With extra downtime in the summer, some students took up a hazy hobby, while others stayed clear of it.
“I go to hookah bars to smoke alone and do homework,” says Adriana Arteaga, senior at George Washington University.
Hookah — also known as shisha — is a water pipe of flavored tobacco that originated in the Middle East.
Arteaga, a 21-year-old Computer Science major, says she smokes hookah to relieve stress.
Patrick Greenwald, global affairs major at George Mason University, chooses not to participate in hookah-smoking because he says it’s unhealthy.
“It’s not enjoyable enough to outweigh the negative attributes,” he says.
A study published in an American Association for Cancer Research Journal found that young adults smoking hookah have an increased exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.
“Water pipe smoking is generally perceived to be a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, even for children and youths,” says Gideon St.Helen, a University of California, San Francisco postdoctoral fellow for Tobacco Control Research and Education. “Our study shows that water pipe use, particularly chronic use, is not risk-free,” he says in a press release.
After each hookah-smoking session, St. Helen and fellow researchers found participants had higher levels of nicotine, cotinine and other cancer-inducing agents.
“I’ve only heard about a few of the effects of hookah and they seem minor if it’s only an occasional escapade,” Farrell says.
Farrell, 22, hasn’t tried hookah, but says he will once his friends agree on a day to go.
Mohammad Tarabichi, employee at Cloud Lounge — a hookah bar in Arlington, Va. — says college students from both local universities and overseas come in every day to smoke hookah.
“They come after classes. We have free WiFi, so they come and do their homework, socialize,” Tarabichi says.
The starbuzz flavors are the favorite among the young customers, Tarabichi adds.
He says the average time customers smoke is between 45 minutes to two hours. Arteaga says she smokes for two to three hours during one session.
“There have been months where I would smoke at least once a week, but there have also been months where I would smoke maybe twice a month,” Arteaga says. “It depends on how stressed I am in that month and how accessible hookah is at that moment.”
Despite admitting to the harm in smoking hookah, Arteaga says it’s relaxing and more laid back than going out for drinks at a bar.
“Most people know the dangers of smoking. It’s more of a social thing. It’s fine in moderation,” Tarabichi says.
Although hookah is popular among young people and many college students, Farrell says the hype most likely won’t last long.
“It’s probably a fad. A distraction for the kids during the summer. Once school starts and the seasons change, I think I will hear less about it,” he says.
Greenwald disagrees, “I have noticed a lot of college students doing it. Perhaps it is a fad, but I don’t see it disappearing entirely any time.”