HOUSTON – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a reality check to fans of the hookah.
Smokers who thought the cool flavored smoke they inhale through the water pipe is somehow healthier, or at least not as dangerous, as the hot acrid smoke from cigarettes may not like the news.
The World Health Organization had already released a report comparing the two smoking habits, finding that because hookah sessions last hours on end, and users take long deep breaths, the smoke they inhale can be equal to 100 cigarettes.
The news from the CDC kicks that number up to 200 and even 400 times the amount of smoke from a cigarette.
Hookah smokers claim there are studies showing the water in the base filters out as much as 80 percent to 90 percent of the tar from the tobacco, leaving not full smoke but a watered-down vapor.
Scientists from the WHO said that simply isn't true. Their research found less than 5 percent of the nicotine was left suspended in the water. On top of that, WHO found the smoke contained tar, heavy metals and other cancer-causing chemicals.
Hookah lovers aren't buying all the gloom and doom. They point out the tobacco used is often mixed with molasses and fruit plus it is heated to a much lower temperature. In fact, they said it is cooked, not burnt, and that can lower the amount of different chemicals being inhaled.
But scientists are holding strong.
"The Hookah is a cigarette on steroids. It's an astounding exposure to a greater concentration of toxins by people holding their breath and inhaling deeper," said Dr. Tom Dailey, a lung specialist.
The American Cancer Society has more concerns, this time with the nicotine found in the tobacco. The organization claims the hookah pipe delivers more nicotine than cigarettes which can push a person's every-now-and-then smoke into an everyday habit.
Then there are the concerns over communicable diseases like tuberculosis, HPV and hepatitis being passed from person to person as they share the water pipe.
"There's a virus transmission and transmission of other infectious diseases," said Dailey.
Researchers are also concerned with the secondhand smoke aspects of hookah. A University of Florida study found charcoal used to heat the tobacco can give off large amounts of carbon monoxide, carried in the smoke, and that can be harmful to anyone hanging out in the hookah bars, even those not smoking.
Hookah users said the real fault in the claim that hookah smoking is not safer but even worse than cigarette smoking lies with the smoking machine used in research. Water pipe fans said it doesn't accurately replicate real use.
So, for now, the debate continues.
Although, casual hookah smoker Gus Amro pointed out that hookah is a tougher habit to maintain because, unlike smoking, it is not as portable as cigarettes.
"You can't take it to work with you, can't lug it around. So it has to be at a home or friend's house or in a restaurant," said Amro while smoking hookah on the porch at Maryz Mediterranean Cuisine.