Hookah

A hookah is a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian device for smoking. It is also known as a water pipe, narghile/arghileh, shisha, kalyan or hubble-bubble.

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Recently, "hookah bars" serving traditional flavored tobacco have appeared to serve Middle Eastern communities in the Western world as well as in upscale coffee shops.

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Substances used for smoking hookah need not be completely dry. The most commonly used substance (known as tobamel or maassel) is a 1:2 mixture of tobacco with a sweet substance such as honey, molasses, or semi-dried fruit. Originally tobacco was mixed with one of these sweeteners to form jur?k (e.g. Zhaghoul brand), a flavorless, moistened tobacco. Fruit-flavored shisha (SHEEh-shuh) got its start in the late 1980s when Egyptian tobacco companies experimented with flavored tobacco as a way to sell more products to women. Today, shisha tobacco comes in many flavours, such as apple, strawberry, melon, cappuccino or mint, and is often mixed with dried fruit extracts. Tobacco-free herbal mollasses mixtures are also available.

Honey: Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by bees and other insects from the nectar of flowers. "The definition of honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance. This includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners," according the United Sta...

Molasses: Molasses or treacle is a thick, syrupy derivative of the juice of the sugarcane plant or the processing of sugar beet. The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or beet, the amount of sugar extracted, and the method of extraction....

Fruit: In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which would include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegeta...

Hookah related Images and Photos (experimental)

Portrait of Sir Thomas Phillips in Eastern Costume Reclining with a Hookah

Portrait of a Gentleman Seated in White Jacket Waistcoat and Breeches Holding a Hookah