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 Mu‘assel), 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 during the Mughal Empire, alternatively, it could originate in Safavid dynasty of Persia, from where it eventually spread to the east into South Asia 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 Hindi-Urdu 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.