The history of the appearance of the hookah is covered with legends - it is still not known exactly who was the first to introduce the fashion to him - Indians, Persians or Ethiopians. Up to the XVIII century hookah smoked only in the East, but gradually the exotic device also conquered Europe. Today, hookah parties are a popular entertainment all over the world, not to mention the motherland - the eastern countries. But it was the Arabs who first sounded the alarm, announcing the danger of hookah and backing it with a number of large studies.
What is the difference between a hookah and a cigarette?
You do not need to tell about the difference between hookah and cigarettes - all the specifics can be seen with the naked eye. For cigarettes, dry fine tobacco is used, and when hookahs are large and wet, all active substances are wrapped in cigarettes in cigarettes, in a hookah lie in a special cup, and so on. But if the difference is so great, it means that the harm, hookah and cigarette, is also incommensurable?
The main difference between these smoking devices is the composition of the smoke. In a conventional cigarette - and the cheapest, and expensive - a lot of nicotine, dangerous pitches, carcinogens and harmful impurities from burning paper. If the paper is of poor quality, the proportion of impurities can be quite impressive.
The biggest danger when using hookah is carbon monoxide( CO).When carried away with cigarettes, its share is much lower, there the functions of CO take on other toxins. If, of course, do not smoke one pack at a time, but it is almost impossible.
Another feature is the composition of tobacco. In cigarette, the main enemies are tar, nicotine, various poisons( acetaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, etc.).Exquisite hookah tobacco brings another danger - it often uses chemical flavors, including oil resins, which are no less poisonous than the terrible acetaldehyde. In this case there are also non-niche hookahs, the harm from which is much lower.
On the video facts about smoking hookah:
What harm the hookah
The harm, harmlessness and even use of the hookah goes a lot of different theories and conjectures. Although hookah parties have been popular for several centuries, the true impact of delicious smoke on the body began to speak relatively recently, when mass research on this topic around the world started.
The opponents of hookah assure that the harm from the "hookah session" on the human body is equated to 60-100 smoked cigarettes, wet couples only increase the penetration of toxins into tissues and organs, and the hookah dependence is formed incredibly quickly. So what's the real harm of hookah for health?
Carbon monoxide
The proportion of CO falling into the body with hookah smoke is tens of times higher than the portion that is in cigarettes. Compare: one smoked cigarette provides 11.66 mg of carbon monoxide, and one hookah session - about 179 mg. And this is in view of the fact that a hookah is used by several people.
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Symptoms are as follows:
- severe weakness;
- nausea;
- vomiting;
- dizziness;
- fainting.
With these signals you need to immediately throw a hookah tube and go out into the fresh air, otherwise you can cause yourself serious harm.
Saliva exchange
Saliva exchange is the specificity of hookah pleasure. Cigarette is usually used individually, the request "let's bother!" Is rather an exception, and the risks of catching something through saliva are minimal.
The situation with the hookah is completely different. In a smoking session usually involves several people, a tube through which smoke is inhaled - one at all. On the surface there are microparticles of saliva, where dangerous viruses can easily turn out to be. The list of diseases that can be "earned" through saliva is very wide - from simple herpes to hepatitis B, rare bacterial meningitis and even syphilis.
Special disposable mouthpieces can be a rescue. They are easy to buy in hookah departments in stores, and many bars and restaurants offer them along with a hookah when ordering.
Passive smoking
The dangers of passive hookah smoking are not so often spoken. Since nicotine and toxins are much fewer in wet smoke, it is believed that passive smokers also do not get any harm. But this is not so.
At the hookah session, those who do not smoke usually do not have the opportunity to leave the premises for a long time, and this session lasts several hours. As a result, a significant part of the smoke goes to non-smokers.
Scalding smoke
One of the main hookah merits called chilled smoke, but this is just a myth. Tobacco in a hookah smoldering on coals and reaches a temperature of 400-450 ºС.Even passing through a cool liquid and a long tube, it does not have enough time to cool down.
As a result, with a deep inhalation of smoke, the mucous larynx burns and loses its barrier function. And all the harmful substances from smoking smoke and ordinary air very quickly go straight to the lungs. In addition, with regular inhalation of large volumes of smoke( 500-600 cc), the lungs lose their elasticity, as well as the ability to remove hazardous substances.
Dependence of
A full psychological and physiological dependence on hookah smoking is more a myth. Dependence develops from nicotine, and hookah gives still a much smaller dose than cigarettes. But this is provided, if you use it not every couple of days, but occasionally.
But there is another danger. Nicotine can accumulate in the body and eventually will require an increasing dose. Therefore, a person, keen on hookah, soon can easily switch to ordinary cigarettes and even light psychotropic drugs. In this case, the risks of the appearance of psychological dependence approach 100%.
Hookah can provoke and so-called social dependence. Exquisite entourage( a beautiful room, a cozy bar, a good restaurant), a company of friends and an atmosphere of relaxation lead to the fact that you want to smoke a fragrant smoke more often. It is because of the situation. As a result, nicotine accumulates, and until nicotine dependence there are only a couple of steps.
So harm or benefit?
Today a hookah is an integral part of a good evening in a pleasant company, like a special bar, cafe or an ordinary apartment. Hookah perfectly relaxes, helps relieve tension, closer friends with friends and colleagues.
If you choose between a hookah and a simple filter cigarette, the first one will have several advantages:
- Filtering delicious smoke through water( milk or tea) reduces the concentration of nicotine, phenols, benzopyrene and other toxic substances. So, the toxins in the body gets much less.
- Poisonous acrolein and acetaldehyde almost completely disappears when passing through a liquid, this reduces the burden on the lungs and immunity.
- Cigarette smoking is fraught with a huge danger - carcinogens, which are produced by burning tobacco. In the hookah tobacco is not burning in the fresh air, but smoldering in a closed form, therefore carcinogens can not form in principle.
- When smoking a hookah, cheap paper is not used, as in cigarettes, therefore harmful substances( including residues of heavy metals) can not harm you.
- And more hookah smoke - it's just very nice in comparison with suffocating cigarette smog.
So, scientists from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences( Iran) examined 57 inveterate hookahs and found dyspnea in 23% of girls and boys, chest tightness in 37% of women and men, smoker's cough - in 21%.And the Ministry of Health of Egypt believes that it is the craze for hookah that is to blame for the high incidence of tuberculosis in the country.
But if you approach the hookah carefully, only buy quality tobacco, always use an individual mouthpiece and smoke only in rare, exceptional cases, dangerous consequences can be reduced.
On the video about the use and harm of hookah: