Shisha smoking

[melly 0]

I found this article on another website and thought I would share.

I know that alot of women here like to smoke shisha but I always worry for them when I think about it.

Smoking isn't good for you, even if it is peach flavored.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080109/95832495.html

Egyptian scientists warn shishas more harmful than cigarettes

09/ 01/ 2008

CAIRO, January 9 (RIA Novosti) - Medical scientists in Egypt have found that shisha smoking poses a greater health threat than cigarettes, contrary to popular belief among water pipe smokers.

The scientists built a device to test the theory that smoking shishas, also known as hookahs, is safer as smoke is filtered through water before being inhaled. The medics found that shisha smokers inhale more nicotine than cigarette smokers.

The testing device consists of a cylinder imitating human lungs and a piston moving inside to simulate inhalation and exhalation. Smoke in the artificial lungs underwent chemical tests.

The data, which took into account the duration of an average shisha session and the length of time smoke remains in the lungs, was processed electronically. The findings showed that smoking 25 grams of tobacco through a shisha is equal to smoking 60 cigarettes, or three cigarette packs.

Earlier World Heath Organization studies said that even after passing through water, tobacco smoke still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals. Shisha smoking also delivers significant levels of nicotine, the main addictive substance in tobacco.

Shishas originated in India and have been used for centuries in the Middle East and Asia to smoke tobacco. Shisha smoking is becoming increasingly popular among young people in Europe and the United States.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Never even had the urge to try it.

Edited January 10, 2008 by wife_of_mahmoud

[sandinista! 1,816]

i was under the impression that it wasn't exactly socially acceptable for women, esp. in public.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

i was under the impression that it wasn't exactly socially acceptable for women, esp. in public.

You never see women smoking shisha in public in Palestine -- well, not Palestinian women. Only Western women will do that in public.

But some Palestinian women smoke it in private -- like at home, behind closed doors. Not so many, but some.

[hopeful... 0]

i was under the impression that it wasn't exactly socially acceptable for women, esp. in public.

When I was living in Egypt, my husband and I would be driving somewhere and we would see whole families hanging out in these "coffee shops" (mainly at night) with the moms and dads puffing away on these things. Definitely I saw more men, but it's becoming more and more popular amongst women, I'm afraid. Those poor children... if the Cairo pollution doesn't get them, the second hand smoke most certainly will!

For me, the funniest thing (and perhaps most stupid) was to see the foreigners smoking these things. Some of my co-workers were these self-proclaimed health nuts who I would see at the gym 5 times a week, who ate all these earthy-crunchy foods, who wouldn't dare smoke cigarettes, but would smoke the shisha at every social event and on every weekend.

During my two years there, I never saw many Egyptian women smoking cigarettes outside their homes (or the homes of friends/relatives), and we lived in an area that is much less conservative than much of Egypt. But, shisha, definitely... even noticed lots of ladies smoking it on a recent trip to Alex, which is definitely more conservative than the section of Cairo in which we lived.

[melly 0]

I was talking with my hubby about it when I was in Egypt.

We were at a cafe/bakery place in Heliopolis, and there were many people there smoking sheesha. Most of them were men but there were actually several women, and none of them appeared to be Western.

He said it's unusual for women to smoke in public, though they do smoke at home or away from public eyes.

I've heard that there's newer cafe's in Egypt where the younger crowd hang out and many of the girls smoke sheesha but I'm not sure, I didn't see this for myself.

I wish people would just see it for what it is though - a nasty habit that has the very real possibility to kill you, and painfully at that.

By the way, I did smoke myself for many years, so I know how hard it is to quit, and I know how much one can enjoy smoking. I just hate for anyone to further their chances of catching an illness that could in many other ways be avoided.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I think Palestine tends to be a lot more provincial in a lot of ways than Egypt. Even in Ramallah, which is a very liberal city (at least by local standards,) you never see Palestinian women hanging out at the shisha cafes -- only plenty of men and sometimes Western women. Just about every man you see will have a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, but the women just don't smoke in public.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

So I was there and I smoked shisha and I don't smoke. It was something of a novelty and I recall I almost passed out because it was so thick and heavy. I saw other women smoking shisha but not native ones. They were from Russia, Poland, Italy, UK, Hungry. I didn't meet any American ones.

[caybee 21]

I've never tried it. My husband has told me there are tobaccoless forms, though.

[doodlebugg 10]

I could never stand the thought of ALL those other mouths being on that thing. BLECH. I know they give a new peice to each person but still germs have to have slid down the mouth peice and somehow get to the next person. Plus they've all touched the hose, etc. YUK!

[Jenn! 918]

I used to smoke the hookah in college, but we don't have one now.

[deadbird 2]

I could never stand the thought of ALL those other mouths being on that thing. BLECH. I know they give a new peice to each person but still germs have to have slid down the mouth peice and somehow get to the next person. Plus they've all touched the hose, etc. YUK!

We went to a cafe where there were a lot of men smoking shisha, but it was like the newer cafe that melly talked about. I saw western girls smoking but not Egyptian girls...though Egyptian girls were present and just hanging out. (Sorry for the blurry pic)

See, the girl on the left in orange is, but the girl in the pink is just there. There's a monkey just to the right in the tree but it's asleep and draped over a branch or something. lol

Edited January 10, 2008 by the sparrow

[doodlebugg 10]

I could never stand the thought of ALL those other mouths being on that thing. BLECH. I know they give a new peice to each person but still germs have to have slid down the mouth peice and somehow get to the next person. Plus they've all touched the hose, etc. YUK!

We went to a cafe where there were a lot of men smoking shisha, but it was like the newer cafe that melly talked about. I saw western girls smoking but not Egyptian girls...though Egyptian girls were present and just hanging out. (Sorry for the blurry pic)

See, the girl on the left in orange is, but the girl in the pink is just there. There's a monkey just to the right in the tree but it's asleep and draped over a branch or something. lol

Was that in alex? I remember passing by a cafe that looked just like that but it was always too crowded to sit there since there were no freed up chairs. It's so pretty at night!

[deadbird 2]

Nope! In the Cairo Mall. This place was so pretty and I loved the lights

I haven't been to Alex yet but I can't wait to go

[allousa 1]

When talking about women smoking in MENA, he said that if most people saw a woman smoking in public they would think she was a prostitute or something. That it really wasn't proper for women to smoke. His dad and brothers will sit around and smoke sheesha, but I've never participated and neither have any of the women in the family.