Throughout my research over the internet, I have found many different websites that say COMPLETELY different things about Hookah/Shisha V.S. Cigarettes. Many websites say Cigarettes are in fact a better alternative, and many websites say Hookah/Shisha smoking is a better alternative.

From what I’ve been studying about hookah/shisha smoking and cigarette smoking, so far I believe that hookah smoking is the better alternative. These are the points that make me believe so:

- A box of shisha-tobacco contains only four natural ingredients; Tobacco, Honey, Flavour and Glycerine. It contains no chemical preservatives that cigarettes do, the shisha relies on the glycerine and honey to preserve it and it can only do so for two years then it expires.

- Shisha-Tobacco contains 0.5% nicotine in a whole 250 gram box and 0.0% tar.

- Shisha smoking does last up to 30-45 minutes but you only do it once a day, some people once a week would be pushing it. Cigarette smokers have about 2 to a whole pack of smokes a day and each smoke lasts about 7 minutes.

- The water in the hookah filers out some light toxins and cools the smoke so it doesn’t irritate your lungs as much as CUBAN CIGARS or cigarettes do.

Hookah lounges are extremely popular all around the country.

The new outfits are offering local students options so they customize their smoking experience.

The Smokers Club, 100 S. Mission St., is adding new rooms to its premises which will serve as hookah bars.

Smokers Club owner Dave Sprunger said he thinks hookah is becoming more popular because it is the cleanest way to smoke. Hookah smoke is passed through water and purified in the process.

Creative college students may try to use hookahs to avoid smoking bans in their living quarters.

Cigarette smoking and smoking hookah are about the same for health risks. Otherwise known as narghile, shisha and goza, a hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made shisha tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece. The tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke. Hookah smokers may actually inhale more tobacco smoke than cigarette smokers do because of the large volume of smoke they inhale in one smoking session, which can last as long as 60 minutes.

While research about hookah smoking is still emerging, evidence shows that it poses many dangers:

• Hookah smoke contains high levels of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). In fact, hookah smokers are exposed to more carbon monoxide and smoke than are cigarette smokers.
• As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to lung and oral cancers, heart disease and other serious illnesses.
• Hookah smoking delivers about the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smoking does, possibly leading to tobacco dependence.
• Hookah smoke poses dangers associated with secondhand smoke.
• Hookah smoking by pregnant women can result in low birth weight babies.
• Hookah pipes used in hookah bars and cafes may not be cleaned properly, risking the spread of infectious diseases.