What Is a Hookah?

Series Summary

There is nothing more mysterious and culturally identifiable than the image of a dark room being filled with the sweet smoke of a beautiful multi-stemmed hookah. Whether the word conjures up images of a wild fairy tale, or a group of Middle Eastern men sharing a pipe over a lively discussion, the hookah is certainly recognizable. The hookah originated in India and has gained in popularity throughout many Middle Eastern countries. It is a smoking device made similar to a water pipe, with single or multiple stems for inhaling scented tobacco or herbal fruits.

In this free video series, our expert will show you how to smoke out of a hookah. If smoking tobacco from a hookah is a new experience for you, let our expert give you step-by-step instructions for setting up a hookah, picking hookah charcoal and the best tobacco flavor. You will also get tips on how a hookah works and how to properly inhale tobacco smoke from a hookah pipe. If want to truly enjoy your hookah smoking experience, let our expert show you how to properly care for and smoke from a hookah.

Video Transcript

"COSTA WAEZ: Hello. I'm Costa with Acropolis Greek Taverna in Ybor City, in the state of Florida, and this is [PH] Jane Perez. She's working with us. She's one of the best. Now, today, we're going to talk about the hookah, where it came from and how it was made. This is the first and original hookah made from wood and glass. The glass bottle here is to hold the water and here at the top is to hold the foil with the tobacco. So we have another type of hookah, more modern and more commercial to use, and also we're going to talk about these different sizes and different colors and different types here. And then some of them you can use one hose, some of them you can use two and three. You can have adaptors you can put in here, and you can use three hoses. We're going to talk about these later."