MAIL ONLINE: Hubbly-bubbly, hookah or shisha - whatever name it goes by, puffing on a Turkish waterpipe is the latest trend to hit British bars and cafes.
The flavoured tobacco, which is smoked via a long pipe connected to a vessel filled with water, is particularly fashionable among young people, with the number of specialist bars rising 210 per cent since 2007.
But the World Health Organisation has warned that a one-hour shisha session can be as harmful as smoking 100 cigarettes.
This is because a cigarette smoker typically takes between eight and 12 puffs, inhaling 0.5 to 0.6 litres of smoke.
But during an hour-long shisha sessions smokers may take up to 200 drags, ranging from 0.15 to 1 litre of smoke each.
‘Shisha smoking is a growing concern because people aren’t aware of the risks like they are with cigarette smoking,’ says Professor Robert West, director of tobacco studies at University College London.
‘The greater the exposure in terms of duration and amount smoked, the greater the risk to your health’[.]
That’s because although shisha tobacco tastes nicer than cigarettes, it contains all the same toxicants known to cause lung cancer and heart disease. Read on and comment » | Sharmeen Ziauddin | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Smoking shisha: how bad is it for you? : It is growing in popularity but some experts say a single shisha session is the same as smoking 200 cigarettes » | Huma Qureshi | Monday, August 22, 2011
