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I can recall a specific conversation with a friend who invited me to go to a Hookah bar. “No, thanks,” I replied. “I’m not a huge fan of really smoky environments.” She looked at me like I was nuts and replied, “It’s hookah, it’s, like, more healthy, cause you are smoking it out of water.”

Hm, well I can’t say that I was ever really totally sold on the argument that any type of smoking is considered “healthy,” but now there is new research out that suggests smoking hookah can be just as harmful as cigarette smoking. And, not to sound like an anti-tobacco ad or anything, but we all know the effects of tobacco on a person.

“Using a water pipe to smoke tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking,” the U.N. health agency said in a seven-page document on the practice. “Contrary to ancient lore and popular belief, the smoke that emerges from a water pipe contains numerous toxicants known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases.” USA Today.

Confused about where this whole hookah thing came from? Well it has been used for centuries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia , but “has become increasingly popular in the United States, Europe and Brazil, particularly among college students and young adults.” That’s us, girls.

I have definitely noticed an increase in it’s popularity and trendiness among my peers and even younger. The one fact that I found particularly interesting from the article was that a person can inhale more than 100 times more smoke in a hookah session than in a single cigarette. That is a lot, to say the least.

Moral of the story: Maybe think twice about having lengthy hookah sessions with friends…It can be just as harmful, if not more, than regular cigarette smoking.