South Asia India The concept of hookah is thought to have originated in
medieval India.
Koyilandy, a small fishing town on the west coast of India, once made and exported hookahs extensively. These are known as
Malabar Hookhas or Koyilandy Hookahs. Today these intricate hookahs are difficult to find outside Koyilandy and are becoming difficult even to find in Koyilandy itself. As hookah resurges in India, there have been numerous raids and bans recently on hookah smoking, especially in
Gujarat.
Pakistan Although it has been traditionally prevalent in rural areas for generations, smoking hookahs has become very popular in the cosmopolitan cities of Pakistan. One can see many cafés in Pakistan offering hookah smoking to its guests. Many households even have hookahs for smoking or decoration purposes. In Punjab, Pakhtunkhwa, and in northern Balochistan, the topmost part on which coals are placed is called
chillum. In big cities like Karachi and Lahore, cafes and restaurants offered Hookah and charged per hour. In 2013, it was banned by the
Supreme Court of Pakistan. The cafe owners started offering shisha to minors, which was the major reason for the ban.
Bangladesh The hookah () has been a traditional smoking instrument in
Bangladesh, particularly among the old
Bengali Muslim zamindar gentry. However, flavoured shisha was introduced in the early 2000s. Hookah lounges spread quite quickly between 2008 and 2011 in urban areas and became popular among young people as well as middle-aged people as a relaxation method. There have been allegations of a government crack-down on hookah bars to prevent illicit drug usage. The hookah is also an
electoral symbol for a candidate used first in the
1973 Bangladeshi general election. In the biography of
Mountstuart Elphinstone, it is mentioned that
James Achilles Kirkpatrick had a
hookah-bardar (hookah servant/preparer) during his time in the
Indian subcontinent. Kirkpatrick's hookah servant is said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as the
Prince of Sylhet. The man was waited upon by the
prime minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the
Duke of York before presenting himself in front of
George III.
Nepal Hookahs (हुक़्क़ा), especially wooden ones, are popular in
Nepal. Use of hookahs has been usually considered to symbolize an elite family status in Nepali history. Nowadays, the cities of Kathmandu, Pokhara and Dharan have special hookah bars. Although hookahs have started becoming popular among younger people and tourists, the overall number of hookah smokers is likely dwindling owing to the widespread availability of cheaper cigarettes.
Middle East ian hookah (shisha). , 1905 In the
Arab world and the
Middle East, people smoke waterpipes as part of their culture and traditions. Local names of waterpipe in the Middle East are, argila, čelam/čelīm, ḡalyān or ghalyan, ḥoqqa, nafas, nargile, and shisha. Cafés are widespread and are among the chief social gathering places in the Arab world (akin to
public houses in Britain).
Gaza In 2010 the
Hamas-led
Islamist government of
Gaza imposed a ban on women smoking hookahs in public. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry explained that "It is inappropriate for a woman to sit cross-legged and smoke in public. It harms the image of our people." The ban was soon lifted later that year and women returned to smoking in popular venues like the cafe of Gaza's
Crazy Water Park.
Iran smoking qalyan The earliest known literary evidence of the hookah, anywhere, comes in a quatrain by Ahlī Shirazi (d. 1535), a Persian poet, referring to the use of the ḡalyān, thus dating its use at least as early as the time of the Shah
Ṭahmāsp I. This suggests, the hookah was already in use in ancient Persia, and it made its way into India soon afterward. Although the
Safavid Shah ʿAbbās I strongly condemned tobacco use, towards the end of his reign smoking ḡalyān and
čopoq had become common on every level of the society, women included. In schools, both teachers and students had ḡalyāns while lessons continued. Shah
Safi of Persia (r. 1629–42) declared a complete ban on tobacco, but the income received from its use persuaded him to soon revoke the ban. The use of ḡalyāns became so widespread that a group of poor people became professional tinkers of crystal water pipes. During the time of
Abbas II of Persia (r. 1642–1666), use of the water pipe had become a national addiction. The shah (king) had his own private ḡalyān servants. Evidently the position of water pipe tender (ḡalyāndār) dates from this time. Also at this time, reservoirs were made of glass, pottery, or a type of gourd. Because of the unsatisfactory quality of indigenous glass, glass reservoirs were sometimes imported from
Venice. In the time of
Suleiman I of Persia (r. 1694–1722), ḡalyāns became more elaborately embellished as their use increased. The wealthy owned gold and silver pipes. The masses spent more on ḡalyāns than they did on the necessities of life. An emissary of
Sultan Husayn (r. 1722–32) to the court of
Louis XV of France, on his way to the royal audience at
Versailles, had in his retinue an officer holding his ḡalyān, which he used while his carriage was in motion. We have no record indicating the use of ḡalyān at the court of
Nader Shah, although its use seems to have continued uninterrupted. There are portraits of
Karim Khan of the
Zand dynasty of Iran and
Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar that depict them smoking the ḡalyān.
Iranians have a special tobacco called
Khansar (خانسار, presumably name of the origin city,
Khvansar). The charcoals would be put on the Khansar without foil. The Iranian
Shia marja' Mirza Shirazi issued his historical
fatwa: "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent. Today the use of both varieties of tobacco, in whatever fashion is reckoned war against the
Imam of the Age – may God hasten his advent." The fatwa sparked a huge movement to the extent that even in the private quarters of
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–1896), hookahs were broken.
