I was introduced to hookah in college. The few times I tried it, I always got a headache from it. My friends, however, got a kick out of it and soon the visits to coffee shops were replaced with hookah bars. It was cool and there was no reason to dodge hookah because it was herbal.  There was no way it could be as bad as cigarettes, plain tobacco soaked in molasses or honey and fruits, none of that stuff those cigarette commercials warn us about. That was a myth because smoking in any capacity wasn't good for the health.

1 You Inhale More Smoke

Depending on how much you smoke, hookah can have more dangerous side effects than smoking. A hookah session lasts for about an hour which means you are exposed to 100 to 200 times more smoke than you do from a single cigarette. Further, since hookah requires you to take longer and harder drags, it can cause more potential damage to your lungs. Smoking Tobacco Through Hookah is Harmful for Heart, Reveals Study.

2 Hookah Is More Addictive

Many people give up cigarettes for hookah thinking that smoking from a pipe will control their addiction. But the tobacco in shisha with all the molasses and honey-soaked tobacco contains addictive nicotine which can be more difficult to resist than the tobacco in cigarettes.

3 Hookah Is Not a Safe Alternative

If you thought hookah filters out the harmful compounds, you were wrong. And burning tobacco produces smoke that is harmful irrespective of how you smoke it. The smoke is filled with tar and toxins which wreak havoc to your mouth, throat, and lungs. Electric Hookahs Are as Bad as Traditional Charcoal-based Ones, Says Study.

4 Sharing Hookah Can Be Dangerous

The tobacco and smoke is just one part of smoking hookah. The social aspect of sharing a hookah can also turn out to be pretty scary. Sharing mouthpieces can transfer contagious diseases and infections like herpes. Did you ever give a thought to it?

5 Hookah Changes Your Appearance

Much like cigarettes, the smoke from a hookah can dull limp your hair, dull your skin and causes yellowing of teeth. So think twice before you sit in that hookah bar for hours, even if you are not smoking it.

Bottomline – All the nasty side effects you thought you were escaping by abstaining from cigarettes is coming back from a hookah and doing more harm. So do yourself a favour and quit smoking all of it.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 12:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).