what is shisha smoking

Shisha smoking, also known as hookah, narghile, waterpipe, or hubble bubble, is a way of smoking tobacco through a bowl with a hose or tube joined on. The tobacco is usually heated by burning wood, coal, or charcoal, and the resulting smoke bubbles through a bowl of water and into a long hose-like pipe to be breathed in. Shisha usually contains tobacco, which is sometimes mixed with fruit or molasses sugar, and popular flavors include apple, strawberry, mint, and cola. Shisha smoke contains large amounts of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and cancer-causing chemicals. Shisha smoking is not safer than cigarette smoking, and the tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe than in a cigarette. Shisha smokers are at risk of developing the same health problems as cigarette smokers, such as cancer and heart disease. A World Health Organization study has suggested that a one-hour session of smoking shisha can be the same as inhaling the smoke from 100 or more cigarettes.