You might call it shisha in Egypt and Sudan, nargile in Turkey
and Syria or hookah in India. Some are made from clay, others
from ornately carved metals or plastics. But the principle is
same – these water-pipes allow you to smoke flavoured tobacco as
it is bubbled through water. Maybe you know it simply as hubble-
bubble. Sharing a water-pipe is thought to be harmless, relaxing
fun. They are now enjoying something of a resurgence in
popularity in India and the Middle East, where they are said to
have originated. In the Middle East the trend has extended to
teenagers and women, many of whom do not smoke cigarettes. This
shisha cafe culture has also extended to Europe, Brazil and the
United States. If I run home from my office in London, I pass a
street filled with cafes where groups of people sit outside
engulfed in clouds of honey-scented smoke. In the United States
many hookah cafes have opened in college towns and a recent
study found that as many as a fifth of American students have
tried it. In many count