The Hookah Hoax

Gr 7 Up—Public health consultant Francisco Ramirez narrates this very visual and statistics-rich program. In the United States, hookah smoking has become popular among high school students and even more so among college students. While many users think that hookah smoking is safer and less addictive than cigarettes, the statistics and charts here say otherwise. For instance, hookah smokers tend to inhale 10 times the amount of smoke per puff and smoke up to 100 puffs or more per session in comparison to cigarette smokers. The water, while cooling the smoke, doesn't filter out much in the way of toxic chemicals. Smokers who share the same pipe can transmit communicable diseases, and the amount of secondhand smoke is many times higher than that from cigarettes. Hookah smokers can also become addicted as easily as cigarette smokers, and the long-term health effects are similar. Even more of a concern is the amount of carbon monoxide created by the burning charcoal needed to keep the moist tobacco mix burning. This is true even when the user is smoking an herbal nontobacco mixture.