Hookahs, also known as water pipes, are at least as popular as cigarettes among high school students. This fact-based program refutes the widely believed myth that hookahs are a safe alternative to cigarette smoking. Using engaging graphics, the program shows how in a routine hookah session smokers typically inhale 100 times the amount of smoke inhaled smoking a cigarette. A leading scientist describes his research that shows that smoke from a hookah contains many of the same toxins found in cigarette smoke. Viewers learn that shisha, the flavored tobacco used in hookahs, contains nicotine and is just as addictive as other forms of tobacco use. The program also debunks the myth that herbal or tobacco-free shisha is a healthy alternative.
© Human Relations Media
Includes:
video, plus 30-page teacher’s resource book, student handouts and pre/post tests in digital format
DVD contains Spanish subtitles.
Reviews
Highly Recommended. Is smoking a hookah as addictive and harmful as smoking a cigarette?
This is an excellent film and one which should be shown in every middle and high school across the country! Short, direct and full of information this video can be utilized in making the decision to smoke or not smoke a hookah. One would think that with all the available information regarding the harmful effects of smoking we wouldn’t need a film such as this but people still smoke cigarettes and now smoke hookahs which are just as harmful.
Creative advertisement labels hookah use as safe. Don’t be fooled by the enticing flavors and the social atmosphere of a hookah lounge. As this video clearly explains hookah smoke contains just as many harmful chemicals in higher concentrations than cigarettes. They are harmful and cause just as many complications and chronic illnesses as cigarette use does. The moral of this story is stop smoking!
—Sandy Costanza D’Youville College, Buffalo, NY
Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO)
Public health consultant Francisco Ramirez narrates this very visual and statistics-rich program. In the United States, hookah smoking has become popular among high school students and even more so among college students. While many users think that hookah smoking is safer and less addictive than cigarettes, the statistics and charts here say otherwise. For instance, hookah smokers tend to inhale 10 times the amount of smoke per puff and smoke up to 100 puffs or more per session in comparison to cigarette smokers. The water, while cooling the smoke, doesn't filter out much in the way of toxic chemicals. Smokers who share the same pipe can transmit communicable diseases, and the amount of secondhand smoke is many times higher than that from cigarettes. Hookah smokers can also become addicted as easily as cigarette smokers, and the long-term health effects are similar. Even more of a concern is the amount of carbon monoxide created by the burning charcoal needed to keep the moist tobacco mix burning. This is true even when the user is smoking an herbal nontobacco mixture. VERDICT Overall, this is a well-done and thought-provoking program. It would be a good addition to health awareness/education programs.
—John R. Clark, formerly at the Hartland Public Library, ME
School Library Journal