The tobacco used in hookahs is different than that associated with cigarettes, or, indeed, any other form of smoking. It is, traditionally, a damp blendcalled tobamel or maasselof fresh tobacco leaves with molasses or honey and semi-dried fruit or fruit pulp. Some smokers would add pomegranate juice or perhaps rose oil to the water, which added flavor to the smoke. Later, hookah tobacco was also mixed with fruit extracts, and in the 1980s tobacconists began experimenting with various flavors, so that now a virtual smorgasbord of highly aromatic hookah tobacco is widely available.
While some hookah smokers still prefer a strong Turkish tobacco, many delight in the large assortment of flavored tobaccos, often called shisha. The dark, wet mixture comes in flavors ranging from apple, cherry, apricot, and watermelon, to rose, jasmine, vanilla, honey, and licorice, with more exotic blends beyond that, such as lemon-cola, cappuccino, apple-mint, and a list of custom blends that is nigh on infinite.
Prices for packaged tobacco range anywhere from $4 to $17 depending on quality, and a variety pack of flavors might cost about $30. The price in most lounges for a bowl of hookah tobacco ranges from $4 to $9 for slower burning leaf or custom blends.
Since hookah tobacco is very wet it must be smoked using a hookah charcoal. Rather than being lit directly, the tobacco is heated with a coal placed on tinfoil or wire mesh above or in the bowl holding the damp mixture. Each bowl of this wet tobacco lasts a long time, usually requiring several replenishments of the charcoal. In the past, among those rituals and traditions surrounding the lighting and smoking of the hookah, or narghile, were strict prohibitions against lighting the tobacco incorrectlyor even allowing a cigarette smoker to light their cigarette off of the hookah coal.
Hookah tobacco is generally only 30 percent tobacco and 70 percent fruit flavoring and molasses or honey. It contains.05 percent nicotine and most types contain no tar. Because the tobacco is heated, rather than actually burned, studies have shown that there are fewer carcinogens produced in hookah smoke than in other forms of smoking. However, concerns about the length of time smokers generally spend around a bowl of hookah tobacco do warrant consideration, and studies have shown that carbon dioxide intake is actually higher in hookah smoking. Though mellower and less carcinogenic, hookah tobacco is still tobacco and the health risks remain. Hookah tobacco should only be smoked by adults over 18 years of age, and then smoked in moderation.
Taking Inspiration from the 'Hookah', a new way of consuming alcohol that offers an immediate hit with no hangover the next day has been introduced in the United Kingdom.
The new method is known as AWOL, an acronym for 'Alcohol With Out Liquid', and could become a hit in the global club scene due to the euphoric 'high' created when alcohol is vaporised, mixed with oxygen and inhaled.
AWOL machines serve bar customers via tubes and could be seen as a modern version of the 'Nargile' or 'Hookah', which originated in India and became popular in Middle East.
Like the Hookah, the AWOL machine has a central body and a number of tubes running from it. The user chooses which spirit will be used and the spirit is loaded into a diffuser capsule in the machine. The oxygen bubbles are then passed through the capsule, absorbing the alcohol, before being inhaled through a tube. The resultant cloudy alcohol vapour is then inhaled from the end of the tube via a device akin to an asthma inhaler.
Once inhaled, the alcoholic gas goes straight into the bloodstream to give an instant 'hit'. The potent combination of oxygen and alcohol creates a feeling of well-being which intensifies the longer the vapour is inhaled.
These bars are now facing severe business challenges as according to the new regulation in united Kingdom like the ban on smoking bars the hookahs will also be forced out of the public life. How they able to survive it is yet to seen as number of minorities are the one that run such bars.
The body, or govde, of a hookah pipe consists of a curved vessel which holds water. A graceful stem rises from the body and at the top of the stem is a bowl, or lle, which holds the tobacco. From one to several flexible hoses, the marpuc, with a mouthpiece, or agizlik, at the end, are used to draw the hookah smoke down through the water. The hookah tobacco is heated by charcoal and the water filters and cools the smoke. The water gurgles gently, like a woodland stream, and, in the process, makes the smoke smooth and cool.
The word shisha, which is often another word for hookah, comes from the Persian meaning glass or bottle. Hookahs and the culture of hookah smoking is often referred to as hookah shisha. Somewhat confusingly, at first, people also refer to hookah tobacco as shisha, or hookah shishaand there is a Shisha brand of hookah shisha!
Hookah pipes today come in many styles, from Egyptian to Syrian, traveling, mini and mod models to specialty and custom designs. There is a world of history in the craftsmanship of hookah pipes. Traditional materials used in making hookahs were blown glass, often highly decorated in gold or enamel painting, brass, aluminum, silver, porcelain, clay, carved stone and wood, and leather. All these same materials are used today, with the addition of stainless steel, Pyrex glass, plastic, rubber, and high quality acrylics, among others.
In restaurants and smoking lounges, individually wrapped, disposable plastic mouthpieces are provided for each smoker. Other accoutrements of the hookah pipe and tobacco include the hookah charcoal and metal tongs. The charcoal is typically in coin-sized pieces and each lasts for about 30 minutes in the slow smoking tobacco mixture.
Certain etiquette applies to the smoking of hookah pipes: the water pipes are meant to be on the ground, rather than on a high table or shelf, with the smokers seated on cushions or low seats around itthough in modern hookah lounges, they often appear on tables. Shared hookah pipes are not supposed to be passed, but rather set down after smoking so that the next smoker can take up the pipe at their leisure.
As prevalent in parts of the Middle East and India as delis or Starbucks are in the United States, with one on every corner, hookah lounges and hookah bars, once quite rare in the West, have lately been seeing a rise in popularity here. From the friendly ambience of many of these establishments to the uniquely relaxed mood of hookah smoking and the kid-in-a-candy store variety of flavorful tobaccos available, hookah lounges and bars have a lot on offer.
Much of this upsurge in popularity is due to college and university populations, who find hookah lounges an attractive way to spend quality time with friends in a sober, but socially easy, environment. Hookah lounges are big with sororities and fraternities, but there are older sets of patrons on the scene as well, and a multiplicity of ethnicities and people from all walks of life can be found in various hookah lounges.
Different hookah bars and lounges offer different things to go with the smoking experience. At some lounges, an older clientele comes to play cards, backgammon, or chess, while pool tables, video games, and big screen TVs are on offer for the younger crowd. Many lounges serve food and drink, from Turkish coffee, spicy chai, and honey-drenched bamieh fritters to foie gras and Moroccan spiced lamb, while hookah bars offer everything from wine and cocktails to package dealsincluding private booth or lounge, hookah, drinks, and appetizerswhich run about $125 for four. Rental prices for hookahs in lounges generally run from $5 to $20 an hour, with tobacco prices from $4 to $9 per bowl. Whatever's on offer, people feel comfortable enough to linger, gathered round the hookah pipe. You can find directories of hookah lounges in the U.S., Canada, and Europe at
http://www.hookahforum.com or
http://www.hookahculture.com, and other sites online.
Someone on staffoften the proprietoris always happy to help those new to the experience of hookah smoking and guide them through it. Pipes are generally prepared for the patrons with whatever exotic flavor of tobacco they choose. There's usually a hookah coal carrier, circulating through the lounge with coals and tongs to replenish any waning hookah coals.
Music ranges from jazz to hip hop to tablah-backed Middle Eastern pop music, d