Hookah Smoking Moves from the Middle East into Cafes in the U.S

In more and more cities around the world, running down to the local Bar and Grille for lunch is being replaced with a mad dash to the local Hookah Bar and Café for a little snack and smoke. Hookah bars are becoming a popular hot spot for the young and old alike.

For hundreds of years, Middle Eastern men have flocked to water pipes known as hookahs to smoke fruit-flavored tobacco, and socialize. The hookah is also known as a narghile in some cultures. In the U.S., smoking the hookah is becoming a trend for young students and older professionals.

Hookah bars are being opened up as quickly as mini malls, and are designed to attract college coeds and 30-something (and older) professionals. Hookah bars are quite common in larger U.S. cities like Chicago, and Madison but are catching on and being opened up in some smaller cities and states as well.

Tobacco smoked in the hookah has fruit and molasses or honey in it, and comes in a variety of flavors such as mint, jasmine, and apple. Avid hookah smokers insist there is less health risk with hookah smoking than with smoking cigarettes. Enthusiasts claim there is no nicotine, tar, or chemicals in the tobacco called shisha, and stand by the claim that shisha is a "safe alternative" to cigarettes.

The American Medical Association has done studies on the fruity tobacco and discovered shisha does include nicotine and arsenic, along with other metals. Hookah smoking is every bit as dangerous as cigarette smoking and equally as addictive. The AMA believes smoking shisha is a gateway to cigarette smoking since nicotine is present.

Tom Houston, director of science and community health advocacy for the American Medical Association says "incidences of lip and tongue cancer among hookah users are reasonably high, and the effect on the heart of using hookahs is the same as that of cigarette smoking."

Smoking in a hookah bar isn't very expensive, with a bowl of tobacco averaging around $10 and lasting for 45 minutes. Hookah smokers view it as a treat, and turn out in large numbers to socialize and smoke a bowl at lunch or after work. Some patrons drive 30 minutes or more just to have a smoke. Hookah smokers say it is relaxing and relieves them of their daily stress.

If there are no hookah bars near your hometown, never fear. The internet offers sites that sell hookahs and shisha. Hookahs start out at around $45 and shisha can be purchased for around $9. There are also tobacco packages for $22 - $83, depending on how much you buy.