What Is More Harmful: Hookah or Cigarettes?

28 de octubre de 2025

2 min de lectura

According to the World Health Organization, hookah smoking has a more negative effect on the body than smoking cigarettes. Is this true? And what is the difference?

Puntos clave

According to the World Health Organization, hookah smoking has a more negative effect on the body than smoking cigarettes.
Importance of quantity
Massive attack

Para quién es

Personas que exploran Sistema respiratorio a través de cáncer, pulmones.

Por qué importa

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Autor del artículo

Dra. Helga

Médico general

Importance of quantity

One portion of hookah contains about the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. But smoking a hookah is a long, drawn-out process, which on average takes at least half an hour. Even an avid smoker smokes one cigarette every half an hour, but a hookah smoker smokes the equivalent of one pack over the same amount of time. Doctors and WHO experts agree that a pack of cigarettes in half an hour is a tremendous blow to the lungs. Hookah smokers typically only smoke a maximum of once per day.

Massive attack

Let’s look at the math: a cigarette smoker takes about 8–12 puffs for 5–7 minutes (average time), during which he or she inhales a total of 0.5–0.6 liters of smoke. The average time of hookah smoking is from 100 to 200 puffs, and each puff contains 0.15–1 liters of smoke. This amount should be divided by the number of people, as hookahs are usually smoked in a company, not alone. So if there are more than two hookah smokers, do they harm themselves less than if they smoked cigarettes? No. It is not so much about the amount of nicotine as it is about the effect on the lungs. In addition, paradoxically, the lungs of smokers due to systematic contact with the poisonous substances somewhat adapt to intoxication, while the hookah addicts’ sudden and sharp nicotine intake in large doses leads to more serious poisoning (which explains the euphoria of many experienced hookahs).

Another important point is that the smoke in a hookah passes through a water filter (which many people mistakenly think is a better purification that retains nicotine). However, moisture does enter the alveoli of the lungs. Cigarette smoke, on the other hand, is dry. Moisture is an excellent medium for bacteria to multiply, so even if nicotine itself has not "killed" the lungs, after smoking hookah the probability of developing bacterial infections in the bronchi is much higher.

In most countries of the world, hookah and cigarette smoking have the same legal restrictions. It is important to remember that hookah is not as dangerous as some believe.

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