Hi, everybody.

Anybody have experience with hookahs?

I just got a couple of messages via Twitter from "docudramaqueen." (Twitter allows 140 characters per message.)

"My hookah smoking hubby...has anyone done research re: the dangers of that kind of smoking? I'm talking tobacco."


"Lots of high school & college kids smoking hookahs, thinking they can't get hooked to nicotine. I think they can."

JHMFD Online Experts: Is smoking a hookah pipe as bad for you as smoking a cigarette? Can you get addicted?

Readers: Any experience or questions to share?

Thanks, all.

Leigh Ann Hubbard
Managing Editor
James Hubbard's My Family Doctor

Yes, Yes, Yes. There are plenty of studies showing that hookah pipes are as bad as cigarettes for the smoker, and the ones inhaling secondhand. I mean you are smoking tobacco through the pipe. It is flavored and put in water, but many think the hookah pipe,and the way it is used, may make it worse.

It is also as addicting. Don't do it. It is just another way to get cancer, emphysema, etc, etc.

See for yourself at the CDC website.

James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.
Publisher, James Hubbard's My Family Doctor