Nargile smoking on Pitt campus

By LAURA JERPI
Senior Staff Writer
September 28, 2005

Smoking nargile, a traditional social activity in the Middle East, is becoming more popular among some Oakland residents.

Pitt students Yoni Nagelberg, Jeremy Fine and Dave Ashwal can be found hanging out at their Dithridge Street house, habitually smoking nargile.

There is no limit to how many people can join in at one time, but Fine did list some other limitations on their smoking.

“[You] shouldn’t smoke in the morning because you want to go right back to sleep,” he said.

Nagelberg said that on nice days they like to smoke nargile on the front porch.

He added that to him, “The tobacco itself is completely different than the tobacco found in cigarettes.”

The tobacco that goes into the nargile is part of a mixture called nargileh or sheisha. Some common ingredients in the sheisha are molasses, preservatives and flavoring.

Nagelberg said that unlike cigarettes, nargile does not leave a bad taste in the mouth.

“It tastes excellent — the flavors of the nargile are very strong, but very pleasant,” he said.

Fine added that a lot of the nargiles taste like generic fruit flavors.

A large box of tobacco costs about $9, but smaller boxes can cost as little as $3.50. According to the trio, one box lasts for an average of approximately three to four uses.

But smoking nargile may carry with it some risks, according to the University of Columbia’s health question-and-answer Web site, Go Ask Alice.

“Little research exists on the difference between smoking cigarettes or other traditional Western forms of tobacco consumption and using nargile pipes, primarily because the nargile trend is relatively new here,” the site stated.

“While the tobacco mixture in a nargile pipe is generally around one-third tobacco, with the rest being made up of flavorings, tobacco is still tobacco. Passing the smoke through water, as is done in a nargile pipe, may remove some compounds, but existing research documents that many toxins remain in water-filtered smoke.”

Go Ask Alice also said that nicotine has been shown to make it through the water filter, making addiction “still a theoretical possibility for nargile smokers.”

Columbia’s answer site did concede, however, that nargile smokers were probably at less risk because of the nature of nargile smoking.

“Smoking a nargile pipe is a social activity, in that those who use nargile pipes are generally not smoking as often or as much as other smokers of cigarettes, cigars and pipes,” the site said.

Nagelberg agreed.

“The big appeal of nargile is not the smoke itself, but actually for its social purpose,” he said. “Sitting around with a bunch of friends, taking puffs on the nargile and passing it around, talking and having fun, it’s great. I’ve been smoking for two years now, and it never loses its appeal.”

A nargile works by filtering the smoke through a pool of water. At the top of the nargile is a bowl with holes in it for air to get through. The nargileh is packed into the bowl and a sheet of foil is place over the top.

After punching tiny holes in the foil, lit coals are placed on top of it.

The smoker puts a hose, which his hooked up to the base of the nargile, in his mouth and sucks in.

“[It’s] like blowing milk bubbles,” Ashwal said.

The coal heats up the nargileh. Smoke is then sucked down through the nargile to its base, where it passes through the water.

“When you stand up, your legs feel like jelly for 30 or 40 seconds,” Fine said.

Nagelberg, Fine and Ashwal, who have multiple nargiles in their home, do not usually go to nargile bars, but several clubs have sprung up around Pittsburgh.