Hookah smoking a growing trend, but is it safer than cigarettes?

Hookahs have long been a tradition in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, but they have only recently gained popularity in other parts of the world, including the Maritimes, where hookah bars are starting to pop up.

Hookahs, sometimes called shishas, are waterpipes that are used for smoking flavoured tobacco or other herbs.

Some of the flavours contain tobacco while other products claim to be tobacco-free and therefore not as harmful for the consumer.

However, a member of the Nova Scotia Lung Association says there are dangers associated with using hookahs.

“The fact is, herbal shisha and regular shisha have the same harms,” says Mohammed Al-Hamdani of the Nova Scotia Lung Association.

“They are comparable in terms of the harmful constituents and emissions such as carbon monoxide and tar and the only difference between the two was the fact that herbal shisha does not contain nicotine.”

Many cities across Canada have had hookah bars for a decade or more. Now, the trend is beginning to gain popularity in the Maritimes. Can Hicyilmaz opened a hookah bar in Halifax last year. He only sells herbal shisha.

“You don’t get like, head rush or anything. You just taste the flavour,” says Hicyilmaz. “I have no clue if it’s good or bad, I didn’t search about it.”

In Nova Scotia, tobacco use is prohibited in public places, but there is no legislation in the province that bans herbal shisha.

“There needs to be another kind of legislation that would deal with them specifically, or there needs to be a governmental action towards this problem based on the fact that it has comparable harms to regular shisha,” says Al-Hamdani.

The potential health risks are not deterring customers from purchasing hookahs at a Middle Eastern store in Halifax, where the pipes have been flying off the shelves.

Storeowner Salam Mohamad says it is a trend that is appealing to all ages.

“This size, mostly young, and the big ones, 50 years old or more,” says Mohamed.

As for Hicyilmaz, he says he’s prepared should the government decide to introduce legislation that would ban smoking shisa inside public places.

“If they put something, then I’ll open another business,” says Hicyilmaz.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Alyse Hand