Tobacco.org

Toback: Smoking hookah not worth the health risk - Feature 

Smokers who think that trying hookah as a healthier alternative to cigarettes are way off base. Hookah smokers inhale a greater volume of smoke, worsening the effects of the chemicals in the tobacco.

"Data from several different countries reveals that�a single hookah-use episode lasts for about 45 minutes and can easily involve over 100 puffs," said Thomas Eissenberg, professor�of�psychology at Virginia�Commonwealth�University, whose research is funded by a grant for the National Cancer Institute.

"Each puff is about 500 ml in volume, while a single cigarette-use episode lasts about 5 minutes and can involve about 10-12 puffs of about 30-50 ml each. We are talking 100 times the smoke inhalation for a hookah-use episode, 50,000 ml total volume relative to a�single cigarette-use episode, 500 ml total volume." . .

While it is widely known that cigarette smoking is bad for your health, hookah is possibly even worse. Hookah smoking is becoming popular across the country with hookah cafes opening up in many cities. Last semester, a hookah bar opened on Marshall Street but closed after just a few months. I guess the cost to expose one's self to cancer must have not worked well in this economy.

Jump to full article »

• UF study finds more teens smoke hookah 

Danielle Lee won’t touch a cigarette, but she’ll pass a hookah pipe around a circle of friends any day.

And, according to a recent UF study, an increasing number of middle school- and high school-aged children share Lee’s fondness for the alternative form of tobacco.

The study, presented on Nov. 9 at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, found that 11 percent of Florida high school students and 4 percent of Florida middle school students had smoked hookah at least once.

Hookah burns charcoal and tobacco. Air is first drawn through the tobacco and then into the pipe, where it passes through water, which leads many smokers to believe hookah smoking is safer than cigarette or cigar smoking.

Maureen Miller, alcohol and other drug prevention specialist with UF’s GatorWell Health Promotion Services, was quick to point out hookah’s potentially dangerous effects.

“This isn’t harmless,” Miller said of hookah. “There certainly are some serious health concerns here.” The World Health Organization reported a typical 20- to 80-minute hookah session is the equivalent of smoking about 100 cigarettes and can deliver 11 times more carbon monoxide than a cigarette.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: Using hookah as dangerous as smoking cigs 

Contrary to popular belief, hookah smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking. . . .

The concern of many experts is that hookah smoking is just a gateway to cigarette smoking much as cigarette smoking is a gateway to other drugs. . . .

A dream come true for Big Tobacco. And since the majority of hookah bars are popping up near college campuses, the tobacco industry indirectly scores the young users they have so tirelessly preyed upon for so many years.

The frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed until the mid-20s. This part of the brain is responsible for judgment, impulse control, initiation and spontaneity. When one considers that some of the most frequent visitors of hookah bars don't yet have a fully formed frontal lobe, you have a recipe for poor choices and addiction.

A peer-reviewed study published in Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, points to another concern with hookah use: the spread of infectious diseases

Jump to full article »

• Antismoking Fight Proves a Pyramid-Size Task  

Anyone who has ever spent any time in a Cairo taxicab, restaurant, office, lobby, coffeehouse, cafeteria or university, or even at the zoo, knows just how ubiquitous smoking is. "There is a movement to be tobacco free in the whole world," said Ehab Assad, a tobacco control officer in the Egyptian Ministry of Health. "We cannot be away from this."

Mr. Assad said that as a first step the government late last month banned the shisha, or water pipe, in cafes of the crowded Khan el-Khalili marketplace. But just a few minutes after the government boasted of the ban, hawkers were swarming tourists at the Khan, waving restaurant menus, offering what else but shisha. They were selling apple-, orange-, lemon- and cherry-flavored, tobacco-filled pipes for 10 Egyptian pounds, or about $1.80.

Such is the early fate of the antismoking effort. Shisha is back in the Khan after a brief ban, and all around Cairo there is confusion as to what exactly the government is planning. "The End of Shisha?" read a headline last month on the news Web site Al Masry al Youm. So far, smoking continues unabated. . . .

"The main issue here is that we don't have democracy. Accordingly, our responsible ministers are not elected; accordingly, they don't really care about what they do to their own people," said Alaa al-Aswany, a best-selling author and social critic.

"I am telling you that the shisha will continue," he said.

Jump to full article »

Smoking lounge rules on Long Beach Council agenda  

Smoke 'em if you got 'em - but only with a ventilation system and not if you're serving any food or beverages - may become Long Beach's new policy for the city's recently legalized smoking lounges.

Oh, and don't invite any of your friends - we're happy with the eight cigar lounges and four hookah bars that we have now, thank you - might also be added to the policy.

