Is Hookah Bad For You?

Is hookah bad for you? We've touched upon this question in our What Is Hookah? page and decided to delve deeper into the topic.

When people discuss the harmful effects of hookah, they are mostly referring to the tobacco being smoked. It's important to note that there's a wide variety to what gets packed into a hookah bowl. From different brands of tobacco, to items that don't even contain tobacco such as steam stones, the health effects of enjoying a hookah vary and mostly depend upon the contents of the bowl.

When it comes to smoking tobacco, there is no doubt that there are averse effects to your health no matter the apparatus used, be it by cigarette or by hookah pipe. However, it's worth to note that when comparing hookah to cigarettes, hookah smoke contains considerably less chemicals than cigarette smoke due to the process of water filtration that the smoke goes through. Hookah molasses and herbs are also much cleaner and natural alternatives to the chemical additives that are found in cigarettes. It's also important to note that with a hookah pipe, the smoke comes mostly from vaporizing the molasses. The burning process is far different than that of a cigar or cigarette. 

If your main concern lies with nicotine and its addictive properties, there are plenty of non-nicotine herbs and molasses on the market. Similarly, steam stones are a great alternative to the regular bowl of molasses as these syrup-covered rocks offers a whole new take on non-tobacco sessions.

To bring in some anecdotal evidence, we here at Prestige Bubbles live in a tight-knit community with plenty of cigarette and hookah smokers. We've constantly heard the same thing from every cigarette smoker who decided to switch to hookah: "I feel physically better". Whether it's to do with hookah being an inherently safer method of smoking than cigarettes, or if it has to do with the fact that smoking hookah generally occurs at a much lower frequency than cigarettes, is unclear. What seems to be clear is that no one has said the reverse, going from hookah to cigarettes. 

We'd like to hear your thoughts and stories on the subject. Leave a comment!