Shisha consumers perceive it as cool, trendy

You might have noticed a growing trend in your neighbourhood, of consumers who smoke through some fancy waterpipes at night clubs, pubs and some restaurants around Nigeria.

The shisha (waterpipe smoking) industry is gaining traction in Nigeria as more consumers find it cool and trendy. There are no hard data on this. Shisha is typically smoked in social settings, very frequently smoked by urban youth, young professionals, and university and college students.

“My curiosity was pricked because I was told shisha was harmless smoke without any form of tobacco or processed drug in it. But after taking it I was almost knocked out for two days,” consumer who does not to be identified told BusinessDay.

Before this famous smoke started trending in restaurants, social hubs and clubs it was mostly seen in some Lebanese homes.

At Q4, a popular night club in Ikeja the product was on display. In the club, it is sold for N2500 for a single pipe and N3500 for a double pipe.

“Shisha sells really well here. People demand for different flavours without the use of weed inside but if you want weed (marijuana)I will put it for you,” Opeyemi Bolaji, shisha attendant said to BusinessDay reporter who posed as a customer.

In a restaurant on Victoria Island called La Pizza, there were about six shisha bottles there sitting on the table. The price ranges between N3500 – N7000 depending on the flavour.

“Shisha comes in different flavours such as apple or mint which are a bit lighter than power horse. At the moment the volume of patronage is increasing,” a restaurant manager said.

Shisha, also called hookah, narghile, or hubble bubble smoking, is becoming an increasingly popular method of tobacco use worldwide. It originated in the Eastern Mediterranean region and is now gaining popularity in many western countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America, and also in Southeast Asia.

Shisha smoking is a growing threat to public health. The reason is because, there is a common misconception that smoking shisha is relatively less hazardous than smoking tobacco cigarettes, and most outlets offering shisha remain largely unregulated.

A review of the health effects of smoking shisha show that shisha smoking leads to significant exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile aldehydes, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, nicotine, furans and nanoparticles.

Drawing tobacco smoke with the help of a hookah pipe only alters the temperature of the smoke and the chemical structure almost remains the same.

A consumer employing a hookah may be exposed to noxious chemicals that are not actually cleaned and sorted out by the water.

In addition, there is a high probability of infectious disease taking place when hookahs are shared with each other. Diseases like oral cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus, respiratory diseases, heart disease, and fertility problems can take place with hookah smoking.

This sort of smoke seen as fun to some its consumers has been banned in countries such as Pakistan, Jordan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and now Malawi.

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU  & BUNMI BAILEY