That last caveat could become the biggest challenge as the City Council tackles how to regulate smoking lounges Tuesday. The council's Economic Development and Finance Committee voted to recommend new smoking lounge regulations last week, but committee members were concerned about a proliferation of new lounges.

City attorneys and city staff said the city has limited legal right to restrict the number of lounges.

"Once we open this up, I think that there is the potential for other legitimate businesses to qualify under the regulations, and I think that is a consideration the council has to weigh," Director of Health and Human Services Ron Arias told the committee Wednesday.

Jump to full article »

• Ban on sweet hookah tobacco imminent 

The message from Health Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen is clear: young people are hitting the hookahs too much and the addictive tobacco used in the water pipes should be banned.

A parliamentary majority supports a ban on the sweet-flavoured tobacco used in water pipes, and Nielsen agreed measures needed to be introduced to protect the young.

‘It’s a really bad idea to have sweet addictive tobacco in water pipes and worrying that it’s become so popular among young people, which is why I’m investigating whether we can introduce a ban in Denmark,’ Nielsen said to DR News.

The move comes on the heels of a study carried out by the National Cancer Society and Maastricht University, which found young people who use water pipes are three times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

About 800 Danish students aged 15-16 were monitored for a year as part of the study.

Jump to full article »

New study measures hookah use among Florida teens 

Hookah pipe smoking has gained a foothold with Florida teens, according to a new University of Florida study, which shows 11 percent of high school students and 4 percent of middle school students have tried it.

The findings were presented today (Nov. 9) at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting in Philadelphia and appear in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Florida Department of Health.

Rooted in Middle Eastern culture, hookah pipes burn charcoal and tobacco, also known as shisha. Air is drawn through the tobacco and into the pipe, where it passes through water.

Hookah smokers widely but mistakenly believe that the pipe is a harmless alternative to other forms of tobacco smoking, said lead researcher Tracey Barnett, an assistant professor in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions' department of behavioral science and community health.

"Users tend to think smoking with a hookah is safe because they believe the water in the pipe acts as a filter," Barnett said. "Many actually don't think that shisha has tobacco, while others feel it's a more pure form of tobacco that doesn't have as many chemicals, although there's really no reason to believe this."

Jump to full article »

• Ban on hookah tobacco in the works  

Young people in Denmark smoke hookah more than young people anywhere else in Europe, but that is about to come to an end. A parliamentary majority want to ban the addictive, sweet tobacco, according to free daily newspaper 24timer.

- If I was to be optimistic, I would say that we will have a ban before the arrival of spring. In any circumstance, one will be in place before the end of the parliamentary year in the beginning of June, says head of the parliamentary health committee, Preben Rudiengaard (Venstre) to the free daily.

Jump to full article »

New study measures hookah use among Florida teens 

Hookah pipe smoking has gained a foothold with Florida teens, according to a new University of Florida study, which shows 11 percent of high school students and 4 percent of middle school students have tried it.

The findings were presented today (Nov. 9) at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia and appear in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Florida Department of Health.

Rooted in Middle Eastern culture, hookah pipes burn charcoal and tobacco, also known as shisha. Air is drawn through the tobacco and into the pipe, where it passes through water.

Hookah smokers widely but mistakenly believe that the pipe is a harmless alternative to other forms of tobacco smoking, said lead researcher Tracey Barnett, an assistant professor in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ department of behavioral science and community health.

Jump to full article »

Hookah myths go up in smoke 

When Rajiv Ulpe, a public and community health master's student, asked students to compare hookah to cigarettes Friday afternoon at a lecture on the campus, most attendees agreed hookah was a much healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes. . . .

But Ulpe said these are all common myths associated with hookah -- a water pipe used to smoke tobacco through cooled water -- adding that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a typical hour-long hookah smoking session involves inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled in a single cigarette.

During the discussion, nine undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 22 were asked to discuss their attitudes toward hookah and what exactly they know about its effects.

"Hookah is more natural than cigarettes and you smoke hookah less than cigarettes," Patcella said.

Ulpe and Public and Community Health professor Nancy Atkinson held the event to learn about students' knowledge, attitudes and myths surrounding hookah use. The consensus of the group was that most students do not know the consequences of smoking hookah because it is not a prevalent discussion.

Throughout the event, Ulpe targeted the common myths surrounding the practice, asking students if they thought they were true. Many students said they thought because hookah smoke is filtered through water, it filters out harmful ingredients. They also said they thought smoking hookah is less addictive than smoking cigarettes.

According to a University Health Center fact sheet, however, these beliefs aren't true: The water does not filter out cancer-causing chemicals, and hookah smoke can damage the lungs and heart just as much as cigarette smoke. Shisha, the moist and sticky tobacco smoked in hookah, contains nicotine and is just as addicting as cigarettes.

