Hookah hooplah

Young Americans may be smoking fewer cigarettes, but they’ve taken up the hookah. Researchers at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, said they started the study to look at this little researched area: hookah use and perception.

The survey data was acquired online through a web-based survey of 3,770 college students in North Carolina.

“Unfortunately many young adults are misinformed about the safety of hookah smoking, and some mistakenly believe it to be safer than cigarette smoking,” said Erin Sutfin, an assistant professor and lead author of the study. They found that 40 percent of college students had tried a hookah, which almost equals the 47 percent that have tried cigarettes. About 22 percent of those who had smoked a hookah had never tried cigarettes. There is concern that the hookah may be a gateway product leading to regular tobacco use.

And the smoke is not healthier. It is often inhaled more deeply because it has been flavored and cooled by moving through water. It contains high levels of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and chemicals known to cause cancer.

Additionally, there is a social attraction as hookah bars gain in popularity in college towns. Often tobacco use is regulated in businesses which serve food and/or alcohol. Many of the hookah bars do not and the smoking is done outside which circumvents the restrictions.

Tom Battle, a hookah bar frequenter, said the scene is “like a cigar bar for 20-somethings. . . it’s not something I plan to do the rest of my life, but I’m young and once in awhile I’ll have a hookah.”

Source: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Reuters.