Despite the potential health risks of smoking hookah and attempts by city officials to halt the distribution of permits to hookah bars, Boston residents and Boston University students continue to flock to such establishments.
Although the city put an end to smoking tobacco indoors, Boston’s hookah bars were excluded from this law.
Hookah bars qualify for permits if at least 51 percent of income comes from tobacco products. New legislation, however, may prevent hookah bars from obtaining updated permits.
Although the city put an end to smoking tobacco indoors, Boston’s hookah bars were excluded from this law.
While the inhalation of hookah smoke is less harsh than cigarette fumes, the smoke inhaled in an hour-long hookah session compares to the same amount of smoke in 100 cigarettes, according to the World Health Organization.
The charcoal used to heat the shisha also produces harmful levels of carbon monoxide and contains carcinogens found in other types of tobacco that cause lung cancer, heart disease and other health problems.
Mike Eisenhauer, a staff member at Sheesha Lounge, a hookah bar in Allston, said despite the health risks, hookah smoking attracts a range of customers.
“It’s super varied. College students, high school kids who just turned 18 and Middle Eastern people who are in the area and just wanted to try it out come here,” Eisenhauer said.
Even though hookah bar licenses are no longer being distributed, there is not an immediate problem for Sheesha.
“They stopped issuing the licenses, and they’re not renewing them, but we have about twelve years left on ours,” said Eisenhauer.
Eisenhauer said people are attracted to smoking a hookah because it is different than smoking a cigarette.
“It’s supposedly a little bit healthier than a cigarette. It feels a little bit better and it tastes better,” he said. “It’s not nearly as addictive [as cigarettes] and there’s not as much nicotine. It still is tobacco, it’s just processed differently. It’s a different experience altogether.”
School of Public Health professor and tobacco expert Michael Siegel said hookah bars appeal to younger people because cigarette smoking is becoming less accepted.
“Smoking is gradually going out of favor,” he said. “Social norms are changing. Smoking is no longer permitted at bars and restaurants, for example. So it is more and more difficult to smoke in social settings with other smokers.”
Siegel said hookah bars have replaced traditional bars and restaurants as places where people can smoke together since smoking tobacco indoors has become illegal.
“Hookah is absolutely not safe. It does contain tobacco. Whether it is ‘safer’ than traditional cigarettes I cannot say,” Siegel said.
For many BU students, hookah smoking is a recreational activity.
“I would usually go every two weeks when I lived in Tokyo,” said College of Arts and Sciences freshman Vanessa Csapo. “My favorite is apple cinnamon – it tastes like apple pie.”
Some students said they believe hookahs are more acceptable when it comes to health and religious guidelines.
“Muslim people are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, so they smoke hookah. You can go to any Arabic country and they will be smoking hookahs,” said College of Communications freshman Nikki Fedorov. “Hookahs are different. You don’t take the smoke into your lungs as much as cigarettes.”
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