Now that the weather is finally starting to warm up, Ferris students are going to start seeing hookahs popping up around campus. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm about hookah at FSU.
Hookah is a water pipe through which a tobacco product, Shisha, is smoked. The Shisha is placed inside a bowl, which is often covered with aluminum foil with a hot coal placed on top. The smoke is then inhaled through a hose.
Hookah originated from either India or Persia but has spread across the world. Its use has proliferated throughout the United States through the establishment of various hookah lounges.
Outside of lounges, Ferris students are purchasing their own private hookahs, as many FSU students have probably witnessed on campus.
Unlike other tobacco products like cigarettes and cigars, hookah is a much more social experience and is very easy to share. People attach several hoses to a single hookah.
Contrary to some misconceptions, Shisha is not an intoxicant and smoking it will not get you “high.” Shisha is a moist substance, which is a mix of tobacco, molasses and vegetable glycerin. It comes in a myriad of flavors from fruit to vanilla to mint.
“I’ve never smoked hookah, but I have been to the hookah lounge,” Tim Burke, a sophomore in hotel management, said.
“I’m not a regular tobacco user, though I do smoke an occasional cigarillo.”
Students should keep in mind Shisha is a tobacco product and all the negative consequences that can accompany smoking cigarettes still apply to hookah.
“It doesn’t really bother me when people smoke hookah,” Valoree Burns, a sophomore in computer information systems, said. “I know what it is. I have friends who own some and smoke it at their place. I’ve never smoked it personally, but I don’t smoke any tobacco products.”
Still, many FSU students consider Hookah as an enjoyable experience if not an entirely healthy one.
“It seems interesting. Sounds like a good way to go out and have a good time,” Burke said.