Hookah

A hookah (from Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari) حقّہ (Nastaleeq), IPA: [ˌɦʊqqaː]; also see other names) is a single or multi-stemmed instrument for vaporizing and smoking flavored tobacco (called shisha), or sometimes cannabis, whose vapor or smoke is passed through a water basin—often glass-based—before inhalation.

Health risks of smoking hookah include exposure to toxic chemicals that are not filtered out by the water and risk of infectious disease when hookahs are shared.

There are two theories regarding the origin of the hookah. The first is that the waterpipe was invented in India, possibly during the era of the Mughal Empire; alternatively, it could originate in Safavid dynasty of Persia, from where it eventually spread to the east into India during that time. The hookah or Argyleh soon reached Egypt and the Levant during the Ottoman dynasty from neighbouring Safavid dynasty, where it became very popular and where the mechanism was later perfected.

The word hookah is a derivative of "huqqa", a Hindustani term. Outside its native region, hookah smoking has gained popularity throughout the world, especially among younger people, largely due to immigrants from the Levant, where it is especially popular.

In the Indian subcontinent the Hindustani word huqqa is used (Devanagari: हुक़्क़ा, Nastaleeq: حقّہ); this word is the origin of the English word "hookah". The widespread use of the Indian word "hookah" in the English language is a result of the colonization in British India (1858–1947), when large numbers of expatriate Britons first sampled the water pipe. William Hickey, shortly after arriving in Kolkata, India, in 1775, wrote in his Memoirs:

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