Saudi Arabia In 2014,
Saudi Arabia was in the process of implementing general smoking bans in public places. This included shishas. Currently, hookah remains legal in the country, with some restaurants charging customers extra fees.
Syria smoking a hookah, locally called
nargileh, in a
coffeehouse in
Deir ez-Zor, on the
Euphrates, 1920s. Although perceived to be an important cultural feature of Syria (see
Smoking in Syria), narghile had declined in popularity during most of the twentieth century and was used mostly by older men. Similar to other Middle Eastern countries, its use increased dramatically during the 1990s, particularly among youth and young adults. As of 2004, prior to the
Syrian civil war, 17% of 18- to 29-year-olds, 10% of 30- to 45-year-olds, and 6% of 46- to 65-year-olds reported using narghile, and use was higher in men than women. Western Turkey is noted for its traditional pottery production where potters make earthenware objects, including
nargile bowls.
Southeast Asia In
Southeast Asia, where it is predominantly called shisha, the hookah was particularly used within the
Arab and Indian communities. Hookah was virtually unknown in Southeast Asia before the latter 20th century, yet the popularity among contemporary younger people is now vastly growing. Southeast Asia's most cosmopolitan cities,
Makati,
Bangkok,
Singapore (where it is now banned),
Phnom Penh,
Siem Reap,
Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City, have various bars and clubs that offer hookahs to patrons. Although hookah use has been common for hundreds of years and enjoyed by people of all ages, it has recently started to become a youth pastime in Asia. Hookahs are most popular with college students, and
young adults, who may be underage and thus unable to purchase
cigarettes.
Kenya The hookah is called shisha in Kenya. It is officially banned in the country. Despite this, many clubs still continue to defy the law and hookah smoking goes on in urban areas.
South Africa In South Africa, hookah, colloquially known as a
hubbly bubbly or an
okka pipe, is popular among the
Cape Malay and
Indian populations, wherein it is smoked as a social pastime. However, hookah is seeing increasing popularity with South Africans, especially the youth. Bars that additionally provide hookahs are becoming more prominent, although smoking is normally done at home or in public spaces such as beaches and picnic sites. In South Africa, the terminology of the various hookah components also differ from other countries. The clay "head/bowl" is known as a "clay pot". The hoses are called "pipes" and the air release valve is known as a "clutch". The windcover (which is considered optional for outside use) is known as an "As-jas", which directly translates from
Afrikaans to English as an "ash-jacket". Also, making/preparing the "clay pot" is commonly referred to as "racking the hubbly". Some scientists point to the
marijuana pipe as an African origin of hookah.
United States and Canada (Manhattan), 1910. store window in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. During the 1960s and 1970s, hookahs were a popular tool for the consumption of various derivations of tobacco, among other things. At parties or small gatherings the hookah hose was passed around with users partaking as they saw fit. Typically, though, open flames were used instead of burning coals. Today, hookahs are readily available for sale at smoke shops and some gas stations across the United States, along with a variety of tobacco brands and accessories. In addition to private hookah smoking, hookah lounges or bars have opened in cities across the country. Recently, certain cities, counties, and states have implemented indoor
smoking bans. In some jurisdictions, hookah businesses can be exempted from the policies through special permits. Some permits, however, have requirements such as the business earning a certain minimum percentage of their revenue from alcohol or tobacco. In cities with indoor smoking bans, hookah bars have been forced to close or switch to tobacco-free mixtures. In many cities, though, hookah lounges have been growing in popularity. The growth of hookah culture in the United States also accelerated the emergence of a dedicated accessories industry, with brands competing on engineering innovation as much as aesthetics. Flavored tobacco manufacturers like
Al Fakher became ubiquitous on American café menus, while hardware companies developed heat management devices and filtration systems intended to address the quality and consistency concerns that had long characterized the hookah experience. This commercial maturation has not resolved the underlying public health questions, but it has shifted the terms of the conversation — from whether hookah is harmful to what role product design plays in mediating that harm. From the year 2000 to 2004, over 200 new hookah cafés opened for business, most of them targeted at young adults and located near
college campuses or cities with large Middle-Eastern communities. This activity continues to gain popularity within the post-secondary student demographic. Hookah use among high school students declined from 9.4% to 3.4% from 2014 to 2019 while cigarette smoking decreased from 9.2% to 5.8% during this same time period, according to the US CDC. According to a 2018 study, 1.1% of students with some college but no degree, an associate degree or an undergraduate degree reported waterpipe or pipe tobacco product use either every day or some days. As of November 2017, at least 2,082 college or university campuses in the U.S. have adopted 100% smokefree campus policies that attempt to eliminate smoking in indoor and outdoor areas across the entire campus, including residences. In the United States, the prevalence of hookah use has been noted in a 2019 article to be increasing, particularly among certain states with larger populations of Arab Americans. The use of hookah is more common in urban areas compared to rural areas, and this trend is influenced by factors like availability in public spaces such as cafés and restaurants, as well as cultural and social influences. ==Operation==