One of my best friends has long been known as the “Hookah Master” in our social circle, and even in our community in our hometown of San Diego. For him, hookah is a way of life. He has many hookahs; he brings them to parties, boasts about the many flavors, knows all the hookah bars, and preaches the supposed safety of them. “It’s not bad because it’s diluted through the water pipe…it’s not like you smoke it regularly so it’s safe…just quit the cigarettes and smoke hookah instead.” He’s even written a song about hookah that has become a fast favorite among hookah enthusiasts! My friend isn’t a bad guy or a naïve guy. He’s one of the nicest people in the world and is so likeable and fun that he could make a wall laugh. But like many people today who see hookah as the hot new trend, he has fallen victim to the mistruths of hookah.

But now his wife is pregnant. In an effort to be a healthy dad he tried to quit hookah, only to find that he couldn’t put it down so easily. Slowly he is seeing that the years of hookah smoking are catching up. At the young age of 29, he often has a scratchy throat, persistent cough, difficulty breathing, and headaches after not smoking hookah after only a day or two. Even our friends think something is “wrong” with him since he doesn’t go out as much now that he is trying to quit. To his amazement, hookah was not a simple thing he could just stop doing when he wanted to. And why is that? Because hookah is one of the most deceiving things to ever happen to tobacco. Here are some serious misconceptions about hookah and shisha (the tobacco smoked in hookahs), according to The Bacchus Network:

MYTH #1: Hookah smoke is filtered through water so it filters out any harmful ingredients.
TRUTH #1: Smoking tobacco through water does not filter out cancer-causing chemicals. Water-filtered smoke can damage the lungs and heart as much as cigarette smoke.

MYTH #2: Inhaling hookah smoke does not burn the lungs, so it is not unhealthy.
TRUTH #2: The hookah smoke does not burn the lungs when inhaled because is cooled through the water in the base of the hookah. Even though the smoke is cooled, it still contains carcinogens and it is still unhealthy.

MYTH #3: Smoking hookahs are healthier than smoking cigarettes.
TRUTH #3: Hookah smoke is just as dangerous as cigarette smoke. Hookahs generate smoke in different ways: cigarette smoke is generated by burning tobacco, while hookah smoke is produced by heating tobacco in a bowl using charcoal. The end product is the same—smoke, containing carcinogens.

MYTH #4: Smoking a hookah is not as addictive as smoking a cigarette because there is no nicotine.
TRUTH #4: Just like regular tobacco, shisha contains nicotine. In fact, in a 60-minute hookah session, smokers are exposed to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette.

MYTH #5: Herbal shisha is healthier than regular shisha.
TRUTH #5: Just like smoking herbal or “natural” cigarettes, herbal shisha exposes the smoker to tar and carcinogens.

MYTH #6: Shisha tobacco contains fruit, so it is healthier than regular tobacco.
TRUTH #6: Tobacco is tobacco, no matter how you look at it. Shisha is often soaked in molasses or honey and mixed with fruit, but it still contains cancer-causing chemicals and nicotine.

Hookahs have gained notoriety because of their exotic appeal, the social gathering that happens around them, and the supposed safety compared to the now famously unpopular cigarettes. But like the cigarettes that once were appealing and enjoyed, there is a new tobacco lie to battle.

Click here for more hookah facts.