Hookah

Hookah Smoking: The Basics

Hookahs are water pipes that are used to smoke tobacco, also known as shisha. Shisha is a sticky mixture of tobacco, honey or molasses, and other flavorings (often candy or fruit flavors, such as chocolate mint or grape) that mask the harshness of smoking. The shisha is heated using coals or wood-burning embers.

Hookahs are growing in popularity, especially among youth and young adults. The myth is that hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarettes, but the fact is: Hookah smoking carries many of the same risks as cigarette smoking and has been linked to many of the same diseases caused by cigarette smoking.

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A typical 45-minute hookah smoking session is the equivalent of smoking 100-200 cigarettes.

Sampling: Hookah Bars and Vaping Lounges

Hookah bars and electronic cigarette (or vaping) lounges, although selling different products, function similarly in that they create an inviting, social environment where people can use tobacco indoors for unlimited periods of time. This is called sampling: allowing customers to try tobacco products in licensed retail tobacco shops.

The Problem

• Freedom to Breathe, Minnesota’s Clean Indoor Air Act, has an exemption for sampling. The intent of the exemption was to allow customers to briefly sample cigars or bulk tobacco before purchasing.
• Hookah bars and e-cigarette lounges exploit this exemption by allowing customers to sample tobacco products for long periods of time in a social environment.
• Sampling makes using tobacco products and nicotine addiction seem normal and more common than they are.
• Many hookah bars and e-cigarette lounges adjoin other businesses, where secondhand smoke and emissions also harm the health of those not using the products.

Close the indoor sampling loophole.

Here’s How