoff, a sophomore advertising design major. "It's something nice in between, and it's not addictive like cigarettes."

The hookah "buzz" is one of its main appeals, as it is legal for all ages, unlike alcohol and marijuana. Besides socializing, hookah also offers a unique smoking experience unlike cigarettes or cigars.

Hookahs are mainly used to smoke flavored tobacco, which comes in a number of flavors ranging from watermelon to mint and licorice. The majority of flavors are fruit ones, like strawberry, peach and cherry, but there are also more unique ones like chocolate and coconut. Each "brick" of tobacco usually costs about $10 and lasts for about 25 uses.

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