This is a thread for Hookah discussion Ever since my friends and I have turned 18 we have made Hookah a weekly ritual. I think It's great and it's a really good way to pass time with your friends. In this thread you can talk about your favorite Hookahs,Shishas,Coals, etc. I really like the Starbuzz brand, especially their Blue Mist flavor. I plan on getting a KM Hookah soon unless someone suggests another one here

Have Fun!

Chris Hemerich

Yeah, I love putting smoke and soot into my lungs. It's totally natural!

Strawberry lemonade shisha is the bomb.

That said, I'm an extremely infrequent Hookah user so I'm no expert in coals or anything like that.

I use a Hookah maybe 3-4 times a year, but when I do, it is always with lots of friends.
I don't like smoking but I find with a hookah that it is more natural, and generally nicer.



You can get tar and nicotine free tobacco as well.

Robert

If only were just tar and nicotine. There are far too many chemicals in tobacco, including poisons.

You're thinking cigarrettes. Companies like Marlboro add stuff in with tobacco. Tobacco itself isn't great, yes, but the cigarrette companies make it about 100x worse.

http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotin ... dients.htm

My view is that; any inhalation of smoke, will compromise your health and to engage in such "activities" for fun is pure idiocy.

Inhaling different types of smoke or substances can never be considered "better" or "worse", as all have the same common attribute of being foreign to the body, and all bring with them negative effects.

And as with all social habits, i.e. smoking, drinking etc. All this money is spent, yet nothing is ever left over to show for it.. except organ damage.



But you can't get smoke free smoke.

And in other breaking news.....living is found to be expensive and to shorten your life span!

But generally the threats to health and costs associated with living are unavoidable.

Smoking, drinking etc is an option, an option that brings with it additional threats to an individual and those around him/ her.

There are many risks associated with living - you could be hit by a bus crossing a street (my mother's favourite warning) so i think doing something as harmless as a little hookah needs a little perspective before all the dire health warnings are issued.

If people choose to do something that may be a little harmful to their health in the pursuit of enjoyment and a happier life which isn't harming others why do people feel the need to jump in with warnings?

It's the person that is doing whatever it is choice, i'm sure they are aware of the risks so why do we need to judge whether the activities they are doing are harmful or not?

If someone likes motorcycling, parachute jumping, swimming etc etc would we be as quick to warn them of the dangers?

After a pack a day at the end of 20 years-that started out from smoking something else-I wouldn't advise it. But, I won't be one of those reformed smokers who harps

What I will do is say to be nice to each other. There is no need for snippiness or telling others what to do. I spent the day with Uwe again, and I know he is pretty much a tea totaler, but while he doesn't approve of alcohol, he has never begrudged me my fun. Case in point, there's a cubing competition coming up that I want to go to, but probably not with him (although he will be there) because that is a boys and toys and beer weekend. He's "given me his blessing" if you will.

And if he can then who is anyone to tell other what they do is wrong. Definitely not I!

Kinda reminds me of X-Factor / Britain's Got Talent / America's Got Talent / Big Brother / I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! / etc...

Lol that's a good one Heiowge

I love smoking. I used to get through a couple of packs a day. I quit 9 years ago and still miss 'em. While I accept that people must have their vices, as long as I am not in the path of the smog cloud or it doesn't cost me a bean, I say go for it. As long as they are aware that I ended up in hospital due to smoking twice before I hit 30.

Are you saying the Guangzhou WCA competition? Hope to go there too but seems my working schedule doesn;t allow me to...

This is a discussion on Hookah guys, not health. But Shisha itself has 0% tar and only .05% nicotine. I don't appreciate anyone saying that it is "Pure Idiocy" on this thread. Take your bias elsewhere. This discussion is also not about cigarettes which are full of chemicals unlike Shisha.

Thanks ,

Chris Hemerich

As someone who has asthma and has been hospitalized MANY times because of it, I would say that screwing up your lungs is definitely not a good idea. I don't understand why people who are lucky enough to have perfectly good lungs do this to themselves. Take your good lungs as a blessing and don't screw them up by doing something easily preventable!

I'm not trying to cause trouble here, I just want everyone to know how lucky they are to have normal lungs. Let's not make this another flaming war like we've seen in other topics.

