Shisha, also known as hookah or waterpipe, is a way of smoking tobacco through a bowl with a hose or tube joined on. The tube has a mouthpiece that the smoker uses to breathe in the smoke. Shisha usually contains tobacco which is sometimes mixed with fruit or molasses sugar, and popular flavors include apple, strawberry, mint, and cola. The tobacco is heated by burning wood, coal, or charcoal in the shisha pipe to create the smoke. Shisha smoking is popular in Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African communities, especially among young people, and it is becoming increasingly popular in the UK.
Shisha smoking is not safer than smoking cigarettes, and it can increase the risk of heart and circulatory diseases because it usually contains harmful chemicals, including the same chemicals used in cigarette tobacco. A one-hour session of smoking shisha can be the same as smoking over 100 cigarettes. Therefore, shisha smokers are at risk of developing the same health problems as cigarette smokers, such as cancer and heart disease.
