But looks can be deceiving.
Tracey Barnett, an assistant professor of behavioral science and community health at the University of Florida, has been studying the hookah phenomenon and she’s finding the water pipes are manifestly NOT a healthy alternative to cigarette smoking.
Hookah pipes employ a water bowl to cool lit tobacco, whose smoke is inhaled through a tube or stem. Multiple pipes can come from the same bowl, making it more of a party scene. Gainesville has several hookah bars.
Barnett and her research group recently visited all of them with breath carbon monoxide testers. They assessed 173 hookah café patrons and 198 patrons of traditional bars that allow smoking.
They found the average carbon monoxide level of hookah patrons was 30.8 parts per million, while traditional bar-goers had an average carbon monoxide reading of 8.9 ppm.
Just sitting in the hookah bar was unhealthy, the researchers found. People who reported not smoking while in the café demonstrated elevated carbon monoxide levels of, on average, 11.5 ppm, an amount comparable to the carbon monoxide level of a regular cigarette smoker.
How much is unsafe? Fifty ppm over an eight-hour period is the limit allowed by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (Have they tested the folks who work in these clubs?)
Carbon monoxide interferes with blood oxygenation and has been linked to heart disease. It’s fatal at high levels.
Barnett’s group found some of the hookah patrons had extreme carbon monoxide levels. Eighteen percent were above 50 ppm compared with 1.5 percent of traditional bar patrons.
And eight of the hookah café patrons, or 5 percent, tested above 90 ppm.
At 70 ppm, symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as headache, fatigue and nausea can occur. Sustained exposure at 150 ppm to 200 ppm cause loss of consciousness.
Barnett has found the hookah fad is popular with the young. She surveyed Florida children in 2007 and found 11 percent of high school students and 4 percent of middle school had tried puff on the water pipe.
“This study demonstrates that even one hookah smoking session is exposing participants to high levels of carbon monoxide,” Barnett said in a statement from UF. ” There is no safe way to use tobacco.”