Are hookahs (water pipes) safer than cigarettes?
One extensive report on hookahs was published in 2005 by the World Health Organization. It found that in a single smoking session, cigarette smokers typically took 8 to 12 puffs and inhaled 0.5 to 0.6 liters of smoke over five to seven minutes. In contrast, hookah smokers may take 50 to 200 puffs of up to a liter of smoke each during a single session.
“The water pipe smoker may therefore inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale consuming 100 or more cigarettes,” the report said.
Hookahs can be just as hazardous as cigarettes: http://www.cigarette-store.org/cigarettes-news/some-facts-about-hookah-tobacco
Hookahs – Indian and Middle Eastern water pipes like those used by the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland – have become increasingly popular with college-age teens, with hookah bars multiplying like white rabbits around university campuses. And of course, college-age teens are big influencers of high school teens.