Hookah or Shisha is Part of Middle-Eastern Culture Though Deadly

Many Middle Eastern countries utilize hookas and shisha pipes and tobacco as part of their cultural celebrations. Those events are sacred and can't be easily changed due to the health risks associated with smoking this form of tobacco.

Hookahs, traditional in Indian and Middle Eastern cultures, come in various sizes and with a varying number of hoses, but they work the same: a piece of burning charcoal is placed over top of a small bowl containing flavoured herbs or a tobacco mixture.

Smokers suck the smoke down to the bottom of the hookah’s glass bowl where it bubbles through a layer of water.

Hookah lounges around the country are being ostracized due to the increased health risks that comes from sitting for an hour in the social environment, toking away. Many communities are changing their regulations to ensure that no new lounges can be built. The average one hour block of time spent casually puffing is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes or more. Repeating the event multiple times is a recipe for disaster.

College students are becoming more involved with hookah lounges and even owning their own shisha pipes. The tobaccos are flavored and come in a gummy-substance filled with who-knows-what chemicals. The concern is apparent for those partaking, but what about those who utilize hookahs as an integral part of their heritage? For one young woman, she expressed her opinion,

“It is fun. It is a social thing,” said the 20-year-old university student who works as a waitress at Arabesque Cafe in Kitchener, one of seven known hookah parlours in Waterloo Region.

“I know it is more harmful than cigarettes, but my parents would want me to smoke it (hookah) and not cigarettes” as it is part of her Middle Eastern culture, said the Syrian native.

No matter the health risks associated, there will always be one group or another that utilizes tobacco as part of their rituals and ceremonies belonging to their culture. Does this mean we should stop learning or teaching about the devastating health risks that come from tobacco use? Should we deliver the information in such a manner as to elicit thought or provide horrifying statistics to those cultures to elicit great fear?

Perhaps fear isn't the answer.

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