The Hookah

The Hookah, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

A hookah' (hukkā or huqqah[1][2]),('هوكة) , also known as a waterpipe,[3] narghile, arghila, or qalyān, or Shisha (which refers specifically to Egyptian hookahs) is a single- or multi-stemmed instrument for vaporizing and smoking flavored tobacco called shisha in which the vapor or smoke is passed through a water basin (often glass-based) before inhalation. Depending on the placement of the coal above the shisha, a hookah can be used to produce smoke by burning the shisha or used to create water vapor by melting it at a lower temperature.[4] When a waterpipe is used to produce smoke (as is common in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf), it is usually referred to as a hookah, which means "jar" in Arabic. When the same device is used to vaporize shisha (as is common in India and the Levant), it is usually referred to as a nargile, which means "gourd" in Sanskrit. The vapor from a nargile looks similar enough to the smoke from a hookah as to cause both users and medical professionals to often confuse the two. The origin of the waterpipe is around the area which includes India,[5][6][7][8] and Persia,[7][9][10][11] or at a transition point between the two. The word hookah is a derivative of "huqqa", which is what the Arabs called it.[12][13] According to author Cyril Elgood (pp. 41, 110), who does not mention his source, it was Abul-Fath Gilani (d. 1588), a Persian physician at the Indian court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, who "first passed the smoke of tobacco through a small bowl of water to purify and cool the smoke and thus invented the hubble-bubble or hookah."[14] Nevertheless, a quatrain of Ahli Shirazi (d. 1535) refers to the use of the ḡalyān in Safavid Iran.[15] (Falsafī, II, p. 277; Semsār, 1963, p. 15). Smoking the hookah has gained popularity outside of its native region, in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, and is gaining popularity in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, Tanzania and South Africa.
Narjilah or nargileh (Arabic: نارجيلة‎ but sometimes pronounced Argileh or Argilee) is the name most commonly used in Syria, Armenia, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. Nargile derives from the Persian word nārghile, meaning coconut, which in turn is from the Sanskrit word nārikela (नारिकेल), suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.[16][17] In Albania, the hookah is called "lula" or "lulava".
In Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, na[r]gile (на[р]гиле; from Persian nargile) is used to refer to the pipe. Šiša (шиша) refers to the tobacco that is smoked in it.[citation needed] The pipes there often have one or two mouth pieces. The flavored tobacco, created by marinating cuts of tobacco in a multitude of flavored molasses, is placed above the water and covered by pierced foil with hot coals placed on top, and the smoke is drawn through cold water to cool and filter it.
"Narguile",[18] is the common word in Spain used to refer to the pipe, although "cachimba"[19] is also used, along with "shisha" by Moroccan immigrants in Spain.
Sheesha (شيشة), from the Persian word shīshe (شیشه), meaning glass, is the common term for the hookah in Egypt, Sudan and countries of the Arab Peninsula (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Yemen and Saudi Arabia), and in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Somalia.[citation needed]
In Iran, hookah is called "Qalyān" (Persian:Qalyān). Persian qalyan is included in the earliest European compendium on tobacco, the tobacolgia written by Johan Neander and published in Dutch in 1622. It seems that over time water pipes acquired an Iranian connotation as in eighteenth-century Egypt the most fashionable pipes were called Karim Khan after the Iranian ruler of the day.[20] This is also the name used in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.[citation needed]
In Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, a hookah is called chillim.[21]
In India and Pakistan the name most similar to the English hookah is used: huqqa (हुक़्क़ा /حقّہ).[22]
In Maldives, hookah is called "Gudugudaa".[23]
In Philippines, hookah is called "Hitboo" and normally used in smoking flavored marijuana.[24] The hookah pipe is also known as the "Marra pipe" in the UK, especially in the North East, where it is used for recreational purposes.[citation needed]
The widespread use of the Indian word "hookah" in the English language is a result of the British Raj, the British dominion of India (1858–1947), when large numbers of expatriate Britons first sampled the water pipe. William Hickey, shortly after arriving in Kolkata, India, in 1775, wrote in his Memoirs:
The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, "Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without ...[I] have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah.[25]

According to Cyril Elgood (PP.41, 110) in India the physician Irfan Shaikh, at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar I (1542 - 1605 AD) invented the idea.[26][27][28][29] However, a quatrain of Ahlī Shirazi (d. 1535), a Persian poet, refers to the use of the ḡalyān (Falsafī, II, p. 277; Semsār, 1963, p. 15), thus dating its use at least as early as the time of the Shah Ṭahmāsp I. It seems, therefore, that Abu’l-Fath Gilani should be credited with the introduction of the ḡalyān, already in use in Persia, into India.[26]
Following the European introduction of tobacco to Persia and India, Hakim Abu’l-Fath Gilani, who came from Gilan, a province in the north of Iran, migrated to Hamarastan.[30] He later became a physician in the Mughal court and raised health concerns after smoking tobacco became popular among Indian noblemen.[31] He subsequently envisaged a system which allowed smoke to be passed through water in order to be 'purified'.[27] Gilani introduced the ḡalyān after Asad Beg, the ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar I to take up smoking.[27] Following popularity among noblemen, this new device for smoking soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry.[27][29]
Culture
Middle East
In the Middle East and Arab world, people smoke waterpipe as part of their culture and traditions. Social smoking is done with a single or double hose hookah, and sometimes even triple or quadruple hose hookahs in the forms of parties or small get-togethers are used. When the smoker is finished, either the hose is placed back on the table signifying that it is available, or it is handed from one user to the next, folded back on itself so that the mouthpiece is not pointing at the recipient. Local names of waterpipe in the middle east are, ghalyan or ḡalyān, shisha, argila, nargile, nafas, ḥoqqa, čelam/čelīm)[26]
Most cafés in the Middle East offer shishas.[32] Cafés are widespread and are amongst the chief social gathering places in the Arab world (akin to public houses in Britain).[33] Some expatriate residents arriving in the Middle East adopt shisha cafés to make up for the lack of pubs in the region, especially where prohibition is in place.[citation needed]
Iran[edit source | editbeta]