No more of these please? THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT, GO MAKE A LUNG HEALTH THREAD IF YOU WANT.

Thanks

Chris Hemerich

Would it be possible for an admin to remove the unrelated posts?

Technically, it is Hookah discussion. There are positive and negative aspects to every discussion. Are you going to ask an admin to remove someone's reply to a new puzzle if they say they don't like it?


Could've done without the "yelling".

That is not Hookah discussion. Have you ever used a Hookah? I clearly stated in the OP what direction I would like the thread to take. If you do not agree with that, can you please not post on this thread about health warnings?

Thanks

I can see this turning into something nasty, so I'll just stop here. That being said, I still disagree with what you're doing, but I'll leave you alone about it.

Sorry for the trouble.

Just cleaned up my old hookah
i've got two because the first one i bought ofline came smashed in half
they sent me a replacement and let me keep the old one, which i fixed
wooohooo

Don't worry about the "yelling", Chris generally gets ticked off easily

No, but seriously... I think once every couple weeks or even months it's okay, coz yur lungs get time to recover, but doing it often is just stupid. People get all worked up about AIDS, but this is as deadly on the long term, people should just stop, or make it illegal, like in France (for once they're the first ones to be responsible) because although most smokers are in denial about the risks (don't deny this, you'll just prove my point), nothing is done to help with that...

Just my two cents, don't get all worked up about it

- Greg

Smokers are aware of the risks, they just choose to ignore them.
Just like every other activity carries risks but people choose to ignore them.

Must be pretty boring for you guys, never leaving your house to travel in a car or by plane because of the risks..........

Life is about weighing up what you want versus the risks/negative side, smokers have made their choice to smoke why do non-smokers feel the need to act so preachily towards them?

Nobody is criticising the choice you make not to smoke so as Synester has asked for several times in this thread already just leave it as a discussion about hookah smoking. I can understand why he "shouted" - people weren't listening when he was "talking"

Oh and also ending a post with "let's not start another flame war" or "just my two cents" does not nullify what you wrote before it.

And luckily i'm not a bit worked up

I have no problem with smoking. As long as I don't have to inhale it or pay for it (either directly or indirectly due to paying for lung cancer treatments etc for compulsive smokers).

This is like starting a thread "What is you favourite car?" and it gets swamped with "you stupid idiot, cars are killing the planet and harming children and baby pandas and YOU MUST USE A BICYCLE".

I know nothing about hookahs, and if you want to use one, go ahead. But if someone with experience offers sensible advice, listen. Of course you can then reject it. That is your right.

That's ok - as long as you also won't pay for accident and emergency departments for people that are injured in car crashes (it's a dangerous activity and people shouldn't do it) or that injure themselves while drunk etc etc etc ad infinitum

Edit: You beat me to it Gus!

Logic Flaw: Cars are often necessary to get to work, and thus to live.
Hookah is not.

But more on topic:
I'd like to hear someone who frequents the substance describe the feeling it gives them.

I don't really get your need to correct AN EXAMPLE (judge the argument for logic if you want to be pedantic) but despite this the discussion was not about whether a hookah or a car was necessary for work or indeed to live - it was about whether people can do something they want to that is legal AS A FORM OF ENJOYMENT without others condescendingly warning them of the dangers.

Caps are for emphasis, not shouting, as an attempt (doomed to failure, i know) to highlight my main points.

I'm done here, i believe most people will understand my position.

Good luch with the thread Synester

Suits me!

I'm fed up of the number of alcoholics jamming up A&E. I had problems with them last year when I was in for kidney stones. As for car crashes... in the UK, the insurance company pays for the medical expenses - pretty much the only time it isn't paid for by the state.

...but I get your point. I just don't see why I have to pay for someone else's enjoyment.

I'm baaaa....aaacckkk!



What if the driver in the wrong was also uninsured? Who pays then?



It's called living in a society.

But you should be much more worried about other things you are paying for ....like wars!

Sigh....

Yeah I don't like wars either. Plenty of unnecessary ones these days.

As for if the party in the wrong was uninsured...

