Hooked on Hookah - College Freshmen Initiating Tobacco Habits

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As with all streams of tobacco, water based tobacco possesses the same ingredient, tar and nicotine. There is a big misconception that hookah is much safer than smoking cigarettes however. Being a new stream of tobacco intake, there is false belief explained in the quote that “it’s smoke’ but not really ‘smoke.’ Not like a cigarette. The water filters out all of the bad stuff” (Grisafe, 2012, para. 2). In a study done by Dr. Noonan at Duke University, 39% of a Theory of Reasoned Action Survey on new college students thought that water-based tobacco smoking won’t cause lung cancer (Noonan, 2012, para. 8). The truth in hookah is that “water filters out some of the nicotine, but the smoke consumed from a hookah contains high levels heavy metals and cancer causing chemicals” (Centers for Disease Control, 2011, para. 3). It is only partially that one of the many harmful chemicals in hookah tobacco is less (nicotine), and with these false beliefs of the health effects of smoking, the truth comes out of what hookah smoking actually contains.

In ten grams of hookah there is 2.96mg nicotine, 802 mg of tar, 143mg carbon monoxide (Barnett, 2010, pg. 2). In addition, a study done by the Centers for Disease Control shows that individual’s “1-hour long hookah smoking session involves inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette” based on liters of smoke inhaled by a hookah pipe in comparison to a cigarette (Centers for Disease Control, 2011, para. 2). The American Lung Association in 2001 stated that, “Hookah smoking sessions are generally longer (1/2 hour or more) which results in considerably greater nicotine exposure” (American Lung Association, 2011, pg. 3). In an interview with Matt Barnhill, he explained that you smoke until you get a nicotine headache however. Hookah, especially because of its socializing, non-convient set-up is more of a smoke and tar consuming habit (Matt Barnhill, Personal Communication, April 23rd, 2013).

To put this in comparison, in Malboro Red, America’s most popular brand of cigarette, studies by smoking users found that 15mg tar and 1.1 mg nicotine have been found in one cigarette. (Irvine, 2009, para. 1) (Kapur, 2008, para. 8). When a hookah smoker is exposed to hookah smoke for 45-60 minutes, (20 grams) it is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes” in talking about the amount of smoke consumed and tar received (California Department of Health Services, 2007, pg. 3). The amount of all of the smoke, tar, and nicotine a person consumes while smoking all depends however on the amount of hookah tobacco there is in the pipe, the amount of people splitting the hookah, and the total time spent smoking (number of puffs) a person smokes for.

To find this out, I asked a Radford University freshman hookah user. Setting up a hookah, he said that for a 4-5 people a normal of hookah to use would be 30 grams or so, which would last approximately 30-45 minutes (Matt Barnhill, Personal Communication, April 23rd, 2013). He said that the amount of puffs a person take usually varies for that it is based on “puffing then continue to pass the pipe around the circle until it is kicked (finished), but you also stop when you get a headache from it” (Matt Barnhill, Personal Communication, April 23rd, 2013). He said that getting headaches depend on the amount of tobacco use with the headaches coming from too much nicotine; higher tolerances are had when being a more frequent user (Matt Barnhill, Personal Communication, April 23rd, 2013). He said that the people whom don’t necessarily smoke hookah may only be able to go for ten or so minutes, while the rest of it is finished. While the amount of smoke regular users inhale is much more than new users, they build up a nicotine tolerance to smoke longer. Every time they finish from getting a headache they are in a circle until the charcoal dies, which is a habit that builds nicotine dependence. Otherwise, equally split, with 5 people and 30 grams of hookah, a typical smoke session would deliver 481mg of Tar, 86mg of Carbon Monoxide, and 50 to 100 times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette” (Centers for Disease Control, 2012, para. 2)

Being a part of the big umbrella of tobacco use, hookah relates with starting other tobacco habits that can be performed more regularly such as cigarettes. In a study that compares American youth cigarette habits and hookah habits it is found that “Logistic regression showed that youth were 11.0 times more likely to be currently smoking cigarettes if they currently smoked water pipes” (Weglicki, 2008, para. 5). This correlation shows that cigarette smoking is much more likely to happen, and psychologically prone to become a gateway. With new users smoking hookah in “hookah circles” until they get a nicotine headache, other avenues of tobacco use are more likely to get picked up from nicotine dependence. Nicotine being the overall addiction, leads to more frequent, and heavier use of more easily accessed uses of tobacco like cigarettes. Therefore in hookah, an unhealthy long-term habit is made out of socially beneficial practice.

All in all, meeting people and getting to know people in the new environment of college, where young adults may feel helpless may seem overwhelming, and help is needed. Although the initiation of a hookah habit is unhealthy for the cancer causing agents you consume, and the smoke that goes to your lungs, it acts as an icebreaking catalyst to new college freshmen environments. From the negative side effects, there should be alternatives offered at colleges that offer the same benefits of getting to know people easier in a new and popular way. The ultimate answer to this would be use the other prevalent social catalyst in our society, alcohol, letting people unwind and get to know one another without initial awkwardness when done in moderate proportion. This can be done by lowering the drinking age to the same age that you have to be to smoke, 18. Preventing a possible addiction to much long-term safer agent when moderately used, using alcohol, will help take away from tobacco use, therefor taking away hookah being a gateway to cigarettes. Thus being said, for the short term, people need to understand the effects of hookah before they try it. TheWorld Health Organization suggests that “waterpipes and waterpipe tobacco should be subjected to the same regulation as cigarettes and other tobacco products” and that “waterpipes and waterpipe tobacco should include strong health warnings” such as a clear Surgeon General’s warning on the label (Kasprak, 2011, para. 21. These two answers of Hookah Culture will build to a long-term healthier, aware society.

References

American Lung Association. (2011). Hookah smoking