Hookah culture smoking hot at Pitt

‘ ‘ ‘ The sun long set, embers flared up against the chilly air, brightening the small area… ‘ ‘ ‘ The sun long set, embers flared up against the chilly air, brightening the small area around a hookah pipe on a table outside Litchfield Towers Tuesday night. ‘ ‘ ‘ A group of students huddled together around the table, passing the pipe and exhaling honey melon fumes. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I’m not invincible, it’s just I’m not worried right now,’ said Chelsea McCune, a freshman hookah smoker. ‘If the time comes and my health is compromised, I’ll have to quit smoking, but right now I’m not worried about it.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ McCune, who also smokes cigarettes, said she started smoking hookah when she turned 18. She said that the taste of the tobacco and the social aspect of smoking are two of the things that turned her onto hookah. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It feels better [than smoking a cigarette] because, for whatever reason, you don’t taste all those chemicals,’ said McCune. ‘ ‘ ‘ But whether smokers such as McCune taste the chemicals or not, Brian Primack, a doctor and professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said that they’re there. ‘ ‘ ‘ Although the medical community doesn’t know the exact health effects of hookah use, Primack said that the same tar and nicotine found in cigarettes is found in hookah tobacco. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The information that we do have suggests that … [smoking hookah] is going to be equivalent to a cigarette habit,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Primack conducted a smoking study last April in which he surveyed 3,600 randomly chosen students at Pitt via e-mail. University Computing Services provided the students’ e-mail addresses and demographic information, such as age, housing situation and race, to the study with the permission of the University vice provost. ‘ ‘ ‘ Of the students surveyed, 647 responded. Forty percent of the respondents said that they had smoked hookah, a number on par with those who had smoked cigarettes, said Primack. ‘ ‘ ‘ Roughly 50 percent of respondents said that they considered smoking hookah to be less addictive than smoking cigarettes, a perception that the study suggested might be linked to the use of hookah by those who don’t smoke cigarettes. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘[Hookah] is reaching a new group of people who may face addiction later in life,’ said Primack. ‘ ‘ ‘ But the data on the health effects of hookah smoking and on its prevalence is not entirely firm, Primack said. He said that it will be important to do two things in the future to better understand hookah use: Look at hookah smoking on other university campuses and do more qualitative work. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘We really need to get more people’s input,’ said Primack. ‘ ‘ ‘ But, as the study revealed, many hookah smokers are not as concerned as Primack about the impact of smoking on their health. ‘ ‘ ‘ Freshman Dan Murray, who recently bought a hookah, said that he is not worried. ‘I’ve done a lot of research on hookah, and I think it’s ultra purified,’ said Murray. ‘ ‘ ‘ However, Primack cautions that such research can give people a false sense of security. He echoed the warnings of many Pitt professors, saying that just because a Google search turns up sources doesn’t mean they’re correct. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Information is such a tricky thing these days,’ said Primack. ‘ ‘ ‘ Even though hookah is a subject of research for some smokers and professors, for others it’s a part of their college experience at Pitt. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I don’t intend to do this much after college because … it’s more about the social aspect,’ said sophomore Adam Niederle. ‘ ‘ ‘ Niederle sat with five of his friends just a few tables away from McCune smoking orange crush and vanilla flavored tobacco from a recently repaired hookah. ‘ ‘ ‘ Although he smokes hookah twice a night on average, it’s not because it’s addictive, he said, but rather because it’s a social experience. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘[Smoking hookah] is how we’ve been meeting kids. I don’t know most of Tower C, but I know a lot of kids in other Towers because we just set it up and invite people over,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Niederle, who also smokes cigarettes, pipes and cigars on occasion, said he started smoking hookah last year because a friend of his had one. Niederle recently bought his own when he saw it on clearance at a shop in Squirrel Hill. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It was a good price, and I knew I wanted one for my own use this year,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s a lot cheaper to have your own hookah rather than having to go to the bars when you want to smoke, Niederle said. Now, he only goes to the Sphinx, a hookah bar on Atwood Street, when he needs to buy more tobacco. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I’m sure when it’s winter we’ll go [to the hookah bars] on occasion just because it will be nicer to be indoors,’ said Niederle. ‘ ‘ ‘ When asked whether he’s worried about the negative health effects of smoking hookah, Niederle said that he’s worried to an extent. ‘I feel like by the time I would be developing [health issues], with any luck medicine would have evolved to a point where it wouldn’t be that much of a problem,’ he said.