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Hookah-ed!! – Tracing the Hookah Evolution

The shisha is the latest trend in lounges and coffee bars -- It's no longer like an exotic scene from a Middle Eastern film, where the handsome sheikh relaxes with his hookah in his harem. In fact, smoking the water pipe, hookah or shisha as its otherwise known, is a trend catching on fast around the world.

From preppy young professionals in the US to desi BPO workers in Indian metros like Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai, people are choosing to relax with a drink and a community smoke after a long, hard day of taxing and mentally draining work. The mystique surrounding the hookah and the different flavors it comes in makes it seem even more fun. The hookah adds to the whole lounge bar image that's so happening now - a leisurely, chilled-out experience. It encourages conversation, quite different from the usual noisy pub ambience. The flavors vary from cappuccino and orange to mint and apple. It's a fad like no other, the trend has become a big hit in India and it’s finding its way to Tier 2 cities like Indore, Aurangabad, Nagpur, et cetera…





Its sweet flavors and non-irritating smoke lead many to believe that hookah smoking is less harmful for one's health than cigarettes. But I would like to comment that this has not been conclusively proved. Moing away from the contentious effects of hookah on one's health vis-a-vis cigarette smoking, let’s dwell on the origin & the evolution of the hookah.

The origins of the hookah can be traced to the north western provinces of India along the border of Pakistan in Rajasthan and Gujarat nearly a millennia back. These hookahs were simple, primitive, and rugged in design, usually made from a coconut shell base and tube with a head attached. They were designed to smoke opium and hashish. The hookah made its way through the Persian Kingdom, which also included Pakistan, Afghanistan, much of Middle Asia and Arab parts of Northern Africa. The hookah acquired tombeik on its way through Persia. Tombeik is a dark tobacco grown in modern day Iran. Tombeik is rinsed and packed in the large older style heads where hot coal is applied directly to the wet tombeik, which gives it a strong flavor. The hookahs designed in the Persian Empire are still hand crafted with each one being cut from a piece of wood!!!!!!!!!

When the hookah made its way into Turkey about 500 years ago, it endured a surge of popularity among the upper class and intellectuals and thus underwent a change in design. The hookah grew in size and complexity and became similar to the designs that we are more familiar with today. Brass and glass were added to the design and less wood was used. Intricate paintings and mosaics were added for beauty and elegance. A hookah bar waiter was treated with the respect accorded to a chef because the preparation for hookah smoking required exquisite skills. The packing and moisture was a cultivated skill, and it was considered rude to touch the coals.

Hookah smoking migrated south into the Arab world from Turkey to Lebanon and Syria where it got the name Argile. It then spread into Egypt and Morocco, where it came to be known as Shisha. It is also know as the Hubble bubble in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Today, hookah bars are social places where many people get together to discuss politics and local events. In Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the hookah bars are for men only but in some Muslim countries, many believe that the hookah is harem or Forbidden. Most hookah smoking countries serve Naklia shisha.

Naklia shisha is a combination of foreign tobaccos, honey molasses and dried fruit. The smoke is filtered through ice cold water to make the smoke cool and soothing. Older generations smoked hashish and opium, which created a negative stigma for the drug-free hookah that is smoked today. Slowly society is accepting the modern-day hookah as more of a pipe for tobacco instead of illegal drugs. The hookah has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe since the experimentation of the 60's. Now they are in every college head shop and Middle Eastern market across the entire U.S... It is also growing in popularity in Japan.

The Massell is a kind of tobacco used in smoking the Shisha (Nargila, Argila, Boury and Gouza). It is a blend of international tobacco leaves. This blend gives a special flavor and taste with the additives of molasses extracted from sugarcane and other additives. The Authorities of Measurement Standards have decided on those additives, so that it will be adequate for smoking. With the advent in the 20th century whereas of smoking and the discovered harms of smoking cigarettes. Like what happened to the international companies of great concern to the studies to decrease the harms of smoking, the Massell companies started to think in ways to decrease harms albeit the Massell is less harmful then the tobacco cigarettes.

By this time you must have understood my love for Hookah. The first time I had Hookah was three years ago in Aqua Java along with XYZ (Name withheld due to explicit reasons) under the mentoring of our Great Shri GAURAV Guru Ji Dhandak. We drove into the city from Esplanade to Rabindra Sadan and were looking for a place to sit & share our views on almost all the topic under the sun ;-) Hunting for a suitable place for the ideal kind of discussion, we soon found ourselves in Aqua Java, AJ, (Behind 22 Camac St, Kolkata, In front of Pizza Hut). The waiters at this café seated us at a place with the perfect view of the hookah cum coffee house.We were served an Inhale hookah that had a very thick base. Along with the hookah, we ordered black coffees with a bowl of brown sugar (We love that -- you know that, don’t you?). The coffee was excellent and (mmmm ..) Rocking and along with the hookah, gave us an eternal feel of being on a high!!

AJ uses the generic "modern" bowls on all hookahs, and they all seemed to work well. They had bags of natural wood coals and they put a few coals on and our server primed it by puffing away while adding coals till it was just right. He handed us a biggg pipe and a few hose tips, and away we went.

The experience, the high, the feel was fantastic! The hookah hit us like a freight train for the first 25-30 minutes, at least I felt it that ways though XYZ and Shri Gaurav Guru ji were unfazed. I felt a Buzzzzing in my head like that of the bees inside a honeycomb!! But with the buzz came a very unique flavor. It really tasted like a summer day on a nice beach – very, very unique & very tasty. We sat around smoking and drinking the coffee in AJ in for about an hour or so. Finally, we decided to pay our bill, which came to Rs 629/- for a looong bowl of shisha and our Coffeeeezzz, and made our way back. And since then, we have never let up on our search for new, exotic places which serve hookah! The sexiest hookah I’ve had till date was at the Café Mocha Juhu Beach branch.

Now you may believe that smoking hookah is bad and injurious to health but I would simply like to quote this Turkeyish statement which signifies everything I and other hookah-ed lovers hold dear about Hookah:

"Cigarettes are for nervous people, competitive people, and people on the run but when you smoke a Narghile (in Turkey), you have time to think. It teaches you patience and tolerance, and gives you an appreciation of good company. Narghile smokers have a much more balanced approach to life than cigarette smokers.”


While people may have different opinions on this, I fully subscribe to the above statement.. ;) Because, as you can see, I’m totally HOOKAH-ed!!

Authored by: Nitesh Kumar, MBA (dual specialization in Finance and Marketing)
Edited by: Varun Parwal, FRM