A planned hookah bar in Towson will offer sweet smokes and indoor lounging at a time when many jurisdictions are considering indoor smoking bans.
Hookah bars are smoke houses that often offer specialty or fruit-flavored tobacco products smoked in a large water pipe called a hookah.
“It?s obviously from the Middle East and has been used for hundreds of years,” said Sheppard Pratt addictions counselor Michael Gimbel.
“It?s become a real fad in the U.S., especially for college students. They think that if you smoke with a hookah, it?s not as dangerous as a cigarette, but most studies say it?s as dangerous, and you even see more cases of lip and tongue cancer.”
A common misconception is that the water filters smoke, Gimbel said. However, the water only cools the smoke so it is not as painful on the throat and lungs.
Most likely, the hookah lacks even a basic filter like those in cigarettes, he said.
