It is a misconception to think that by using filters in cigarettes or smoking hookah by passing tobacco through water will cause less harm; both are equally harmful, said Yazdan Jafar Salehi, a health official in Alborz Province medical university. Smoking hookah is a serious health risk both to smokers and non-smokers exposed to it, since the smoke has high amounts of toxic ingredients including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancerous chemicals. Also heating sources which are used in hookah like coal or burned wood can increase the health risks, he said quoted by Mehr News Agency. On the other hand, water absorbs just a little amount of nicotine. Each hookah is equivalent to smoke of 80 to 100 cigarettes, he warned. In addition to cancers, many contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis and oral herpes (cold sore) can be transmitted due to the sharing of hookah among smokers.
