Sales of Hookah Pipes and Tobacco are Surging

Source from:  Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist Tuesday, August 21, 2007 08/23/2007

The sales of hookah pipes and associated tobacco called shisha has gone up ten-fold in the last couple of years, says a local tobacco seller. Peter Hogue, a manager at Old Morris Tobacconists on Government, said most of the sales are to university-aged people, around 21 years old although some users, including himself, are up to 35 years old. "It's a young thing. It's a social thing. The general population is not doing a reefer in it," Hogue said, adding that in many cities including Vancouver and Seattle, hookah bars are springing up. Hogue was given the job of ordering in the hookah pipes several years ago and knows too well how most people associate them with smoking illegal drugs. "People come in and say, 'Look at the bong' and I say 'You're wrong.' He estimates only a very small percentage of people purchasing a hookah would use it for those purposes. Hogue said two years ago he carried only one flavour of shisha, the flavoured tobacco used in the pipe. Today 25 flavours are regularly stocked and they include cola, sambuca, lemon lime, mango, melon and Earl Grey tea. Many flavours are nicotine free but Hogue points out "when you're smoking, you're smoking." Traditional shisha formulas have about five per cent tobacco and 40 per cent fruit with a molasses-type sweetener binding it together into a moist paste. While they can be purchased for prices ranging from $6 to $20, many people also make their own shisha. Tobacco is placed in a container at the top of the hookah. Tin foil with small holes poked in it covers the container. A hot charcoal is placed on top, causing the tobacco to smoke. The pipes, which originated in the Middle East, have a stem that carries smoke through water that cools the smoke as users draw it thorough tubes coming off the outside of the device. A toonie-sized charcoal briquette used to smoke a hookah has been blamed for a fatal fire earlier this month that killed two University of Victoria students and seriously injuring two others. Fire officials believe the hookah tipped and the charcoal fell off the top of the hookah onto the sofa while the occupants of the house slept. Victoria fire chief Doug Angrove said the surprising trend has led the department to issue an advisory on the safe use of hookahs including ensuring that the briquette is safely lit and properly extinguished - preferably put in a metal container with a lid - before leaving the hookah unattended. Some of the devices are tippy and Angrove suggests the bases should be fastened to make them less hazardous. "We don't want to be here again; we don't want to have this happen again," Angrove said, adding that the investigation of the fire has troubled many in the department, including him, because they have similar aged children as the two who perished. Although the fire department has not been able to conclude if the duplex had working fire alarms, none of the survivors reported hearing one. It prompted Angrove to urge people to check their fire alarms monthly to see if they work. And to install detectors if there aren't any. "The tobacco costs $20. For that you could have bought a new smoke detector." Enditem