You water pipes, well known in Brazil ashookahs, but which are also called shishsaand hookahs, refer to a very common equipment in a centuries-old practice in the Middle East and Asia, which is that of smoking cigarettes, with the difference that the smoke first passes through the water and then reaches the smoker.
This equipment works as follows: tobacco with aromas and flavors that the person desires is placed on top (bowl) of the hookah. This mixture is heated with a special hookah charcoal. At the base, which is usually made of glass, metal or ceramic and can be drawn with ornaments, this is where the water is. So, when the person pulls air through the hose, the pressure inside the base decreases and the air heated by the coal passes. by tobacco, forming the smoke that descends towards the water, where it is filtered and cooled, going to the smoker's mouth.
Usage scheme and parts of the hookah
This practice is gaining more and more followers in the West and in all parts of the world, mainly because of the the fact that there is a popular but erroneous belief that the hookah is less harmful than smoking the cigarette conventional.
O Inca (National Cancer Institute) warned that this pipe of oriental origin already has almost 300 thousand consumers in Brazil.However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has published a report dispelling this myth and showing that, in fact,the hookah has more harm than the cigarette, and in a section lasting on average 20 to 80 minutes, it exposes the smoker to toxic components equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes.
The hookah or shisha is much worse than the common cigarette
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The presence of water causes some to think that it removes toxic substances, but in fact, it causes the person to ingest even more smoke. Without realizing it, the person ingests much larger amounts of toxic substances.
With each drag of a common cigarette, the person ingests more than 4700 toxic substances and, many of them, carcinogens. These substances are also ingested by those who use the hookah and the consequences, such as the development of various types of cancer and addiction, are also the same. To see the effect of inhaling these substances, read the texts below:
- Nicotine;
- Tar.
Another aggravating factor is that, in the hookah, the person ingests concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) much higher, because in addition to what is released by tobacco, there is also an amount from burning coal, which produces also other very potent and mutagenic carcinogens, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HPAs), being the main the benzopyrene. The amount of heavy metals in the hookah is also much higher.
Furthermore, since it is possible to connect several hoses to the pipe, it is often smoked by several young people at the same time, being a means used by some to “fit in” and be accepted by a certain group. However, this is another major risk factor, as greatly increases the chances of transmitting infectious diseases such as herpes, hepatitis C and tuberculosis.
The Arab water pipe or hookah can be smoked by several people at the same time
There are some who also mix other addictive drugs, such as alcoholic beverages and other illicit drugs. Thus, the use of hookah can still lead the person to use other drugs that are even more harmful and start smoking, as the person becomes dependent.
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FOGAÇA, Jennifer Rocha Vargas. "water pipes or hookahs"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/drogas/cachimbos-daguaou-narguiles.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
