Tar Content

[ahwahoo2006]

From Wiki:

"Smoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes pyrolysis or combustion, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass."

"Smoke particles are actually an aerosol (or mist) of solid particles and liquid droplets..."

"Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of organic materials by heating in the absence of oxygen or any other reagents..."

The products of pyrolysis are H2, CH4, and tars.

You do not need to actually burn a material to produce tar.

[Dom]

By definition any smoke is going to have some tar in it. Smoke is tiny particles from heating/burning a material.

it's not smoke. it is vapor. the vapor has the nicotine and such from the shisha, but the tar and ash that is produced from burning just does not exist.

BAM!
SOURCE: MOUTH CANCER FONDATION

Hookah and Health
The smoke from the tobacco is cooled as it passes through a water-filled glass bowl and then inhaled through a flexible tube. The water in the bowl acts as a barrier for the most harmful substance in tobacco tar.

Tar includes all of the mutagenic and carcinogenic agents in tobacco smoke. For Example Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which in cigarettes is made through the process of epoxidation and which causes the reaction in tobacco that aids the creation of the tar and the carrying of nicotine, does not occur in hookah or shisha pipes as the process is prevented in water due to saturation of the hydrocarbons in their gaseous state. Although this is a positive there are negatives to shisha pipe smoking as when the tobacco is consumed nicotine (in lesser amounts) is still carried through the water or liquid at the base of the pipe.

believe it or not, sounds pretty damn legit to me.

Come on? no ones going to challenge it? hell i have no idea if its right or not lol but i guess the water might be doing something after all.

Nice. i'm going to have to show this to my doctor. this is a really nice find, man.

I'll believe that source to the fullest when I'm fucking fiending for a hookah come Tuesday:

"But recent studies have found that hookah smokers actually inhale more nicotine than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale." (same source as above)

-QM

hOkay... first of all, cigarettes have 5% nicotine or higher. the strongest shisha has 0.5% nicotine.

larger quantities. right.... fine. i agree that there is more VOLUME of "smoke" produced by a hookah. but it's not even smoke and i don't think that it has more nicotine because it takes quite a few puffs to get a buzz, even if you have never smoked the hookah before. non-smokers get a buzz from cigarettes right away

but if the hookah produces more nicotine, then how come i can be smoking my tangiers for an hour with no real buzz and then i take a drag from my buddy's cigarette and i get so light-headed that i have to sit down? i don't smoke cigarettes, but i smoke my hookah every day (at least two bowls a day) and that is what cigarettes do to me.

plus, when i smoke a cigarette, i get that hard, harsh, catch in the back of the throat that kind of takes me off guard. you don't get that with the hookah. it's nice and smooth.

also, i have never heard of any cigarette-free hookah smoker that is physically addicted to nicotine, or thier hookah. no PHYSICAL cravings at all. but a person who smokes cigarettes has cravings after a few hours of not smoking.

i'm no expert, but this shows me that the cigarette puts more nicotine into my body than a hookah does

[ahwahoo2006]

By definition any smoke is going to have some tar in it. Smoke is tiny particles from heating/burning a material.

it's not smoke. it is vapor.

No, that is incorrect. If it was "vapor" it would quickly dissipate, and you would not be able to blow rings with it. Try smoking hookah inside in a small room and you will notice how long the smoke stays around.

[roadie]

I was thinking about the "buzz" feeling you get that is so much more intense than smoking anything else. What percentage do you think is caused from just inhaling so much of a volume of "air" and exhaling? You know how you get light headed if you blow up a big balloon too fast? I think a good part of it is due to that as well as the ingredients in the shisha. True, am I full of shit, or what? LOL

Oh and BTW, when I make my bowl correctly and everything is setup right, I don't have any charring or any crusty shisha, it's darker and rubbery. NEVER burned............ Edited February 4, 2008 by roadie

[zeppyrkr]

found this, its just a person so it could be very incorrect but i thought i would through it out there, and actually i don't agree with it ...

Actually - one does not technically SMOKE a hookah - it is indirect heat from the coals... which could also be categorized as a (albeit crude) Vaporizer. What you see is not smoke - it's vapor from the propylene glycol. Vaporizing tobacco greatly reduces the intake of carcinogens as well as all other dangerious elements. Using coal to do this is not a very healthy way - as the trade off is CO2 from the coal.

[ZenSilk]

No matter how much we actually "Vaporize" the tobacco and/or the glycerine, there is of course Carbon Monoxide Production. That, in my opinion, is the most dangerous part of smoking from a hookah.

Vaporizers are in fact suppose to REDUCE the amount of Carbon Monoxide and Carcinogens including tar from burning plant matter, and maybe even buring Glycerine (which is also plant-based). BUT, we ADD coals, which produce massive amounts of Carbon Monoxide (causing headaches, nausea, dehydration, sore throat).

