Shisha tobacco

[aresian]

A mixture of molasses, fruits, and tobacco all cured together. It is mostly sweet (if done correctly) and is best smoked through a hookah water pipe. Not to be confused with bongs these are usually pipes with long metal stems a bowl on top of the stem with the end of the stem in a glass base fill with water and at least one hose attachment to draw the smoke from the bowl through the water and through the hose. More or less that's the normal tool used to smoke shisha tobacco products. You place tinfoil and a coal on tippy top and it slowly boils the tobacco. No harsh burning and I even add ice to the base to keep the smoke as cold as possible for that makes it smoother and the taste particles linger in a "heavier" fashion allowing you taste the flavors added to the shisha (fruits or flowers traditionally).

I find it very relaxing and a mode of social interaction among friends and at the hookah lounge I hang out at. So far my only side effects are dehydration if I don't drink water before the next morning.

I'll write more later. Right now I need to sleep.

[aresian]

I noticed that a four hour session of smoking shisha has the following affects.

Provided you take breaks and make sure not to smoke on an empty stomach. (We've had people pass out when they don't eat and then smoke). It can be euphoric of an experience as you obtain that "high" feeling nicotine gives you. This affect is better felt with non-smokers who occasionally smoke shisha. My method of smoking shisha is take it into the mouth and breath it out. I would not recommend the deep inhalation that some smokers do with the shisha tobacco. I like to get the taste and over that long of a time I still get a small dose of nicotine. It tends to be harder on the lungs the deeper you inhale the smoke. Like any foreign substance in the lungs other than plain air (with large parts oxygen) the lungs are not built to process smoke. It stands to reason that deep inhalation has negative affects due to the lungs being unable to process smoke, they can do it naturally but it takes longer than when you process clean air. I suppose lungs are built with filtration systems that provide for the occasional smoke inhalation due to fires but long term smoking isn't usually good for the lungs if you deep inhale. Of course the mode is preferred when smoking cigarettes to get the maximum benefit from smoking them. I'm just saying shallower inhalations do just fine while smoking shisha tobacco from a hookah pipe. Just my opinion though based on how I've felt between deep inhaling and the shallower inhalation method. I like the taste I don't even need the tobacco part of the mixtures but sometimes it helps the flavor in a way. There are hydro shisha blends which employ herbal tobaccos (basically herbs like flowers in the juice of the fruit and molasses).

[Alice]

Shisha I am told is less harmful than ordinary Tobacco, but I do not know if that is the case.

It certainly sounds more enjoyable.

May you find what you seek,
Alice

[aoz]

a lot of the harmful components of tobacco are removed by water filtration, but so is a large portion of the nicotine. It also cools the smoke thus causing less lung irritation

[nyxson]

Reading everyone's posts about cooling the smoke is giving me ideas and making me wish that instead of being so hasty to buy a mini pipe, I had saved up the money for an actual hookah pipe. I've been smoking shisha for a couple months now and I have this small red pipe that you have to keep lighting through a tiny hole to take a drag from it. It looks like a crack pipe but I use it for shisha, both tobacco and non tobacco.

By non tobacco, I refer to the sugar cane molasses that we sell where I work, nicotine and tobacco free shisha with all the taste and feel of shisha tobacco.

[Alice]

Tobacco free Shisha is an interesting idea. You might try adding a few things to it as well, such as Coltsfoot or Blue Lotus.

May you find what you seek,
Alice

[aresian]

I strongly recommend using shisha pipes for shisha tobacco it is most useful. There are the smallest ones called "pumpkin" hookahs that sell for $20.00. At least they do here. They have a small hose and glass bottom for water etc like the big ones just tiny. The non-tobacco shisha is also enjoyable. I have tried coltsfoot but not blue lotus. The coltsfoot is a "shiney" smoke but I didn't like it. I most enjoy my lavender these days. Perhaps with a little lemon and honey. *shrugs* I partake of the tobacco variety of shisha far more than is good for me lol but it is so tasty. I did notice putting horehound in it gave it an interesting taste (we did it by accident but it worked well). There is now a version of e-hookahs... very weird but it works. Has a lot more nicotine obviously but I like it for on the go. Only worries me with the higher nicotine but so far nothing adverse. I mean comparatively to other smoking the hookahs are slightly better to smoke in that they are enjoyable. I put ice in the base of the hookah along with a hose designed to hold an ice cartridge within it and even got the whole hookah cold once and it was so good I really enjoyed it but most "hookah snobs" would not like it as they think it lessens the taste. Personally I like the cold on the flavors I enjoy. But I'm weird like that and ok with that because I like doing what I enjoy

Phew, so I say having a hookah once in a while is better than smoking on a regular basis. I do notice the adverse reaction I had was I suspect my wheezing was caused by improperly cared for hookahs. With those there is particulate left in the hose and that can cause some trouble in the breathing system. A good way to avoid it for me is to use my own hose and hookah that I clean regularly. If I have to I use the hookah lounge's hookahs but I make sure to check them and if they are not properly clean I send it back immediately. Hey if I'm paying to smoke em they darn better be the way I like em

So, shisha so far in regards to myself it seems to be relaxing and enjoyable. No adverse affects since I fixed the wheezing (which honestly can be caused by pollution and other allergens not necessarily the hookah alone). Still it is nicotine and that is a drug and any drug in excess will eventually cause harm. The experiment continues though as I am still going to go smoke shisha. So, I'll keep note of it. Oh found out I was allergic to shisha coconut flavors. Who knew? lol

-Aresian-

[Alice]

I wonder what they mix together to make it taste like Coconut. I can't imagine actual burning Coconut is all that pleasant.

The original evolutionary purpose of nicotine is as a pesticide and it's lethal to most insects and small animals. Does the same things to us in proportionate doses, so yeah it definitely meets the criteria for dangerous.

Of course, more recently Tobacco's evolved to prioritize the pleasant effects on higher mammals. Being useful to humans is a major survival strategy.

May you find what you seek,
Alice

[aresian]

They cure molasses and coconut together with the tobacco to make the shisha in short that's pretty much how they do it. It tastes pretty good it just will kill me at certain doses equivalent to how I smoke the other flavors. It tried to do so once. So while I am tolerant of a small amount I try to avoid coconut entirely. Unless it is in delicious curry then I eat it No problems eating it just don't care for the texture in candy bars.

Yes, smoking coconut is deadly to me in a high enough concentration. I can say though cherry is wonderful but alas not as popular among average consumers so they tend to nix that flavor. I found dragon fruit to be kind of awesome with a citrus mix. Anyways, shisha isn't something you should take up smoking I just use it to avoid cigarettes. I don't have any withdrawal symptoms if I don't smoke shisha for any length of time where with cigarettes I got withdrawal symptoms within a week of non-use.

So, perhaps there is something to the shisha being better compared to cigarettes. That is to say for me the statement applies but others may have entirely different experiences.

[nyxson]

Ooooh, Alice, what's Blue Lotus? The name caught my eye

[Alice]

Nymphaea cerulea. Just as it sounds, Blue Lotus is a Lotus species which is a mild and fairly harmless psychoactive, but its use is highly underestimated.

I have yet to give it a try but apparently reports include everything from an intense sense of well-being to visions of gods.

Blue Lotus is almost certainly the substance referred to in the story of the Lotus Eaters in The Odyssey.

May you find what you seek,
Alice