Explain the potential hazards of using waterpipes to inhale tobacco

Answer 1

In recent years, the spread of hookah or waterpipe lounges in the United States has introduced a new method of tobacco use. Hookah smoking has gained popularity among adolescents and college students. Waterpipes burn a flavored tobacco whose smoke is passed through water before it is inhaled. Yet, for all their presumed stylishness, waterpipes are far from innocuous. A single waterpipe session, which usually lasts about 40 minutes, may expose the user to three to nine times the amount of carbon monoxide and nearly twice the amount of nicotine as a single cigarette (Fromme et al., 2009). The smoke retains most of the same toxins contained in regular cigarette smoke, including volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and metals. Like cigarette smoke, the compounds found in waterpipe smoke expose other people to secondhand smoke with its associated health risks. Additionally, the practice of communally-sharing a single pipe increases the risk of communicable or infectious diseases, as well as germ and bacterial transmission. Furthermore, the waterpipe stimulates the same addictive and dependent behavior as cigarettes and can hinder cessation of tobacco use by providing smokers with a substitute means of ingesting nicotine. Use of a waterpipe may also serve as a catalyst for smoking initiation (Maziak, 2010).?