Waterpipe tobacco smoking: Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior in two U.S. samples

Abstract

Despite evidence of increasing waterpipe tobacco smoking prevalence among U.S. young adults, little is known about the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and smoking patterns of waterpipe users in this population. To address this lack of knowledge, two convenience samples of U.S. waterpipe users were surveyed-one from a Richmond, Virginia, waterpipe café (n=101), the other from an Internet forum called HookahForum.com (n=100). Sixty percent reported first-time waterpipe use at or before age 18. Daily waterpipe use was reported by 19%, weekly use by 41%, and monthly use by 29%. Waterpipe use was more common during the weekend (75%) than during weekdays (43%). Forty-four percent reported spending ≥60 min smoking tobacco during a waterpipe session. The majority of waterpipe users owned a waterpipe (57%) and purchased it on the Internet (71%). Many waterpipe users smoked the sweetened and flavored tobacco (i.e., maassel), and fruit flavors were the most popular (54%). Past month use of cigarettes, tobacco products other than cigarettes or waterpipe, and alcohol was 54%, 33%, and 80% respectively, and 36% reported pastmonth marijuana use. Most waterpipe users were confident about their ability to quit (96%), but only a minority (32%) intended to quit. Most waterpipe users believed waterpipe tobacco smoking was less harmful and addictive than cigarettes. These results are from small convenience samples; more detailed study of a larger group of randomly sampled U.S. waterpipe tobacco smokers will be valuable in understanding this behavior and developing effective strategies to prevent it.

Hookah Smoking: Characteristics, Behavior and Perceptions of Youth Smokers in Pune, India

“…It is clearly evident from Table 4 that majority (71-80%) of the participants in the present study consider hookah smoking to be less dangerous and less harmful compared to cigarette smoking and this consideration is similar to the perception of the hookah smokers globally (Smith-Simone et al, 2008;Aljarrah et al, 2009;Combrink et al, 2010;Dar-Odeh et al, 2010;Jordon and Delenovo, 2010;AL-Naggar and Saghir Fatma, 2011). It appears to be a global phenomenon among the hookah smokers to have a false perception that hookah smoke is filtered through water and thus is less harmful in nature as compared to cigarette smoking (Aljarrah et al, 2009).…”

“…In the present time, this ancient trend has re-emerged again. Different epidemiological studies related to hookah smoking have been conducted, which evaluate the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of the youth and university students (Maziak, 2004;Smith-Simone et al, 2008;Aljarrah et al, 2009;Dar-Odeh et al, 2010;Jordan and Delnevo, 2010;Poyrazoglu et al, 2010;Ahmed et al, 2011;AL-Naggar and Saghir Fatma, 2011;Martinasek, 2011;Braun et al, 2012;Brockman et al, 2012;Nuzzo et al, 2012). No study was found, which relates to information about the personal characteristics, perceptions and behaviour of the hookah smokers in India.…”

Shisha Smoking and Associated Factors among Medical Students in Malaysia

“…Various fruit flavors seem to mask the toxic substances in the tobacco and this makes it less irritating, thus motivating them further to smoke (Marziak et al, 2004;Knishkowy and Amitai, 2005;Smith-Simone et al, 2008). Given that previous studies show most of the shisha users started with friends in café restaurants (Ward et al, 2007;Smith-Simone et al, 2008) and since this has mostly become a group socializing activity, we believe that those who are nonsmokers would eventually try shisha smoking and become users along with their friends. Several studies have shown that shisha smokers were significantly more likely to have shisha smokers as friends (Maziak et al, 2004, Mohammed et al, 2006.…”

Fallacies about Water Pipe Use in Turksih University Students - What Might Be the Consequences?

“…80% was male and the mean age was 23 years. 40% of the smokers claimed that they do not smoke (Subasi et al, 2005;Smith-Simone et al, 2008 though narghile smoking likely exposes users to high levels of various toxicants and that the practice may be addictive , it is popularly perceived as less harmful and toxic than cigarette smoking because of the purported filtering effect of the water bubbler (Kandela, 2000;Ward et al, 2007;Smith-Simone et al, 2008;Griffiths et al, 2011;Al-Naggar and Bobryshev, 2012).Volatile aldehydes, especially formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein were shown in narghile smoke (Al Rashidi et al, 2008). These are associated with a significant number of cigarette smoking diseases including chronic pulmonary disorder and cancer (Cogliano et al, 2004).…”