While watching Hidalgo last night, the water-pipe scene got me to wondering. How does one normally smoke tobacco in a water pipe? With a typical briar pipe, one doesn’t inhale. The smoke is generally much to thick for that. Tobacco cigarette smoke, and marijuana smoke are typically inhaled, but each in a different way. A tobacco cigarette smoker typically takes some smoke into his mouth, and then inhales a breath of fresh air with carries the mouthful of smoke into his lungs. A pot smoker usually smokes in a different manner, whether using a joint, pipe, or bong. The smoke is inhaled as deeply as possible, together with some clear air, in one action, the breath then being held as long as possible.
So, how exactly is tobacco smoked in a hookah? As a briar pipe smoker would? Or a tobacco cigarette smoker? Or a pot smoker?
(Not intended to advocate the illegal use of Marijuana).
I’ve used a hookah a couple of times, and used the “pot smoker” technique you outlined. Admittedly, the hookahs were owned and instruction was given by pot smokers, so that might not be proper technique.
My Dad has a hookah bong from Turkey, and it’s only been used once, with aromatic tobacco… my Dad didn’t like it as it was too strong (although he enjoyed the apple taste), but I found it bearable to inhale deeply.
I don’t think there’s a fixed law for the method of smoking anything. If it’s too ‘thick’ then don’t inhale, just ‘taste’, or expell all but a small amount of the smoke from the mouth and inhale a 90% clean air/10% smoke mix.
I have a friend who insists on inhaling when smoking cigars… He takes small ‘puffs’ and inhales a fraction of the mouthful to avoid choking himself to death, and thus takes an hour to smoke the damn thing!!
Good question, but on the other hand what makes you think they weren’t? Just because our culture associates a hookah with marijuana doesn’t mean that’s what they were always used for. The middle east has had a long tradition of tobacco use, ever since it was brought back to Europe from the new world. Turkish Yenidje pipe tobacco is among the finest in the world.
Actually just the sheik smoked the hookah, while Viggo Mortensen’s character helped himself to one of his own cigarettes.