Your insurance pays out instead at no cost to you and they try and recoup the losses in court. It has no effect on your no-claims bonus. If you're not insured either, say you were on a bike and they were in an uninsured car, then the state tries to get it's cash back from them, not you. Either way, the party at fault gets a bill.

I suppose there are plenty of things we pay for that are unnecessary. Maybe I should go live on a desert island somewhere. Maybe buy a hookah!

But if the person couldn't afford to pay the insurance to begin with it's highly unlikely they can afford to pay this bill, in which case it's covered by the state (A.K.A. you the taxpayer)



Indeed! They're nice! But they may be quite bad for your health.....or so i've heard!

Do you have any photos? kind of intrigued to see what kind of stuff you are talking about.

Kind of, if you use a vaporizer you get a vapor. That's more for illicit activities, though.

Heck, I'm sorry Chris. It seems like my quick reply garnered this thread a bunch of negativity. Listen guys, you know how people didn't go into the dubstep thread and say "Country is the best genre" and "You shouldn't listen to dubstep"? Let's keep that kind of attitude. While you might be against smoking (and I obviously am) you can state that without pushing the issue (like I did).

That said, I understand that a hookah can be great for getting together with friends and hanging out!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah
It's used to smoke all kinds of stuff though water. That would include tobacco or even light narcotics, as well as simple (and probably relatively harmless) herbal mixes.

Water and a STEM. If someone said just water, I'd assume water pipe.

Here is a hookah that I am looking to get as an example Tony:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... 66&bih=705


And here is what is placed in bowl and smoked:

http://starbuzz.us/


Also here is a video running through the whole Hookah process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWVeDrh3 ... re=related

Also note in that Wikipedia article about the Health Risks of Hookah, all of those studies were actually done on water pipes, which are different than hookahs. There has not yet been an official study on the affects of Hookah Smoke.


Thanks!

Chris Hemerich

Please explain the difference between hookah and water pipe. I've always known that hookah is a water pipe, albeit more sophisticated with inclusion of a stem, rather than having people inhale from the body of the instrument (the pipe) itself. There are also multi-stem hookah that are even more convenient for group smoking.

I just looked at the wikipedia article about it, and it collaborates: Water pipes bubble smoke through water to cool and wash the smoke. The two basic types are stationary hookahs, with one or more long flexible drawtubes, and portable bongs.

I’ve only used one once and I liked it a lot. I wouldn’t use it ALL the time but it was nice to just relax and have fun with friends.
My friend and I actually found his brother’s hookah was taken this morning.

My oldest brother and his wife have a Hookah, but I've never gotten around to trying it. I am a bit interested to try it, however, I wouldn't go out of my way to do so.

My younger brother tried it at a friends house a couple months ago, and he said that he really liked it.

I was actually reading the Wikipedia article about Hookah, and it was saying something about people in some countries smoking hookah for like, 6-8 hours/day. I can't even imagine that.

IDK, how long does it take some people to smoke a cigarette? 20 times that for one pack. I bet it adds up quick.

Well the article said that in about an hour of smoking Hookah, it's only about 2 times the nicotine of a cigarette (doesn't sound bad), but 100-200 times the amount of smoke inhaled. I don't know how true those figures are, but I figure if it relaxes you, nobody else should be able to tell you that you can't or shouldn't do it. Probably shouldn't do it around kids though, at any rate.

Thanks for getting this back on topic (sorry, I was gone for the weekend and didn't catch it veering off topic).

Let's keep it positive, please (from all sides).

Dave

http://www.geekologie.com/2011/03/a_lon ... ng_far.php
Not sure if you can smoke with it or not, but it's awesome no matter what!
EDIT: The last comments say that it is

I'm curious about what would be the differences between different types of coals. DO they add flavour too? I thought that maybe just the Shisha was flavoured.

I’m pretty sure certain coals just burn longer and are easier to use and stuff like that. I’m no expert but that’s my best guess.

Coals do not affect the flavor, the only serve to heat the Shisha.

Gosh I hope so.

(The above was in response to a conversation that has been deleted. A troll joined the forum, posted rude stuff here, and we were expressing our hopes that he would be banned. The moderators dealt with him quickly and quietly. And now I'll duck out of this discussion... I'm not a fan of smoking... or being around smokers for that matter...)