One thing that many smokers are turning to instead of smoking cigarettes is the use of water pipes to enjoy their tobacco. The water pipe, also called a hookah, shisha, goza or narghile is a different means of smoking using specially processed tobacco. Emerging as the trendy new way to smoke, Hookah Bars are opening up across the United States. Already a very acceptable way to enjoy a variety of flavored tobaccos in Europe this is a new trend in American that is quickly becoming popular amongst the eighteen to middle twenties crowd. It is leaving American health groups very concerned about the future health of these young smokers.

It is the first new tobacco trend to appear in many years. This is because those who are using it believe that it is a harmless and therefore risk free way to enjoy tobacco. Smoking with a water pipe for some is their first experience with smoking while others believe that giving up cigarettes and using a water pipe are two completely different activities. If you ask them they would tell you they had quit smoking.

Smokers believe that because of the way tobacco is smoked when using a hookah it is filtered much more so than when smoked through a cigarette. This is another smoker's myth! . The tobacco is put into the top, the bowl, where it is burned by using a small piece of charcoal. The smoke passes through the base, which is usually glass and resembles a vase in shape, and then swirls through the water in the base until it is drawn up to the mouth through a mouthpiece which sits at the end of a long hose. At a hookah bar most pipes have several hoses so that friends can enjoy a smoke together. The flavored tobacco, anything from regular black to a variety of fruit flavors, is then enjoyed for anywhere from twenty to forty five minutes depending on how much tobacco is smoked at a session.

This is the big issue right there. A cigarette is normally smoked for five to ten minutes. With a water pipe the smoking sessions are longer even if there are fewer of them in a day. Most people feel that what they are smoking is different enough from cigarette tobacco that there is no danger to their lungs or their overall health. This simply is not true. Nor is the belief that the water filters though all the bad that is in tobacco and so offers a safe smoke.

So far there is still a lot to learn about smoking tobacco with a water pipe instead of through a filtered cigarette. But the conclusions are feared the same. If you are young and feel that this is a cool method of sharing a smoke with friends you should know that you are eight times more likely to start smoking cigarettes if you smoke a hookah. If you have quit cigarettes to begin smoking this way you have accomplished nothing for yourself or your health. Don't convince yourself this is the answer to quitting.