Smoking the hubby-bubbly. Sitting down for a round of narghile. Enjoying some shisha. Hitting the water pipe.
With so many different ways to describe it, it’s no surprise that the hookah has attained popularity with smokers of widely different time periods, ages and social settings.
Hookah smoking is widely believed to have begun in the 1600s, and has since spread across the Eastern, and eventually Western hemispheres. In his book “Tobacco in History,” Jordan Goodman explains that hookahs were common in 17th century coffee houses, where the sights and smells of the hookah (smoky shapes and fragrant tobacco) complemented the coffee and conversation at the café. Goodman quotes one Englishman describing his narghile experience in India: “This way of taking their tobacco, they believe makes it much more cool and wholesome.”
The hookah was designed specifically for what Goodman and other historians refer to as a “shared social experience;” unlike other forms of tobacco smoking devices. Scholarly articles and pop culture literature agree that there has been a recent revival in hookah smoking, namely among young people, who have noticed that cigarettes are meant for people on the run, but the hookah experience allows smokers to linger and make conversation with friends. In the past 25 years, an abundance of hookah smokers has risen in Arab countries, Europe and the United States; the number of hookah bars in all of these nations has increased, especially near college campuses.
“It’s relaxing, it’s social. People socialize by smoking, they sit around; it’s a very social activity.” Mike Heath, who has been employed at Eugene’s Hunky Dory Pipe & Tobacco for 14 years, said that the average hookah buyer is in their early 20s, and looking to fraternize with friends rather than get
a nicotine buzz.
“It’s not like a nic fit type thing … It probably could be addicting, but it’s far from an addiction.”
University students have certainly noticed the trend.
Ben Hartley, creator of the Hawthorne Hookah Club group on Facebook, agrees that across the nation and throughout the University, interest in hookah smoking is increasing. “It’s kind of a new thing, as being popular … I know a lot of people who own a hookah.”
A search on Facebook shows that Oregon students have created 11 groups devoted to hookah smoking, and more than 70 students list hookah as an interest or activity.
“It kind of relaxes you, it’s a social thing to do … it brings people
together,” Hartley said. The University junior also appreciates that unlike cigarettes, hookah smoke is both flavored and filtered. “A hookah is all different flavors, it goes through the water and it makes it cooler.”
Although purveyors and enjoyers of the hookah culture agree with Heath and Hartley that hookah smoking is a unique social activity, health officials are concerned with a rise in the popularity of any smoking device.
Laura Hammond, coordinator for the Lane County Tobacco Prevention Education Program, said that hookah smoking is anything but innocuous. “All forms of tobacco contain nicotine … (Hookah) is just as addictive as cigarettes.” Although Hammond has not had any specific requests from smokers attempting to break a hookah addiction, she said people “usually don’t elaborate on what form of tobacco they are quitting.”
Ben Hartley provides an interesting response to the argument that hookah is addictive, noting that the process of smoking a hookah is so time consuming that “it’s not feasible to do it all the time, so it’s less likely that people will get addicted. You have to fill it with water, get three people together, and heat the coals.”
Hammond said that, however, hookahs are uniquely dangerous in that they have been shown to produce more smoke than a regular cigarette, and therefore deliver a greater number of carcinogens to smokers.
But doesn’t water filtration render hookah smoke less harmful than normal smoke?
“No. That’s a total myth,” Hammond said. “It’s still a burning tobacco product.”
Hammond is also concerned about the prevalence of hookah bars across the country, but hopes that Eugene’s clean air laws will prevent an upsurge of indoor hookah establishments in this city.
Hartley, however, is less distressed about the health risks of his hobby. “It’s pretty bad for you, I’m sure, (but) I don’t do it that often, I don’t smoke it every day. I won’t do it in a couple of years. In the long term I’d be worried about it, but we’re in college. People do lots of dumb crap in college.”
Despite the health hazards noted by Hammond and others, it doesn’t look like hookah smoking is going away anytime soon. Around Eugene, hookahs can be purchased at Hunky Dory, Midtown Pipe and Tobacco and Lazar’s Bazar. Hunky Dory also plays host to a hookah bar, located in a large back room of the shop. In operation for 6 months, with approximately 20 visitors per week, the Hunky Dory hookah bar is a place where groups of friends, or couples out on a date, can go to enjoy a cozy atmosphere, and the rare experience of smoking indoors in Eugene.
Heath said that, the bar was created “upon customer request … hookahs are an up and coming thing.” Although the city has an ordinance against smoking in enclosed public areas, such as restaurants and bars, Hunky Dory is an independently owned smoke shop and therefore able to skirt the no smoking regulation.
When Laura Hammond learned about the Hunky Dory hookah bar, her response was of perturbation. “It’s unfortunate, it’s really the tobacco industry trying to manipulate their favorite customers, young people, into an addictive and deadly habit.”
Smokers at Hunky Dory can rent a hookah for $15/hour; each 1 ounce bowl of shisha costs $1.50, and lasts for about an hour between two people. Coals to keep the tobacco/molasses mixture burning are unlimited. Visit Hunky Dory at 271 W. 7th, or call (541) 345-1852. For more information on tobacco prevention, the Oregon Tobacco Quit Line can be reached
at 1-877-270-STOP.