New Smoker Tips + Hookah FAQ

A lot of new hookah smokers run into issues that have to do with hygiene, cleaning, and even little roadblocks like encountering hookah headaches and idiosyncrasies that come with the hookah experience. New users may also be confused regarding hygienic practices, especially in the time of covid. Below we’ve prepared a mixed bag that introduces new hookah smokers to the culture, as well as some of the common experiences new hookah smokers have. We cover everything from hygiene, to pipe cleaning and effects on some areas of health management within the hookah experience.

Hygiene

First, let’s talk about hygiene. COVID has made life challenging for everyone in one way or the other, if they haven’t lost people altogether. If we can be helpful, even in the slightest degree during this time, we truly hope to be. To be helpful, we’ve crafted a short list of health and sanitization tips to guide us all through this frightening time. Hopefully, with these tips you’ll still be able to enjoy hookah even amid lockdown!

1. TRY NOT TO SHARE HOOKAH

Face that bad boy! Nah, we’re playing, but on a serious note, it’s not actually a bad idea to limit sharing as much as possible, especially with strangers. Disposable hoses are great tools during these times, as you can just slide it off as you pass the hose around. The virus could be pushed down back into the basin during an attempted purge moment, so be aware of that too!

2. ONLY USE CLEAN EQUIPMENT

It’s really important to keep your devices as clean as possible, and with that in mind, hydrogen peroxide is probably the best option for hookahs simply because using alcohol and bleach related products could discolor and wear down your hookah over time. Remember, that your hokah is crafted from many different materials. Often wood, metal, plastic, and rubber comprise a traditional hookah set up.

3. MAKE SURE OTHERS ARE USING CLEAN EQUIPMENT

Almost along the same lines as your average hookah lounge, make sure you’re sharing hookah as little is possible or if you are that you’re getting it from a reliable source. Disposable tips and hygienic solutions can be helpful here, but as I previously mentioned, the hookah could potentially intake the smoke back I through the purge valve and hide viral particles within its basin.

4. TRY NOT TO SMOKE, OR SMOKE MUCH LESS

We’re sure that you probably hear this relatively frequently, but try to minimize your smoking in this time! Smoking can lower your immune system and make it more likely to contract something viral or even bacterial, especially if you’re sharing mouth pieces. Though, a plus to being a smoker in these times is that your lungs are constantly in a state of healing so they make actually be a bit stringer than someone’s who doesn’t even though the smoker is still more likely to contract COVID or any of the other seasonal ailments going around. This is another reason that the quality of supplies you use is important. If you’re using bad coal, foils, shisha, etc you run the risk of low quality materials being used and damaging your lungs even worse.

5. INFORM YOURSELF

This is pretty self explanatory, but I’m lazy, you’re lazy—we get it, research isn’t always a blast, but the only way to truly sift the through the facts here is to get your hands on the experience. There are tons of free scholarly articles out there that offer free access like Project MUSE, JSTORE, and many more. These are academically certified and peer-reviewed articles that require a certain level of validation and qualification, they can’t just be thrown together—they actually have some basis in factual understanding and rationality according to the most recent academia.

6. ATTEMPT TO REMAIN UPBEAT

It may sound crazy or you may already know this, but being in positive mood and allowing for the flow of energy through your body allows your immune system to work far more effectively and your body will actually remain healthier. Everyone is under a lot of stress in these times so it’s important to destress when you can because stress literally makes it more difficult for your body to heal and recover.

7. USE COMMON SENSE

We know this is easier said than done, but USE COMMON SENSE! If you’re in a new group of people that you don’t necessarily know than probably bring your own tip or altogether just get your own hookah. There are plenty of situations will arise where you can protect yourself so that you can smoke way more hookah in the long run, it just might be a little dicy during the time of COVID.

Hookah Headaches

Hookah sessions are supposed to be chill, relaxing, and even soothing to some people, but that’s damn near impossible when a charred smoke taste leaves you with a dull headache after a supposedly soothing reaction. Usually a few small tweaks can fix this issue and offer a solution to a relatively unpleasant problem.

Here’s how to insure you’re not going to have a headache the next time you smoke hookah:

Make sure your charcoal is fully LIT

Lighting your coal can take a few minutes depending on your set up and you really ant it glowing red when you place it on top of your foil for your shisha bowl. This is when you start puffing and stoking your bowl to really get the smoke rolling thick and cloudy.

Don’t use quick light charcoal, always invest in high quality coals!

Most of the time, you want to avoid quick light coals because they often are treated with chemicals and solutions that can be toxic on your lungs over time. This usually causes a monetarily irritation that could worsen the potential for viral infection. Don’t skimp on your charcoal! Get the highest quality you can reasonably afford.

Have something sweet before and during sessions

Just as with drinking, it’s important to have something on your stomach before you smoke because your blood pressure and blood sugar can be effected. This can make you feel nauseous, dizzy, or light-headed, so make sure you’re nourishing your body or at least having a bit of sugar beforehand to keep your blood pressure up throughout the process.

Enjoy your puff in a well-ventilated area

Make sure you’re not hot boxing the damn hookah! Y’all, there is no reason to do this because you fail to give your lungs any chance to detox between pulls. VENTILATION IS CRUCIAL FOR SMOKING!

Puff puff pass

So make sure to balance the safety of sharing and the breaks that your lungs need while you’re smoking. You don’t have to face the entire bowl, you can pass that thing I promise! Passing the hookah will allow your lungs the time it needs to purge the smoke from your lungs and heal a little before your next sesh!

Use a high-quality heat managing device

Using a heat management system will prevent you from burning the shish within your bowl and achieving that awful flavor and taste. A heat management system is only a couple extra bucks and it can really make the difference in a session.

Keep your equipment clean

Keep your tools clean! As we mentioned above, the proper way to clean a hookah is mostly with hydrogen peroxide just because of the myriad of materials used to construct a hookah, hash chemicals could prove detrimental to the integrity of your hookah. Be aware of what each material is made from and maybe adapt to that material specific cleaning supplies.

Choose the Right Shisha Tobacco

Make sure you check out our article on the different types of hookah shisha in our blog space. We offer articles one choosing the right sisha and hookah here!

Does Hookah Alter Testosterone Levels?

“Also, shisha tobacco smoking has deleterious effects on male fertility as it has significant toxic effects on semen parameters and levels of testosterone, FSH and LH hormones and this toxicity is higher than that induced by cigarette smoking with significant decrease in the percentage of sperms with normal morphology.”

Okay, okay so the sciencey answer above could be a little confusing, but what does it mean? It means that the testosterone levels in the smokers were significantly higher than in non-smokers and this was the case for fertility and the potential for less active sperm cells.

Does Smoking Hookah Effect Sperm Count?

Yes, again, smoking hookahs has a lot of negative effects on reproductive health that can cause far less sperm than normal and effect overall fertility.

Is Hookah Smoking Better For You Than Cigarettes?

This is a common misconception, hookah is NOT better for you than cigarettes. In fact it’s much worse. Some people think that cigarettes have all of The added chemicals, heavy metals, etc, but newsflash y’all, the tobacco that’s used for pretty much any nicotine product runs the potential of being toxic and infused with heavy metals and other addictive chemicals that can be detrimental in the long run.

This being SAID

Make sure to check out out blog space HERE for more info and FAQ regarding new hookah smokers. As well, if you have any questions please email myself, Wyatt, at Wyatt.price@cloud9smokeco.com