Hooked on hookah? Some students unaware of harmful effects

Hookah smoking is no longer just an activity for the inquisitive caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.

Researchers say college students are spending more of their time smoking hookahs instead of cigarettes, but many students are unaware of its harmful effects.

Crystal, a 22-year-old American University graduate student, says hookahs - or water pipes filled with tobacco - are more appealing than cigarettes. She explains why many college students are attracted to hookah smoking.

"At hookah bars you just sit down, chill out, and talk. It's a low key, laid back type setting."

Crystal says she smokes a hookah once every few months, but says she knows the effects are similar to smoking cigarettes.

"I think a lot of people think it's safer, but I don't think it's safer."

A new study from The Journal of Adolescent Health found a puff of hookah smoke is 100 times more dangerous than a puff of cigarette smoke. Of the 700 students surveyed in the study, 40 percent said they used a hookah last year.

Ritodhi Chakraborty, a 24-year-old graduate student at American University and a native of India, says the fruit-flavored tobacco makes hookahs appear less harmful.

"I think I got duped into it with the misconception that it was safer than cigarettes, and it's really not," Chakraborty says. "Everybody thinks it's not as harmful. People are like, 'This tastes like passion fruit, of course it's not as harmful.' It affects your lungs just as bad as a cigarette does."

Chakraborty says most people do not smoke a hookah properly, making it even more dangerous.

"When you are smoking hookah, you should feel like you are choking yourself," Chakraborty says. "I try to teach people how to smoke. You let the smoke come out through your nose. If you put it all into your body, you are just messing up your lungs."

Although Chakraborty knows the effects of smoking a hookah, he says he has no problem smoking them.

"It gives you the buzz, which otherwise you wouldn't get," Chakraborty says. "Who doesn't like blowing smoke out of their mouth? It's like to coolest thing to do."