2008 Woodie Awards
Hookahs smoke out St. Cloud shops
Maria Fedorova
Issue date: 7/9/07 Section: Intermission
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The hookah is a pipe for smoking with a long flexible tube whereby the smoke cools down by passing through water (Webster's Dictionary).
Amin Alomran, SCSU first-year student majoring in business computer information systems, said he first tried to smoke hookah when he was 16-years-old.
Alomran said he went out with his friends who offered to try the hookah. He also said it is common to smoke hookah in his home country - Saudi Arabia.
Alomran said the hookah is new to the United States, and this is why it is getting popular among students.
He said tobacco flavors used in the hookah vary from any kind of fruit to chocolate and cappuccino.
Tobacco is covered with foil and charcoals on top.
"It is better to put natural charcoal," Alomran said.
Alomran said some people put juice instead of water in hookahs. The juice gives the hookah more flavors, creating a mixture of flavors in both the tobacco and the water.
Alomran quit smoking cigarettes and started to smoke hookah, he said. He said people smoke hookah less often than cigarettes.
"I believe that cigarettes keep you smoking them continually throughout the day, but for hookah, you smoke it less often, and not on a regular basis," Alomran said. "When we are smoking (hookah) with my friends, we have more conversation. That is what I like in it (hookah)."
Alomran smokes hookah about four times a week, he said.
Lisa Carr, Liz Schmidtke and Jaynie Peter, St. Benedict University students, first tried smoking hookah through their friends.
"It was very fun the first time," Schmidtke said.
"The first time I thought it was very weird," Peter said.
Now they regularly come to Campus Station where hookahs are served. During the school year they would come to smoke hookah probably three times a week, they said.
"Neither of us smokes cigarettes at all," Carr said. "(The Hookah is) very relaxing."
"Some people do it for relaxation, or if they used to smoke, this is something different to get them off smoking," Schmidtke said.
"I think it's becoming a lot more popular now," Peter said. "I never even knew about it, and now more and more people have it."
The origins of the hookah come from the north western provinces of India along the border of Pakistan almost a millennia back.
When the hookah made its way into Turkey about 500 years ago, it endured a surge of popularity among the upper class and intellectuals, and thus, has changed in design.
The hookah grew in size. Brass and glass were added to the design and less wood was used.
Intricate paintings and mosaics were added for beauty and elegance.
The popularity grew in coffee shops for hookah in Turkish society two to three centuries ago.
Hookah smoking migrated south into the Arab world from Turkey to Lebanon and Syria.
The hookah has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe since the 1960s.