Thursday, October 22, 2009
Why the Popularity
I first learned about smoking hookah about a year ago. Although it wasn't very popular at the time, students at my high school were buzzing about this new idea. It wasn't until I got to college that I went to my first hookah bar. In boise, it seems like there is a different hookah bar or lounge everywhere you turn. There are five that I can name just off the top of my head. At the hookah bar, I was surprised to see so many college students sitting around smoking. The lights were dim, music soft, and non-alcoholic drinks and hookah were being consumed in every area of the building. Everyone had said, "It's safe, you don't have to worry. You can't get addicted." Because it was "safe" I tried smoking it. A couple hours later I found myself still sitting there smoking and our group of about 8 turned into about 20. The amount of socializing we were doing all arose from smoking, something that surprised me. It is evident that this is a growing popularity in the United States due to the amount of hookah bars and the amount of people buying and smoking hookah across the nation. But why? There are 470 noted hookah bars in the United States, with an average of 5 being built each month. That is a big number! I have noticed that the popularity of hookah has grown immensely since restaraunts banned smoking in 2003. Maybe the popularity comes from that. Perhaps it is popular among college students because it is "safe" and legal, but somewhat rebellious. It is possible that there are a plethora of things that make smoking hookah popular. However this brings me to question how safe hookah really is. Is it safe just because we are told it is? If people found out that it is in fact harmful, would they continue to do it? Alcohol is harmful yet people continue to do that because of the socialization that is associated with it. In the future, are we going to see hookah continue to grow in America or is it going to diminish and not be socially accepted, similar to what happend with cigarettes?
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I never experienced hookah until I was a freshman in college. A girlfriend of mine decided that it would be fun to go down to a hookah bar and relax. This is what seems to be the main appeal of this activity. Nothing is more relaxing then sitting in a dark room with strangers and all sharing one nozzle to smoke out of right? The only safe thing that I could really see in doing this is the fact of the lack of additives. Cigarettes go through so much chemical treatment that it does not seem you is even smoking tobacco anymore. I believe if people did know the dangers of hookah that they would still partake in the fun. It is just an alternative to smoking; it could also be seen as a gateway to smoking. Perhaps people are so interested in it because of a fascination with things outside our culture, like India or Asia. In the past there were things out there that were a lot like hookah but much more dangerous. This thing is the opium den. The Hookah bar is pretty much the same thing just replaced with an “accepted” drug. Could this lead to a ban on hookah bars much like they did with the opium bars, or it not considered a “threat” yet?
ReplyDeleteYou'v got something there dude. I used to love smokin hooka. I used to blow smoke bubbles with those things that kids use at birthday parties. The questions that you're askin here are pretty reflective of our untrained human nature to take what's in front of us without thinking about the long term consequences. That's something that is highly typical of youth, and usually observed by the elderly. They're the ones who have overcome those impulses, and started acting on more logical, thought out judgments. That's something interesting too about advertising. The goal of advertising is usually to play on those impulses. Is there a lot of advertising going on for hooka bars?
ReplyDelete"Wiggy" aka James...after doing a lot of research on hookah I have surprisingly learned that there are quite a few additives to hookah which is also known as narghile tobacco. Studies have shown that it actually has a greater amount of nicotine as well as carbon monoxide than cigarettes do. There are also heavy metals that are found in it as well. I think that it is not as addicting and harmful in the short term because people don't use it on a daily basis. However, I think that if hookah was smoked as often as cigarettes, the damage it caused would be greater.
ReplyDeleteMichael...it is definitely in our human nature to just take what is in front of us without thinking about the consequences. I haven't seen a lot of advertising done on hookah bars. There is some advertising done just about hookah in general but not in America, it is mostly seen in India and South Africa and most of these advertisements convey the idea that hookah is completely safe.