The Dangers Of Just One Evening Of Hookah Smoking

slimvictor

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"Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness.
Hookah smoking may seem like a relatively harmless way to spend an evening, but a new study suggests otherwise.

Just one evening of hookah smoking could make nicotine urine levels spike by more than 70 times, and also result in the increase of cancer-causing agents, according to the study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, examined the urine of 55 healthy people who had used water pipes, or hookahs, before. The participants were asked to abstain from any type of smoking for one week, after which they submitted urine samples to the study researchers.

Then, the participants went to a hookah bar of their choice for an evening, after which they provided urine samples to the researchers again, in addition to information on the amount of time they spent hookah smoking, how many bowls they smoked, and the number of other shared users. The participants also gave urine from the morning after the hookah smoking session to the researchers.

On average, each participant used 0.6 bowls of water pipe tobacco and spent 74 minutes smoking the water pipes. Upon analysis of the participants’ urine after smoking the hookah, compared with before smoking the hookah, urine levels of nicotine were increased 73-fold and levels of cotinine (which is a metabolite of nicotine) were increased four-fold. In addition, levels of the breakdown products of chemicals known to increase cancer were increased in the urine, including NNAL -- which was increased two-fold -- and the breakdown products of volatile organic compounds -- which was increased 14 to 91 percent.

While other studies have also shown that hookah smoking is associated with increased levels of toxins that can lead to health risks, this study is unique in that it reflected the effects after a normal night of hookah smoking. Other studies typically involve smoking hookah in a clinical setting.

cont at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/27/hookah-health_n_5374558.html
 
Sometimes they flavor the tobacco with molasses. Plus like a bong the smoke is being cooled.

I'm sure there are additives in the tobacco used in hookahs, or maybe it's more pure than what they put in most cigarettes?

I've only used one once and a friend put grape flavored tobacco in it. I did not inhale it but puffed on it like you do a cigar or tobacco pipe. I was surprised that my friend who owned the hookah was inhaling it and had no trouble at all. I jokingly said we should have put lots of weed in there instead; but that was back when I was using alcohol and other drugs before I got sober.
 
I wonder why it is that people seem to be able to handle ridiculously high levels of nicotine from a Hookah, while smoking a cigarette could make them nauseous and dizzy.. the fuck do they put in that shit?

No idea, but strangely, I seem to find hookah smoke sedating, as opposed to cigarettes, which are more stimulating. The differences are interesting.
 
Yeah, I do wonder why exactly cigarettes are so much more nausea inducing than hooka bowls.

So what are the dangers of just one evening of hookah smoking, exactly? There was never any extrapolation of specific increased health risks provided, only the unsurprising news that the next day these peoples' piss contained many times the levels of metabolites that the urine of non-smokers contains in tiny quantities. Similar could be said about next day broccoli metabolites relative to carnivore piss. This is probably because despite the fact that increased levels of these toxins can lead to health problems over time it's hard to honestly claim that the consequence to health risks of a single exposure is anything more than so small as to be unquantifiable.

Nobody doubts tobacco smoking is unhealthy, but publishing a headline that implies there are dire implications to trying something even once without any intention of substantiating those claims is a signature of rabble-rousing propaganda. The clarification at the bottom of the article, which states "A previous version of this article mistakenly implied that nicotine is a cancer-causing agent; the article has been updated to clarify that it is other agents in hookah smoke that cause cancer," suggests a careless over eagerness to demonize at the expense of facts. (I'm a lifetime non-smoker, BTW)
 
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I wonder what gutting one large dip of chew does.. probably makes this look quite harmless.

I've seen people pack a 1\4 can like it was nothing. I only chew every now and then. I don't tell people not to try things often but don't try dip. It is one of the most addictive drugs I've tried and one of the least enjoyable. I mean smoking cigs, or cigars, or whatever is much less addictive IMO.
 
Am I missing something or are they claiming nicotine levels are spiking by 70 times compared when not smoking as if we have natural amounts in our body?

Anyway, hooka always seemed gross, the buzz is shit and it is either mild flavour or overwhelming harshness compared to what burn stage you are at in the bowl.
 
Am I missing something or are they claiming nicotine levels are spiking by 70 times compared when not smoking as if we have natural amounts in our body?

Anyway, hooka always seemed gross, the buzz is shit and it is either mild flavour or overwhelming harshness compared to what burn stage you are at in the bowl.
They link to the CDC's cotine fact sheet, which indicates non-smoker's bodies contain it from inhaling trace amounts of environmental smoke, and that it has decreased 70 percent since its peak average levels years ago (probably due to indoor smoking bans).
 
I've seen people pack a 1\4 can like it was nothing. I only chew every now and then. I don't tell people not to try things often but don't try dip. It is one of the most addictive drugs I've tried and one of the least enjoyable. I mean smoking cigs, or cigars, or whatever is much less addictive IMO.

To late and i agree.. i actually still enjoy it at this point.. but its a pain in the ass for sure. a few days ago I read about a guy who was chewing almost four tiins a day..
 
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There is an Indian place about 45 mins from here that has amazing food and they also do the hookah thing. You can take monster drags on those things, I enjoy it. The mango flavor was always my favorite. I'd even sneak a gram under the foil cap when the place was emptyt. It was so smokey no one noticed. One occasion at a diff place smoking a hookah I felt like I had been poisoned with nicotine.... The other place felt more sedating. I've seen the tobacco they use and its like kinda gooey. Def has molasses or some kind of sugary flavoring in it.
 
I always enjoyed hookah for what it is... It's a dedicated time/setting/place for injesting nicotine. Unlike a cigarette, which is perfect for ANY ocassion, hookah smoking must be planned out. That's one of the reasons cigarettes are so addictive for me. I can have a cig between my car and entering a building, but I can't setup a hookah that quick
 
The large dose of nicotine has a calming effect...

You do not become a jittery mess...

Instead you become more and more sedated till you have seizures...
 
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