A device that is today as common in Egyptian and Lebanese homes as the coffee machine is in American ones, the hookah shisha enjoys a rich and varied history shared by few other commodities. No one country can be proved to have single developed the hookah shisha, as India Turkey, Syria, Iran and Egypt, but the earliest records of hookah shisha have been traced back to the Indian subcontinent. It is quite possible that while all these countries developed some form of hookah shisha, traders and travelers took their respective hookah shishas with themselves wherever they went, and this helped standardize the form and design of the hookah shisha. The world’s biggest manufacturers of the hookah shisha today are the Middle Eastern countries of Turkey, Syria and Egypt. The hookah shisha is known by different names such as the narghile in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Greece and Israel, and shisha in Persian and shisha in Urdu, both meaning glass. It is popularly believed that the current design and form of the hookah shisha is of Turkish origin, since the hookah shisha gave Turkish craftsmen a new outlet for their creativity.
Hookah shisha in popular culture
The hookah shisha has found its way into popular culture as well. One of the earlier instances is the mention of the Caterpillar in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland smoking on a hookah. A similar character called Jabba the Hutt is seen smoking a hookah shisha in the ‘Return of the Jedi’. These are just two of many pop culture references for the hookah shisha, and there is all the likelihood that this will increase as its popularity grows in the western world. In the city of New York alone, there are 7 hookah shisha lounges named after the word narghile. More and more youngsters of non-Middle Eastern and Asian origin are picking up hookah shisha smoking as a safer and more fashionable alternative to cigarette smoking. The tobacco is not burned, only heated, and the smoke is filtered and cooled as it passes through the water. This produces less carcinogens than when tobacco is burned. The vapor is smooth and aromatic, nowhere as harsh as cigarette smoke. There are over 42 flavors now available ranging from bubble gum, apricot, grape and cherry; to cola, latte and honey. Some smokers have said that hookah shisha smoking has helped wean them off smoking cigarettes.
What is hookah shisha?
Shisha is the word for tobacco, but it is also known by other names such as moassel, tabac and gouza. The hookah is what is used to smoke the shisha. The hookah is made up of 6 essential components, and a couple of optional ones. It operates by indirect heat and filtering of the smoke through water. The activity is considered to be more of a social activity than a tobacco addiction.
While many places in the US and UK have witnessed bans on indoor smoking in public places, a few areas allow hookah shisha lounges to operate under special licenses. Some lounges have switched from tobacco-based shisha to herbal alternatives to remain open and more comfortable to health-conscious customers. This ban on indoor smoking has also led to a rise in online sales of hookah shisha and made it a new avenue for business.
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