Hookahs appear in puff of smoke

By Christina Tkacik / Daily Progress staff writer June 9, 2006

Hookah smoking – once the trademark of cafes in Cairo, later hippies and now frat guys, apparently – has found its place on the Corner. Specifically at Basil, a Mediterranean bistro on 14th Street.

“The students wanted it,” said Basil’s manager, 31 year-old Raif Antar, who is originally from Lebanon. Antar said he was hesitant to bring hookahs to the restaurant, but was eventually persuaded.

“It’s only gonna be outside,” he said, noting that he wanted to be mindful of his other customers who might object to the smoke. “We have a lot of doctors coming from the [University of Virginia] Hospital.”

Although many see it as an alternative to cigarettes, recent studies in America and the Middle East show that hookah smoking may be just as harmful. But, well, when has that ever stopped a college student from having a good time?

Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar on the Downtown Mall has long had hookahs on the menu - and even allows hookah smoking in areas of the café where cigarettes are prohibited.

“It’s extremely popular with UVa students,” employee Simon Jolly said.

“A whole fraternity will come in and just smoke,” he said. “We have waiting lists some evenings.”

“I think it’s sort of a cultural absorption as far as what’s going on with the Middle East,” Jolly said. “Soldiers come in here when they’ve just come back from Iraq, and they’re into it.”

Such popularity has drawbacks, Jolly said.

“None of the kids who come in [to smoke hookah] ever tip us.”

“I believe it’s an exploding trend,” said Virginia Commonwealth University professor Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, who has done extensive research on drug use and co-published a report on water pipe smoking in 2004. “There are three [hookah bars] around VCU; Northern Virginia area has many. It’s Ames, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; Portland, Ore. - wherever there’s a major university.”

Eissenberg said most hookah smokers believe it is less harmful than cigarettes, even though it, too, contains nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide.

“There’s no doubt that water pipe users will tell you that it’s less harmful,” he said. “It tastes good, it smells good … and often people who don’t smoke cigarettes smoke water pipe.”

His studies, based on a Lebanese study, have not determined whether hookah is more or less harmful than cigarettes, only that hookah smokers smoke longer and inhale deeper. Hookah users, he said, will sit down for an average of 45 minutes and take around 100 puffs - at an average inhalation of 500 mL. In contrast, people tend to smoke cigarettes in five minutes, with 10 50 mL puffs.

The reason that smoking a hookah for 45 minutes doesn’t induce the same hacking and nausea as chain-smoking cigarettes is largely because hookah smoke is cooler and may contain less nicotine puff for puff.

Eissenberg admitted that a seasoned Lebanese hookah smoker may have different habits than the average American college student, and said much research remains to be done on the issue.