A water pipe or shisha has a wide range of users who think that smoking it is not only pleasant, but also has many other advantages. How is it in practice? Specialists warn that incompetent shisha smoking can be much more harmful than traditional tobacco cigarettes.
Shisha became popular in Poland relatively recently. Initially, its construction consisted of coconut shells and wood. Nowadays, a water pipe has a slightly more complex structure. It is equipped with a special container for fruit tobacco, which is heated with charcoal or coconut shell charcoal. A water pipe is distinguished by the type of tobacco used, to which fruit pulp is added, most often apple, grape, banana, watermelon and lemon pulp.
How to light a water pipe?
To light a water pipe you need: a water pipe, water, tobacco, coal, aluminium foil, a toothpick.
How to light a water pipe?
- First fill the glass base with water to the correct height.
- Then place the tobacco in the stem and cover it with aluminium foil.
- Using a sharp and thin tool, pierce the foil several times. You can do this with a toothpick. Then set the coal on fire and wait until it starts to sizzle and place it on the foil.
- Remember to inhale the smoke gently enough to only support the embers of the charcoals.
- Then rinse the glass water container and the stem. If the pipe is not washed, tobacco residues will settle on the walls, which may cause problems with removal later on.
- Water pipe or is it harmful?
For many years, it was wrongly believed that smoking shisha is much healthier nothing to inhale smoke from classic cigarettes. The keen shisha smokers explained this opinion by the fact that harmful substances from tobacco dissolve in water. However, experts have shown the presence of toxic substances in tobacco smoke, making it clear that these substances are not soluble in water as originally intended. Worryingly, a person who smokes a water pipe can take up to 1 litre of smoke with each inhalation. An average smoker of traditional cigarettes accepts half of this amount. What's more, a water pipe burns much longer than a cigarette, so in one such session up to 200 litres of toxic smoke can enter the lungs. It has been proven that the hour of smoking a water pipe is just as harmful as smoking a hundred cigarettes!
Another issue is the possibility of infection with various infections. Smoking a water pipe together with friends can carry viruses, bacteria and other droplet infections. Smoking shisha is also one of the main risk factors for esophageal cancer.
