The most terrible myth about the harm of hookah sounds like this: one hookah smoke causes the same damage to the body as 100 cigarettes. If you are ever told this phrase, put down the hookah and start smoking, and at the same time suggest to your opponent to begin smoking 100 cigarettes! Next to impossible right?
There is no doubt that everyone has heard of “smokers’ lungs” and the stories of people quitting cigarettes in favor of hookah since it is less harmful than cigarettes. From a scientific point of view, a hookah cannot cause such great harm. In addition, it is less dangerous than regular cigarettes.
Let’s compare these methods by their different features.
Hookah vs. Cigarettes: Which is More Harmful?
Some “experts” say that cigarettes are not as dangerous as hookah. Others claim that hookah is practically harmless, but dry tobacco causes more harm. But all this is just words until facts are provided. Let’s analyze which habit causes more harm point by point.
1. Quality of tobacco
Cigarettes use dry tobacco that burns. The fundamental difference is in the smoke. Hookah tobacco is soaked in syrup and it smolders. So the hookah smoke is less aggressive.
2. Filter
Regular cigarettes have a fairly strong filter, but hookahs are not without one either. The smoke passes through a shaft where it cools and where some of the resins condense, through water, which is the main filter, and through a hose. In a cigarette, the smoke passes only through a filter. It does not retain harmful components as strongly, so cigarettes are at a disadvantage in this regard as well.
3. Nicotine
Both tobaccos contain nicotine. Although, nicotine-free mixtures are created for hookah for those who want to enjoy the aromatic smoke. However, hookah tobacco has a much lower nicotine content than cigarettes. In addition, you can choose a leaf by strength. Through a cigarette, the body receives much more of this component.
4. The presence of harmful impurities
Unlike cigarettes, hookah tobacco does not contain any impurities, except for syrup, which is made from natural flavors. Light hookah tobacco is produced by soaking the tobacco leaf, after which it is cleaned of most of the resins and nicotine. This allows flavor additives and molasses to enter the pores. Cigarette tobacco contains resins and other components, due to which it is ignited. The filter is not able to completely clean this smoke.
Also, Read – Does Hookah Get You High? What’s a Hookah Buzz?
5. Combustion temperature and smoking method
The smoke path in a hookah is much longer than in a cigarette, so the smoke temperature is much lower. Even a small hookah will cool it better than a cigarette, and modern models are made so that the smoke is also maximally cleaned and cooled. The close location of the heat source on a cigarette can cause a burn of the lips, and mouth, which is excluded in a hookah.
6. Smoking time
Any “scientist” would now say that hookah is losing. After all, a cigarette is smoked for 5 minutes, and a hookah for an hour, or even more.
But now let’s turn on logic and invite mathematics to visit. Firstly, hookah is usually smoked in company. This means that the time of influence of harmful substances is already reduced. But even if a person smokes it alone, on average, the session lasts an hour. On average, people smoke 1 hookah per week, even with great passion, there can be 3 of them. This is 3 hours of smoking. 1 cigarette is smoked for 5 minutes. On average, a person smokes a pack per day, it turns out, that 20 * 5 = 100 minutes per day. This is 1 hour 40 minutes. So every day, per week it turns out 11.6 hours. And a person will smoke 1-3 hookahs. Even if you smoke a hookah every day for an hour, you will get 7 hours a week, almost half as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. So, cigarettes are a complete loser here. And this is the strongest argument of hookah opponents.
7. The amount of carbon monoxide
Indeed, when smoking a hookah, the body receives a greater amount of carbon monoxide over a certain period. But this is only when calculating over a short period and in the proportion of 1 hookah versus 1 cigarette. After all, cigarettes cause more harm per week, as the calculations above show. Again, if you smoke a hookah correctly and ventilate the room, the harm will be significantly reduced. This round is for cigarettes.
8. Passive smoking
Both methods cause harm to those around you. Passive inhalation of carbon monoxide is produced in both cases. But hookah is smoked either at home or in specially designated areas. Cigarettes are not prohibited on the street. A person entering a bus finishes smoking a cigarette at the stop and exhales the last puff into the cabin.
9. Addiction
It is worth knowing that addiction is caused by nicotine. As we said earlier, there is more of it in cigarettes. Therefore, addiction to cigarettes is much stronger. Hookah is also addictive, but more because of a certain atmosphere, tastes, and the desire to try new sensations. However, as far as harmful addiction is concerned, the harm of hookah is much lower.
Conclusion
After reading this content, you will get a clear idea that hookah is less harmful than cigarettes. Of course, each of these methods is harmful in its own way, and prolonged smoking of anything in any case is harmful to health. It’s only a matter of how much and how often you smoke.
Therefore, if you want to open a hookah shop, then these points will give you an extra boost to continue your business successfully. Along with this, if you want to buy the best quality equipment for your hookah shop, get in touch with one of the renowned hookah accessories suppliers. For any further details, get in touch with GT Hookah Distribution.
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