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(2)
I am an avid hookah smoker, enjoying a couple bowls a day. I have been eagerly looking for more information on the negative effects of the hookah smoke vs. smoking. I smoking a pack of day for several years, and two months after cold turkey quitting smoking I rediscovered my hookah. After doing some quick math I realized that there was one obvious problem with hookahing, that was that it contained 0.5% nicotine / weight. That means, 1gram * .5% (or 0.005) it has approximately 2.5 milligrams per gram of shisha (hookah tobacco). An average hookah bowl can contain between 3-5 grams or 7.5 - 12.5 milligrams of nicotine.

The average cigarette on the other hand contains 1.4-2.4 milligrams. So it can be said that a hookah has the same amount of nicotine as approximately 5-7 cigarettes. But you must then remember that a hookah is often smoked between a few people and often a hookah bowl isn't completely consumed by the end of the session. Additionally, there is a hookah accessory known as a nicotine filter which is designed to remove nicotine from the smoke before it enters the users lungs these are available at some online hookah stores. So in the nicotine category, depending on how you view things, the hookah may be more harmful. But when it comes to tar it is the clearly healthier choice. Shisha (hookah tobacco) contains 0.0% tar where as each cigarette contains a couple milligrams. Furthermore the hookahs water helps to naturally pull some of the toxins from the smoke before it enters the users body.

But another problem that arises with hookahs is that since the average hookah session ranges from 45-60 minutes, and is shared between 2-4 people each person may be smoking for 10-30 minutes so that could be the time a person would smoke 2-6 cigarettes. In the end, I am not a doctor, or a scientist and everything stated is my opinion based on the facts I know, and that means the final decision is up to the user, but I do know that since quitting smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and changing to a couple hookahs a day I have noticed a major difference as far as lung capacity and over well being.

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(3)
Regardless of what it is you are smoking (cigarettes, pipes, cigars, joints, or hooka) you still are damaging your lungs, heart, and cardiac muscles. No matter what the packaging says, anything you smoke is harmful and can lead to lung disease, heart attacks, and apnea, to name a few health-related issues. And yes, second hand smoke from any of the above named products (and all others) can be just as harmful/deadly.

From,
The med student to the law student.

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(4)

To the reader:

The CDC didn't have anything nice to say about Hookahs. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/hookahs.htm