Shisha smoking

[~Jess~ 0]

in lebanon we went and smoked it in a few cafe's as a family or after having lebanese food.

but usually we smoke at home in our pipe that we bought new from the shop.

i havent smoked it since Oct 2nd tho and wont be again until sometime in July.

ive seen lots of women in lebanon smoking outside in public...i guess its just more open there. but here in Saudi never.

[Aymerlu 3]

So I was there and I smoked shisha and I don't smoke. It was something of a novelty and I recall I almost passed out because it was so thick and heavy. I saw other women smoking shisha but not native ones. They were from Russia, Poland, Italy, UK, Hungry. I didn't meet any American ones.

Yep, I was smoking it too! I loved the dried apples they put on the hot coals. It was funny, my first trip to Egypt I was like "Honey....why are their bongs everywhere?" He was like "bong? What is a bong?" I was like THERE ARE BONGS EVERYWHERE!!!!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Jess -- Lebanon (and Israel) are in general the most liberal/permissive MENA countries, although they both have some very conservative communities as well.

LOL @ Amy and her "bongs." In Oman they call it the hubbly bubbly.

[jpaula 20]

Jess -- Lebanon (and Israel) are in general the most liberal/permissive MENA countries, although they both have some very conservative communities as well.

LOL @ Amy and her "bongs." In Oman they call it the hubbly bubbly.

A little odd to add Algeria to this list, but while women will not smoke on the streets in Algiers, the cafes are full of women--especially young women, especially the "chi chis"--smoking. Not much shisha, though. Cigarettes galore. Maybe it is one more remanant of a French influence. Then again, the French have banned smoking in cafes, so maybe the Algerians have managed to out-French the French.

[♥JP♥ 5]

In Jordan you will see lots of girls in cafes smoking argileh (shisha). They have several places and they have places that are exclusively for men and you won't see any women there at all. They also have what are called "family establishments" where women smoke argileh and upscale cafes and hotels. Its pretty common in Jordan which is a relatively conservative country.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

In El Gouna resort on the Red Sea.

[I love Ashraf 0]

I smoke but I am looking forward to trying it just for fun.I am going to get my aunt a water pipe,I know smoking is bad for the health.I have oral fixation issues.

[amal 4]

I was able to quit smoking but do have the occasional hookah experience. I do fairly well with the flavoring too...Hubster brags about my mixtures all the time hehehe. I know its bad for the health but, well, I was smoking before and have cut back to 1 to 2 max argeelahs a week so thats pretty dang good in my book. I think we'll have some tonight as a matter of fact mmmmmmmmmmmmm 2 apples mixed with a hint of grape *drool* and a little bit of peach... nummy nummy

amal

[♥JP♥ 5]

I was able to quit smoking but do have the occasional hookah experience. I do fairly well with the flavoring too...Hubster brags about my mixtures all the time hehehe. I know its bad for the health but, well, I was smoking before and have cut back to 1 to 2 max argeelahs a week so thats pretty dang good in my book. I think we'll have some tonight as a matter of fact mmmmmmmmmmmmm 2 apples mixed with a hint of grape *drool* and a little bit of peach... nummy nummy

amal

Oh Amal....I think you are better off with the cigarettes! Read this article from the Mayo Clinic...

There is a myth that hookah smoking is safer than smoking cigarettes because the hookah smoke is filtered through water before it is inhaled. But recent studies have found that hookah smokers actually inhale more nicotine than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale.

Hookah — also called narghile, shisha and goza — is a water pipe. The device has been used for centuries in the Middle East and Asia to smoke tobacco. Now, hookah bars and cafes are popping up across the United States — fueled by the growing popularity of hookah smoking among teens and young adults.

The hookah device consists of four parts:

A base, or smoke chamber, which is partially filled with water

A bowl, which contains tobacco and the heating source

A pipe that connects the bowl to the base and dips into the water in the base

A hose, a second tube in the pipe that does not dip into the water but opens into air in the base and allows users to inhale the hookah smoke

When a smoker inhales through the tube, a pressure difference forces air past the heating source and heats the tobacco, which gives off smoke. The smoke is pulled away from the tobacco and passes through the water and into the smoke chamber — where it is inhaled by the smoker.

Although many believe that the water in the hookah filters out all the "bad stuff" in the tobacco smoke, this isn't true. According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) advisory, a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette. Even after passing through the water, the tobacco smoke produced still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). Hookah smoking also delivers significant levels of nicotine — the very addictive substance in tobacco.

The trend of hookah smoking has doctors and public health experts concerned because — despite the claim of many users — smoking from a hookah is just as dangerous as smoking a cigarette.

[amal 4]

I was able to quit smoking but do have the occasional hookah experience. I do fairly well with the flavoring too...Hubster brags about my mixtures all the time hehehe. I know its bad for the health but, well, I was smoking before and have cut back to 1 to 2 max argeelahs a week so thats pretty dang good in my book. I think we'll have some tonight as a matter of fact mmmmmmmmmmmmm 2 apples mixed with a hint of grape *drool* and a little bit of peach... nummy nummy

amal

Oh Amal....I think you are better off with the cigarettes! Read this article from the Mayo Clinic...

