Chewing tobacco, paan, betel quid and shisha can all cause serious health issues and can be as addictive as smoking.
Shisha pipes, hookah, narghile, waterwipe or hubble-bubble smoking are ways of smoking tobacco, sometimes mixed with fruit or sugar, through a bowl and hose or tube. Some people don’t realise that tobacco is used in shisha. Therefore, they do not see the risks involved with using the pipes for social use.
When you smoke shisha, you and anyone who is sitting near by are breathing in smoke. So, you are at risk the same way as a cigarette smoker. People will smoke shisha for much longer periods of time, and in one puff of shisha, you inhale the same amount of smoke as you’d get from a smoking a whole cigarette.
Chewing tobacco raises the risk of mouth cancer and throat cancer. Even if betel is chewed without tobacco, it has still shown to be harmful.
More nicotine is absorbed by chewing tobacco than smoking a cigarette!
Our local services are able to support people who want to stop these behaviours by using similar techniques to supporting smokers quit smoking. If you are interested in understanding more about our services, please contact the team.