Shisha is unhealthy

There has been a lot of interest in shisha in Brunei. It was mentioned during the Legislative Council meeting earlier this month.

I was sitting with my cousin yesterday anreading an article on shisha in yesterday’s BB. It mentioned the dangers of shisha and hopefully put right some of the common misconceptions of shisha amongst Bruneians. My cousin was pressured by his friends to try it. The friends assured him that it was not tobacco!! He did not have any in the end but some of the so called assurance by the friends were quite far from the truth.

I will mention some of the myths here but I am sure that there are more out there.

1. It is just apple, not tobacco.

This is a common misconception. Fruits and other aromatics are added to the tobacco while burning to give a tasty smoke, in some cases apple. This will give the impression that it is not tobacco.

2. It is not smoke, just water vapour

This made me laugh. I can see how some people might think that it is water vapour, but come on, it is smoke coming out of the device.

3. It is safe!! Water absorbs the dangerous chemicals.

This is far from the truth. The theory is that smoke passes through water first before being inhaled. Imagine if this was true. It must be magic water because it is able to absorb hundreds of toxic chemicals including carcinogens. Shisha users still get addicted to it because nicotine passes through. More scientifically, there is now proof that shisha smoke is as bad as normal cigarettes.

The truth is that shisha is just as bad as cigarettes. Once you get addicted to the nicotine, you will increase the amount of shisha you use. Some may even hang out more in places with shisha or even buy their own machine. Most will move on to cigarettes to get the nicotine and so become a smoker. In my opinion, you are already a smoker once you start using shisha anyway.

Therefore, don’t try shisha, even if your friends are doing it. Oh yeah, not inhaling deeply is still inhaling, so if you want to stay healthy, do not shisha..