CHENNAI: Ranjan, 28, has uploaded several pictures on social networking site posing with a pipe and blowing thick smoke. What the pictures do not convey is that he is a hookah addict and cannot go a day without a ‘drag’ of tobacco.
Though the habit of cigarette smoking has decreased considerably among the youth, the habit of smoking other tobacco products such as hookah has gone up, say doctors.
“Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable deaths and diseases in the world. If one form of tobacco use is curbed, the tobacco companies find an alternative, the latest being the use of hookah. While youngsters may see it as the new cool, the health impacts of hookah smoking is severe as it has both immediate and long term implications,” said surgical oncologist Dr S Rajasundaram of SIMS Hospital.
He pointed out that since hookah involves inhaling a large amount of smoke in a short span of time, the damage done to the lungs are high and can cause wheezing, meningitis and acute bronchitis.
Over a period of time, it can develop into cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, led to low birth weight, lung, esophageal and pancreatic cancer. Sadly, not many hookah smokers understand the implications as many think hookah is not as harmful as cigarette smoking, the doctor said .
Many college students like Nishanth P, frequenting hookah joints in the city, say that they have switched to smoking hookahs at home, after the bars were shut down on charges of sneaking marijuana into the sheesha. “For a few hundred bucks we can buy the sheesha pot and get it burning. It is popular as regular smokers like to smoke it apart from cigarettes. Non-smoking teens wanting to give cigarettes a try, assume that hookah is a safer option,” he adds.
Breaking this myth, consultant pulmonologist Dr N Kathiresan say in a 60 minute hookah session, smokers are exposed to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette.
When contacted, a hookah dealer in the city who sought anonymity said that hookahs were a popular concept at weddings and many people even requested for the services at the privacy of their homes.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Deadly-drag-Hookah-more-harmful-than-cigarettes/articleshow/47485893.cms