Inside Argila Hookah Bar in Morton Grove, Ill., green party lights dance on the walls and hip-hop beats pump in the background. A fruity smokiness hangs in the air.
Hookah smoking is a growing trend among college-age Americans, and more than 50 lounges are scattered throughout the Chicagoland area. But the biggest reason why young adults smoke hookah is the false belief that hookah is a safe and more social alternative to cigarettes.
“It’s something you do with a group of friends,” Communication sophomore Josh Schwartz says. “It’s not about the act of smoking. It’s about the act of doing it with people."
A hookah works by heating tobacco with charcoal, and then the smoke is drawn through water and inhaled. The owner of Argila Hookah Bar, Saboor Hanif, says many of his clients keep coming back because they believe hookah is safe.
“It’s a more healthy choice to go with—if you really want to smoke—than a cigarette or a cigar,” he says.
Doctors disagree. It’s a common myth that the hookah water filters toxins. The water only cools the smoke and makes it more palatable, not safer. Statistics from the American Lung Association show that a hookah smoker inhales about 100 to 200 times as much smoke as a cigarette smoker in one session, and hookah contains many carcinogens and toxins found in cigarettes.
“There’s not only the nicotine, an addictive substance, but also the products of combustion which contain chemicals that are harmful as well, as many of them are carcinogens,” says Eileen Lowery, senior director of programs for the Respiratory Health Association. “So then the health concerns are the same as they are for any inhaled tobacco product ... It’s re- ally kind of scary because it is so popular and the tobacco industry is very aware of ways that they target the 19 to 24-year-old population in as many as ways as they possibly can."
But Hanif and the hookah community continue to bill the pastime as mostly free of health risks. “Just don’t order a bad flavor,” Hanif warns.