HOOKAH
A hookah is a single or multi-stemmed, often glass-based, water pipe device for smoking; originating in India, it gained fame in the Arab World when it traveled from Persia to Arabia. A hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking many substances, such as herbal fruits and tobacco.
Original, primitive hookahs were made out of coconut shells. Shisha is from the Persian word shishe, literally translated as glass and not bottle, and is primarily used for water pipes in Egypt and the Arab countries of the Gulf. The archaic form of this latter Indian name, hookah is most commonly used in English for historical reasons, as it was in India that large numbers of English-speakers first sampled the effects of the water pipe. William Hickey wrote in his Memoirs that shortly after his arrival in Calcutta in 1775:
“ The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, 'Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without'..... I have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah. |
|