The heat from the coals is actually burning the tobacco. For the heat from the coals to be evenly distributed, a glass screen would have to be used. That would be the closest we could get to actually "Vaporizing" without the use of a heat source that does not produce anything toxic.

The glycerine, in fact, is plant based, so therefore it burns (it's impossible for it to NOT burn, that's what causes the black residue after you smoke). That has to release some form of tar.

[staygone]

Zensilk, nice info.


I didn't know vapors can actually have a burning sensation in your throat when heat needs to be managed.

Note to self: hookah is healthy smoking. Granted, we do inhale heavy metals, CO, CO2, but no tar from our tobbaco vapors.

-QM Edited February 4, 2008 by QuiltedMaple

[Johnny_D]

Note to self: hookah is healthy smoking. Granted, we do inhale heavy metals, CO, CO2, but no tar from our tobbaco vapors.

-QM

My Hookah Smoking brother - Smoking is dumb. Period.

But we make our lifestyle choices and live with them. Were all adults

JD

[staygone]

I know its not a good thing to do, but the fact that there is NO SMOKE produced from SMOKNG HOOKAH that grinds my gears. It's not life choices, it's fucking nonsense.

-QM

Tonight I'm doing an experiment. The whole duration of the smoke I will be breathing through a water container/bottle and trapping the smoke. I will also be breathing through a paper towel. Now is the kicker:

Smoking a phunnel bowl of pure glycerin. I will have pictures ASAP. Edited February 4, 2008 by QuiltedMaple

[mathuv]

I might run this experiment: fill my phunnel bowl with pure glycerin. Forget the shisha, I'm smoking vapors.

Anybody ever crumble the black puck after there done smoking? Doesn't the tobacco seem to "ash out" onto the table?

Anybody have to manage their heat because it was getting too harsh? When you take a coal off the top of the bowl seems to smoke more heavily?

So what we're smoking is vapor? Why put a harmful, addictive leaf into shisha when it is the glycerin we're smoking? Oh, but we get the buzz from the tobacco. Hmmmm, so we bake the nicotine straight from the tobacco.

-QM

Guys, we all know it's not healthy. I'm trying to get to you guys that there is tar in smoke shisha. There is tar that we inhale. I brought up the health because when you ignore the fact that there is tar, you ignore the fact that it is unhealthy. "Tar is purportedly the most destructive component in habitual tobacco smoking, accumulating in the smoker's lungs over time and damaging them through various biochemical and mechanical processes." (wiki)

smoking liquids sounds cool. i DO in fact beleive there is tar in shisha but not as much as in cigarettes. weird experiment (could be totally unrelated...) get a paper towel and blow cigarette smoke through it...after a while a yellow stain will appear....this doesnt happen with hookah smoke

[Bulldog_916]

I'd stuff a cotton ball in the mouth piece personally. That would be better because you can pull it out after you're done.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Someone get that as your sig right now! Edited February 4, 2008 by Bulldog_916

[Johnny_D]

I know its not a good thing to do, but the fact that there is NO SMOKE produced from SMOKNG HOOKAH that grinds my gears. It's not life choices, it's fucking nonsense.

-QM

I'm not picking on you man - But I don't understand what you mean?

[staygone]

I was also thinking taping a peice of paper towel in the chamber of my hookah,

If it is indeed a vapor, wouldn't it condensate in the bottle after I cap it? I shall see,

[staygone]

I know its not a good thing to do, but the fact that there is NO SMOKE produced from SMOKNG HOOKAH that grinds my gears. It's not life choices, it's fucking nonsense.

-QM

I'm not picking on you man - But I don't understand what you mean?

This thread is about tar. Tar is the byproduct of smoking. People don't believe smoking hookah produces smoke but vapors. I'm defending the fact that tar is in hookah smoke and that we inhale it.

-QM.

[Dom]

By definition any smoke is going to have some tar in it. Smoke is tiny particles from heating/burning a material.

it's not smoke. it is vapor.

No, that is incorrect. If it was "vapor" it would quickly dissipate, and you would not be able to blow rings with it. Try smoking hookah inside in a small room and you will notice how long the smoke stays around.

you have a very valid point, however i think you are confusing "vapor" with "steam." yes, steam will dissipate quickly. Steam, being water in a gaseous state as a result of it being heated up past water's boiling point. The vapor in a hookah would be defined as a gaseous state of a substance that would normally be a liquid or solid. That's what the indirect heat of the coal does. It heats it up just enough to vaporize it, but not enough to burn it….. normally. Now, if the coal is too hot, or if the shisha touches the coal or foil, then it is actually burnt and you get that real tobacco-like taste. Now, THAT is smoke.

and if it's not vapor, then why is the process called "vaporizing" since the hookah "vaporizes" the tobacco?