Naser al-Din Shah Qajar smoking qalyan


Iranian woman with hookah (qalyan), 1900, Iran
The exact date of the first use of ḡalyān in Persia is not known. According to Cyril Elgood (pp. 41, 110), who does not mention his source, it was Abul-Fatḥ Gilani (d. 1588), a Persian physician at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar I, who "first passed the smoke of tobacco through a small bowl of water to purify and cool the smoke and thus invented the hubble-bubble or hookah." However, a quatrain of Ahli Shirazi (d. 1535) refers to the use of the ḡalyān (Falsafī, II, p. 277; Semsār, 1963, p. 15), thus dating its use at least as early as the time of Tahmasp I (1524–76). It seems, therefore, that Abul-Fath Gilani should be credited with the introduction of the ḡalyān, already in use in Persia, to India.
Although the Safavid Shah ʿAbbās I strongly condemned tobacco use, towards the end of his reign smoking ḡalyān and čopoq (q.v.) had become common on every level of the society, women included. In schools, both teachers and students had ḡalyāns while lessons continued (Falsafī, II, pp. 278–80). Shah Safi of Persia (r. 1629-42) declared a complete ban on tobacco, but the income received from its use persuaded him to soon revoke the ban.[34] The use of ḡalyāns became so widespread that a group of poor people became professional tinkers of crystal water pipes. During the time of Abbas II of Persia (r. 1642-1666), use of the water pipe had become a national addiction (Chardin, tr., II, p. 899). The shah (king) had his own private ḡalyān servants. Evidently the position of water pipe tender (ḡalyāndār) dates from this time. Also at this time, reservoirs were made of glass, pottery, or a type of gourd. Because of the unsatisfactory quality of indigenous glass, glass reservoirs were sometimes imported from Venice (Chardin, tr., II, p. 892). In the time of Suleiman I of Persia (r. 1694-1722), ḡalyāns became more elaborately embellished as their use increased. The wealthy owned gold and silver pipes. The masses spent more on ḡalyāns than they did on the necessities of life (Tavernier apud Semsār, 1963, p. 16).
An emissary of Sultan Husayn (r.1722-32) to the court of Louis XV of France, on his way to the royal audience at Versailles, had in his retinue an officer holding his ḡalyān, which he used while his carriage was in motion (Herbette, tr. p. 7; Kasrawī, pp. 211–12; Semsār, 1963, pp. 18–19). We have no record indicating the use of ḡalyān at the court of Nader Shah, although its use seems to have continued uninterrupted. There are portraits of Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty of Iran and Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar which depict them smoking the ḡalyān.[35] Iranians had a special tobacco called Khansar (خانسار, presumably name of the origin city, Khvansar). The charcoals would be put on the Khansar without foil. Khansar has less smoke than the normal tobacco.[citation needed]
Saudi Arabia[edit source | editbeta]
Saudi Arabia is in the process of implementing general smoking bans in public places and government offices. This includes shishas.[36] Additionally, the city of Riyadh has banned shisha cafes within city limits.

India[edit source | editbeta]


The intricate work on a Malabar Hookah
The concept of hookah is thought to have originated In India,[40] once the province of the wealthy, it was tremendously popular especially during Mughal rule. The hookah has since become less popular; however, it is once again garnering the attention of the masses, and cafés and restaurants that offer it as a consumable are popular. The use of hookahs from ancient times in India was not only a custom, but a matter of prestige. Rich and landed classes would smoke hookahs.
Tobacco is smoked in hookahs in many villages as per traditional customs. Smoking tobacco-molasses is now becoming popular amongst the youth in India. There are several chain clubs, bars and coffee shops in India offering a wider variety of mu‘assels, including non-tobacco versions. Hookah was recently banned in Bangalore. However, it can be bought or rented for personal usage or organized parties.[41]
Koyilandy, a small fishing town on the west coast of India, once made and exported hookahs extensively. These are known as Malabar Hookhas or Koyilandy Hookahs. Today these intricate hookahs are difficult to find outside of Koyilandy and are becoming difficult even to find in Koyilandy itself.
As hookah makes resurgence in India, there have been numerous raids and bans recently on hookah smoking, especially in Gujarat.[42]
Nepal[edit source | editbeta]


A hookah at a restaurant in Nepal
Hookahs (हुक़्क़ा), especially wooden ones, are popular in Nepal. Use of hookahs is considered to symbolize elite family throughout history.[citation needed] These days hookahs are also getting popular among younger people and tourists. The main tourists places like Kathmandu, Pokhara and Dharan are famous for Hookah Bars. You can smoke hookahs at the rate of 175 Rs Minimum [43]
Bangladesh[edit source | editbeta]
The hookah has been a traditional smoking instrument in Bangladesh, as it has been in India.[citation needed] However, flavored shisha was introduced in the early 2000s.[citation needed] Hookah lounges spread quite quickly between 2008–2011 and became very popular among young people as well as middle-aged people as a relaxation method.[citation needed] There have been allegations of a government crack-down on hookah bars to prevent illicit drug usage.[citation needed]

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