# Health differences between cigarettes and water-pipes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 22, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050 "2004-11-22T05:14:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/1 "2004-11-22T05:14:24Z")

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Health-wise, what is the difference between smoking a cigarette and smoking a water-pipe (also known as narghileh, hookah, hubbly-bubbly, shishah)?

WRS

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**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/2 "2004-11-22T15:48:55Z")

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> [@WeRSauron](#):
>
> Health-wise, what is the difference between smoking a cigarette and smoking a water-pipe (also known as narghileh, hookah, hubbly-bubbly, shishah)?  
> WRS

Like second hand smoke!  
Still SMOKE.  
Still **carcinogenic**.

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**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/3 "2004-11-23T00:55:33Z")

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I would imagine the negligible difference is less particulate matter.

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**Author:** ![luluBahrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e5b9ba/32.png) [@luluBahrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luluBahrain)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/4 "2004-11-23T01:00:07Z")

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BUt shisha tastes soooooo good. So, pretend it’s better for you. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

_looks up at The Straight Dope banner_  
☹ Fine.

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**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/5 "2004-11-23T03:53:37Z")

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But with hookahs there is no tar or other additives. Would it also be less addictive (as it is said that tobacco companies add stuff to cigarettes to make them more addictive)?

Whether they’re carcinogenic or whatnot is besides the point: how do they differ from cigarettes?

WRS

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**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/6 "2004-11-23T04:04:33Z")

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**devilsknew**!! You’re online! 🙂

[/hijack]

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**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-differences-between-cigarettes-and-water-pipes/276050/7 "2004-11-23T04:09:16Z")

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Shisha not only has no tar and no additives, it only has 0.5% nicotine. I’ve seen the process they use to make it – they actually drain out as much of the nicotine as possible. It would be less addictive, not only because there are no additives, but also because there is less nicotine. The smoke is healthier for you, but it’s still smoke, and still carcinogenic. All in all the lesser evil, healthwise.