Jump to full article »

• Despite Ban, Shisha Habit Spreading in Public 

RAS AL KHAIMAH -- Despite a ban on smoking of shisha outside shisha cafes and coffee houses, there's a marked increase in the number of people who can be seen puffing away in public places in Ras Al Khaimah.

The trend has sparked concern among residents about the health risks related to smoking of shisha.

Residents fear that smoking shisha in places like coffee shops poses risks to their health because shisha contains tobacco.

Ahmed Hassan, who resides in the Corniche area, said the spread of shisha outlets attracts even youngsters who are below 18 years.

He noted that in the evenings, scores of men and even women can be seen sitting in coffee shops and smoking shisha.

"Many youngsters are attracted into smoking shisha because of the sweet smell of flavoured tobacco or due to peer pressure," said Hassan.

Jump to full article »

Smoking lounges on Long Beach council agenda again  

In March, the council instituted a yearlong moratorium on new cigar and hookah lounges so that city staff could refine regulations for the businesses. City health officials and attorneys say they are expecting to have the new ordinance ready this month, but a local smoking opponent is concerned that Uranga's committee meeting may circumvent the health officials' considerations.

Melinda Cotton, of the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Long Beach, said Monday that Uranga's request to have the Economic Development and Finance Committee, of which Uranga is a member, take on the issue appears to be "a total end run" around the Department of Health and Human Services. Uranga calls for the smoking lounge exemptions to go before the committee "for discussion and formulating a recommendation to the City Council," according to the meeting agenda.

"What this appears to do is to put this totally in the hands of the Economic Development and Finance Committee," Cotton said.

Uranga said Monday that isn't the case.

Jump to full article »

Hookah lounge to open on Evansville's East Side 

Business partners Khaled Elkhal and Mohammed Metoui plan to bring a hookah lounge to 519 N. Green River Road for reflecting on the ancient hookah smoking practice, which originated in India and spread across the Middle East.

The business site is located in a strip mall, behind the Acropolis Greek Restaurant.

Called Charazad Hookah Lounge, the Mediterranean-themed operation will feature hookahs, or water pipes, for use in smoking, said Elkhal. . . .

The facility will seat fewer than 50 and will provide an air filtration system that meet proper air standards.

No one under 18 years old will be permitted to enter the establishment, Elkhal said.

City Attorney David Jones said there is no absolute ban on smoking in local restaurants and bars as long as the businesses follow the city's smoking ordinance, which Elkhal said Charazad plans to do.

Jump to full article »

31st Street neighbors wary of hookah bar 

Although thoughts about a potential hookah lounge on 31st Street are mixed, most of the neighbors are of a single mind: They don't want it.

On Oct. 22, news of the plans to open Braison's Hookah Lounge at 143 S. 30th St. became public when owners Brandon Bowman and Adam Gregg had to go before the Newark Zoning Board of Appeals to ensure the lounge would be allowed in the medium intensity business zoning district. The lounge was expected to open today.

The board approved the establishment, but neighbors say the story in The Advocate was the first they heard of the plans.

"My main concern is that they passed it without anybody's input that lives there," resident Todd Thomas said.

Residents fear the hours and products might make the lounge comparable to a bar.

Jump to full article »

EDDIE: Open letter to the Tobacco Workgroup  

We write this open letter on behalf of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a campus group that promotes sensible and effective approaches to policies regarding tobacco and other drugs. Naturally, our members are concerned about the efforts to ban smoking on the Morningside campus. More important than our stance on the issue, however, is our concern with the process by which this policy change may take place.

As we understand, a survey to gauge student opinion was sent last spring, receiving less-than-impressive levels of response. In addition, a town hall meeting was held last week. While all attendees of the meeting opposed the current proposal, according to the straw poll survey conducted, the turnout was still relatively low.

We believe this reaction is a result of the timing and advertisement of the e-mail and town hall meeting, and not indicative of the opinions of the student body. . . .

Despite what the town hall meeting and initial survey might suggest, our group maintains that the student body is far from apathetic. A few weeks ago, our group hosted an event on the steps of Low to raise awareness of the proposed ban. In just over one hour, we were able to collect the names and signatures of 75 students who opposed the proposal. We believe that our ability to collect signatures at such a high rate—more than one per minute—demonstrates that there is strong campus interest about this issue. The problem is that students are unaware of any ways to vocalize their thoughts to the administration and the Tobacco Workgroup.

Given the importance of this proposal and the large impact it would have on smokers and nonsmokers alike, as well as for cultural groups on campus that smoke hookah, we would like to open the path for dialogue about the proposal between the student body, the administration, and the Tobacco Workgroup.

Jump to full article »