Hookah use is establishing roots in the strongly anti-tobacco
state of California, says a new study, with usage rates
increasing more than 40% over a few years. Hookah involves
smoking from a water pipe and hose. Specially made tobacco,
often flavored, is heated and smoke passes through water and a
rubber hose into a mouthpiece. Studies so far suggest that
hookah smoking carries many of the same health risks assmoking
cigarettes. Researchers from UC San Diego and San Diego State
University examined data from the California Tobacco Survey. It
showed 7.9% of male adults said they had smoked hookah in 2005
compared to 11.2% in 2008. Among adult women, 1.9% had smoked
hookah in 2005 and 2.8% in 2008.