[Dom]

Tonight I'm doing an experiment. The whole duration of the smoke I will be breathing through a water container/bottle and trapping the smoke. I will also be breathing through a paper towel.

i took several puffs of the hookah with a cotton ball in my mouth between the hose tip and the direction of air flow. i forced all smoke to go through the cotton ball and after several long puffs, i saw absolutely no tar or any debris at all on the cotton ball. it looked brand new - as if it hadn't been touched (except by my slobber ).

one small drag of a cigarette produces a very noticeable yellowish-brown residue on the filter.

so i'm convinced that the hookah produces no tar.

[r1v3th3ad]

We should ask a university to research this...
would make an interesting article in health "Tobacco smokers, go to shisha, its proven healthier"

[mathuv]

imho, shisha contains 0% tar in its unburnt stage..when its cooked/vaporized/humped into submission/whatever, there is some tar in the smoke.

[zeppyrkr]

Tonight I'm doing an experiment. The whole duration of the smoke I will be breathing through a water container/bottle and trapping the smoke. I will also be breathing through a paper towel.

i took several puffs of the hookah with a cotton ball in my mouth between the hose tip and the direction of air flow. i forced all smoke to go through the cotton ball and after several long puffs, i saw absolutely no tar or any debris at all on the cotton ball. it looked brand new - as if it hadn't been touched (except by my slobber ).

one small drag of a cigarette produces a very noticeable yellowish-brown residue on the filter.

so i'm convinced that the hookah produces no tar.

well you cant say "no" tar, and to fully test this i think you should blow through the cotton ball for a whole hour hookah session, if hookah does have as much nasty shit as 400 cigs then the thing should be fucking black after an hour of hookah smoke.

yep our clean white cotton ball has more tar and nicotine then that of 400 cigs, lmao, doesn't make sense its so clear to see people? Edited February 4, 2008 by zeppyrkr

[ahwahoo2006]

you have a very valid point, however i think you are confusing "vapor" with "steam." yes, steam will dissipate quickly. Steam, being water in a gaseous state as a result of it being heated up past water's boiling point. The vapor in a hookah would be defined as a gaseous state of a substance that would normally be a liquid or solid. That's what the indirect heat of the coal does. It heats it up just enough to vaporize it, but not enough to burn it….. normally. Now, if the coal is too hot, or if the shisha touches the coal or foil, then it is actually burnt and you get that real tobacco-like taste. Now, THAT is smoke.

and if it's not vapor, then why is the process called "vaporizing" since the hookah "vaporizes" the tobacco?

Steam is a specific type of vapor (i.e. water or H₂O). Vapor is "the gas phase component of another state of matter (e.g. liquid or solid)." (Wiki) Now what that says to me, and I might be wrong since I have only had a few chemistry and physics courses, is that in order to become vapor, it must be the same molecular structure as it was before. Smoke, however, is a byproduct of combustion or pyrolysis.

That is:

Vapor: H₂O (liquid) + energy --> H₂O (gas)

Smoke (example methane): CH₄ + 2O₂ --> 2H₂O + CO₂

This represents a perfect combustion, which, in reality, almost never happens. The result of an incomplete combustion results in CO gas and C being released as well, in the form of tar. "Tar is the common name for the resinous partially combusted particulate matter produced by the burning of tobacco, cannabis, and other plant material in the act of smoking." (Wiki; emphasis mine)

[staygone]

I will have picture up SOON. mapping out my experiment. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! They show clear indication of color when entering the chamber through the water. Then they will show the no show of color indication through the exhale of smoke.

HERE THEY ARE:


Here is the hookah.


Here are the filtering devices


Here is the in chamber filtering device


Filtering device inside the chamber.


A clean tissue to the left, the breathed on tissue in the bottle to the right, the in-chamber tissue in the middle.


CLEAR INDICATION OF TAR IN HOOKAH SMOKE, NOTICE THE COLOR BROWN.

In conclusion, the tar is not exhaled into the tissue, but prior to smoking, the smoke has tar in it.

-QM Edited February 4, 2008 by QuiltedMaple

[ZenSilk]

I will have picture up SOON. mapping out my experiment. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! They show clear indication of color when entering the chamber through the water. Then they will show the no show of color indication through the exhale of smoke.

-QM

Cause the cilia in your throat and lungs traps it in.

[staygone]

Oh my god, HOPEFULLY THIS IS EVIDENCE ENOUGH.

-QM

[ZenSilk]

I'm totally down with that miniscule amount of tar. Even less than i thought. Edited February 4, 2008 by ZenSilk

[staygone]

I just want the vapor heads and tar non-believers to suck these pictures down niiiice and sloooow. Didn't matter how much, just that there is some.

-QM Edited February 4, 2008 by QuiltedMaple