Dangers of Tobacco Water Pipesby Joseph Stein
In recent years there has been a growing popularity of hookahs especially in urban cities across the world. They have become popular in special cafes where younger people hang out. The raising popularity of smoking water pipes has largely been driven by the misconception of increased safety compared to smoking tobacco or smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco. The rapidly growing health consciousness around the dangers of smoking appear to have been the reason behind the spike in smoking pipes. Waterpipes are generally made up of a head, body, water bowl and hose. The concept is such that tobacco flavored fruits and sugar syrup is placed in the head. Burning charcoal is placed on top separated by an aluminum foil.The bowl below contains some water through which smoke passes before being inhaled by the smoker. The fact that tobacco smoke from the burning tobacco first passes through the water bowl is the reason behind the misconception that tobacco water pipes are less dangerous. In reality even after going through the water the smoke inhaled by smokers contains harmful compounds such as carbon monoxide and other cancer-causing chemicals. The general skewed opinion is that the water filters the tobacco smoke of harmful substances. Further, the use of herbs and and other flovourants makes many users think they are smoking herbs which are less harmful than tobacco. Waterpipe tobacco smoking equally delivers nicotine to the bloodstream just in the same way achieved by a conventional tobacco cigarette. It's been shown that smoking water pipes delivers more smoke to the smoker than done by a cigarette. At one go, a pipe smoker may take in as much smoke as that taken in by a smoker of 100 cigarettes. This may result in the delivery of more nicotine at once than cigarettes. Pipe smoking has limited research done on its effects. However the available research indicate nicotine addiction by its users. In the short term, as short as 45 minutes after a huge inhalation of the tobacco smoke carbon monoxide increases, plasma nicotine and heart rate of user are substantially increased. This posses a high cardiovascular attack risk especially amongst people with pre-existing conditions. Users of waterpipes tend to share the mouthpiece pre-exposing themselves to communicable diseases which may include periodontal disease. Tuberculosis and hepatitis may also transmitted this way. A research done in Saudi Arabia showed that the risk of mouth disease increased 5 times compared to 3.8 times amongst cigarette smokers. In most of the countries where tobacco water pipes are used children are even allowed to smoke. The pipes are smoked at home increasing the dangers of second hand smoke. Due to its increasing popularity in the western world, tobacco waterpipes will soon be regulated by smoking laws and banned in public places as what has already happened in the UK. Smoking pipes should be approached as smoking tobacco to avoid suffering from some of the yet unknown dangers due to limited research. Sources:
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