There is a myth that hookah smoking is safer than smoking cigarettes because the hookah smoke is filtered through water before it is inhaled. But recent studies have found that hookah smokers actually inhale more nicotine than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale.

Hookah — also called narghile, shisha and goza — is a water pipe. The device has been used for centuries in the Middle East and Asia to smoke tobacco. Now, hookah bars and cafes are popping up across the United States — fueled by the growing popularity of hookah smoking among teens and young adults.

The hookah device consists of four parts:

A base, or smoke chamber, which is partially filled with water

A bowl, which contains tobacco and the heating source

A pipe that connects the bowl to the base and dips into the water in the base

A hose, a second tube in the pipe that does not dip into the water but opens into air in the base and allows users to inhale the hookah smoke

When a smoker inhales through the tube, a pressure difference forces air past the heating source and heats the tobacco, which gives off smoke. The smoke is pulled away from the tobacco and passes through the water and into the smoke chamber — where it is inhaled by the smoker.

Although many believe that the water in the hookah filters out all the "bad stuff" in the tobacco smoke, this isn't true. According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) advisory, a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette. Even after passing through the water, the tobacco smoke produced still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). Hookah smoking also delivers significant levels of nicotine — the very addictive substance in tobacco.

The trend of hookah smoking has doctors and public health experts concerned because — despite the claim of many users — smoking from a hookah is just as dangerous as smoking a cigarette.

I was going through about a pack of cigarettes every 2 days with argeelah occasionally. Now, no cigarettes, and argeelah usually only once a week where we both share it (love the dual hose hookas) and usually end up more involved in the movie and forget to puff lol!

When I was smoking cigarettes, I coughed and hacked up colorful presents all the time. Since quitting and just argeela-ing once-a-week, no more coughing and hacking and I am feeling so much better. I'll get tired of it eventually...even now there are some days we say we're gonna do it but we are too lazy to get up and prepare it...that part sucks! lol

[Aymerlu 3]

I was able to quit smoking but do have the occasional hookah experience. I do fairly well with the flavoring too...Hubster brags about my mixtures all the time hehehe. I know its bad for the health but, well, I was smoking before and have cut back to 1 to 2 max argeelahs a week so thats pretty dang good in my book. I think we'll have some tonight as a matter of fact mmmmmmmmmmmmm 2 apples mixed with a hint of grape *drool* and a little bit of peach... nummy nummy

amal

oohhhhh.....makes me wanna hit the hooka Amal!

[a1angied 0]

I can't wait to go hame and try Amals mixture. I have all those flavors and never have I tried mixing them but tonight is the night.

We went to Cafe's in Amman and I seen women and men smoking the Hooka. I even asked my husband because I thought that the women would not smoke in public and he said it is ok. I didn't actually try it until he came a brought a hooka that he had made by his friend in Syria. I will have to take a pic of it and post it when I get home. Yeah while I am getting the natual wood ready.

[Donna A 4]

woman in syria smoke hookah in public. i had no desire to do it.

[monnik 0]

In Jordan you will see lots of girls in cafes smoking argileh (shisha). They have several places and they have places that are exclusively for men and you won't see any women there at all. They also have what are called "family establishments" where women smoke argileh and upscale cafes and hotels. Its pretty common in Jordan which is a relatively conservative country.

This is pretty much what I have observed in Egypt. There are lots of women & girls who smoke in cafes. I think the location plays more of a part than the gender. Some cafes are just hole in the wall places with all male clientele. It's considered trashy and disrespectful for women to go there (especially at night).

Also, the large establishments have children, families, and even young (I would say 17 & up) customers.

But, I have not seen a lot of women smoking cigarettes. It happens, but usually only in upper scale places. I think that's another example of location. The higher you go up in class of the place, the more is accepted.

DEFINITELY no smoking cigarettes in the street ! A girl that I work with (American-born Egyptian) asked me to walk with her on our lunch break one day & she walked to a side street and started smoking a cigarette. I was so uncomfortable. I felt like everyone was looking at us (even though they weren't). It is just socially unusual for a woman to smoke cigarettes in public in Egypt.

[monnik 0]

I could never stand the thought of ALL those other mouths being on that thing. BLECH. I know they give a new peice to each person but still germs have to have slid down the mouth peice and somehow get to the next person. Plus they've all touched the hose, etc. YUK!

We went to a cafe where there were a lot of men smoking shisha, but it was like the newer cafe that melly talked about. I saw western girls smoking but not Egyptian girls...though Egyptian girls were present and just hanging out. (Sorry for the blurry pic)

See, the girl on the left in orange is, but the girl in the pink is just there. There's a monkey just to the right in the tree but it's asleep and draped over a branch or something. lol

We were just there before Christmas, sparrow. I think that's the Afrikano Cafe. We usually sit outside though cause I will get a headache and/or head rush from all of the sheesha.

You guys were right across the street from us. We walk to the mall all the time.

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