Hookah Tobacco

The tobacco used in hookahs is different than thatsmoked using a hookah charcoal. Rather than being lit
associated with cigarettes, or, indeed, any other formdirectly, the tobacco is heated with a coal placed on
of smoking. It is, traditionally, a damp blend--calledtinfoil or wire mesh above or in the bowl holding the
tobamel or maassel--of fresh tobacco leaves withdamp mixture. Each bowl of this wet tobacco lasts a
molasses or honey and semi-dried fruit or fruit pulp.long time, usually requiring several replenishments of
Some smokers would add pomegranate juice orthe charcoal. In the past, among those rituals and
perhaps rose oil to the water, which added flavor totraditions surrounding the lighting and smoking of the
the smoke. Later, hookah tobacco was also mixedhookah, or narghile, were strict prohibitions against
with fruit extracts, and in the 1980s tobacconists beganlighting the tobacco incorrectly--or even allowing a
experimenting with various flavors, so that now acigarette smoker to light their cigarette off of the
virtual smorgasbord of highly aromatic hookah tobaccohookah coal.Hookah tobacco is generally only 30
is widely available.percent tobacco and 70 percent fruit flavoring and
While some hookah smokers still prefer a strongmolasses or honey. It contains .05 percent nicotine and
Turkish tobacco, many delight in the large assortmentmost types contain no tar. Because the tobacco is
of flavored tobaccos, often called shisha. The dark,heated, rather than actually burned, studies have
wet mixture comes in flavors ranging from apple,shown that there are fewer carcinogens produced in
cherry, apricot, and watermelon, to rose, jasmine,hookah smoke than in other forms of smoking.
vanilla, honey, and licorice, with more exotic blendsHowever, concerns about the length of time smokers
beyond that, such as lemon-cola, cappuccino,generally spend around a bowl of hookah tobacco do
apple-mint, and a list of custom blends that is nigh onwarrant consideration, and studies have shown that
infinite.Prices for packaged tobacco range anywherecarbon dioxide intake is actually higher in hookah
from $4 to $17 depending on quality, and a varietysmoking. Though mellower and less carcinogenic,
pack of flavors might cost about $30. The price inhookah tobacco is still tobacco and the health risks
most lounges for a bowl of hookah tobacco rangesremain. Hookah tobacco should only be smoked by
from $4 to $9 for slower burning leaf or customadults over 18 years of age, and then smoked in
blends.Since hookah tobacco is very wet it must bemoderation.