9 Ways Smoking A Hookah Can Spread Herpes and Cause Cancer  

Source from:  Rolling Out - Digital Urban Voice  04/24/2013

Hookahs have increasingly become a popular way for young adults to relax in a social setting. Over the years, more hookah bars have opened across the nation and private parties have featured hookah pipes.

For those unfamiliar, hookah is a pipe that vaporizes flavored tobacco for the purpose of smoking it. Although smoking a hookah is often viewed as safe, it can have deadly consequences, according to the CDC.

Infectious diseases (such as oral herpes and cold sores) may be transmitted by sharing a hookah.

Hookah smokers are at risk for the same kinds of diseases as are caused by cigarette smoking, including oral cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus, reduced lung function, and decreased fertility.

A typical hourlong hookah smoking session involves inhaling 100–200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette.

The charcoal used to heat tobacco in the hookah increases the health risks by producing high levels of carbon monoxide, metals, and cancer-causing chemicals.

Even after it has passed through water, the smoke produced by a hookah contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and cancer-causing chemicals.

Hookah tobacco and smoke contain numerous toxic substances known to cause clogged arteries and heart disease.

Irritation from exposure to tobacco juices increases the risk of developing oral cancers. The irritation by tobacco juice products is likely to be greater among hookah smokers than among pipe or cigar smokers because hookah smoking is typically practiced (with or without inhalation) more often and for longer periods of time.

Babies born to women who smoked one or more water pipes a day during pregnancy have lower birth weights (were at least 3½ ounces less) than babies born to nonsmokers and are at an increased risk for respiratory diseases.

Secondhand smoke from hookahs pose a serious risk for nonsmokers, particularly because it contains smoke not only from the tobacco but also from the heat source (e.g., charcoal) used in the hookah.