For a long time, when people thought about hookah technology, they pictured scenes from adventure movies where people will be gathered in lounges throughout far-flung lands, idly smoking on these exotic devices. Others in big cities may recognize them from trendy lounges, or their hipster friends’ apartments.
However, with the increasing negative attitude toward cigarettes, even by smokers, alternative ways of enjoying tobacco are becoming increasingly popular. Of course, the fastest-growing industry in this field is vaping, but let’s be fair, that stuff isn’t for everyone, and it’s too new to really know how safe it is.
While some may take comfort in a pipe, pipes are a bit divisive, and a lot of cigarette smokers don’t enjoy the switch. However, an increasing interest in the hookah, a traditional middle-Eastern method of smoking, now also very popular in Persia, Anatolia, northern Africa, India and Southeast Asia, has provided a smooth way of smoking for centuries that a lot of people have missed out on.
How exactly do hookah’s work?
A hookah is a chamber device, a top which chamber sits a plate where charcoal, sometimes a heating element is sick, and a special type of tobacco are placed. The smoke is then drawn into the chamber below, where users pull it through a series of connected tubes to personal mouthpieces.
This tobacco is extremely different from anything else you may have experienced. Most hookah tobacco, known generally as shisha, is extremely sticky, moist and resinous to the touch. It is infused with a flavor, of which there are many traditional varieties in Arabic cultures. The charcoal or heating element slowly causes this tobacco to both vaporize and slowly roast, releasing a thicker, heavier smoke. While the tobacco does burn, most of the smoke isn’t produced through an incendiary reaction, making it smoother and somewhat less unhealthy due to the reduced ash content.
Entering the West!
Companies like Goat Hookah and Hoob Hookah have re-invented the design of the hookah on an aesthetic level. Using things like an-crafted wood, and-blown glass and modern, sleek designs, these fit right in at any smoke shop along with glass pipes, water pipes and the works. Stylish and obvious in their use, this makes a much more enticing to Westerners, the simple glass chambers and obvious design not baffling them like a traditional hookah may.
Along with a westernized take on hookah designed by both Goat Hookah and Hoob Hookah, an explosion of flavors has hit the market to rival the variety offered by the vaping industry. While traditional Arabic flavors are popular and readily available, flavors like spice, lemon, pomegranate and the like, exotic, unique flavors like coffee, various fruit blends, mint and much more are also becoming increasingly popular in the Western world.
If you’re trying to get rid of cigarettes, but aren’t ready for the ordeal that is giving up nicotine, don’t be discouraged if vaping turns out not to be for you. Consider the hookah, and may be getting used to a pipe for those times when you have to smoke on the go.