Shisha pipes ‘as bad for health as tobacco’

The Department of Health has claimed that smoking shisha pipes – a practice more prevalent in eastern cultures – is as detrimental to health as smoking tobacco products.

A joint study conducted by the department and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre has found that those who smoke shisha – which is herbal tobacco – are likely to have high levels of carbon monoxide in their systems.

It discovered that just one session of smoking fruit-scented tobacco can cause a smokers’ carbon monoxide levels to rise as much as four to five times higher than one cigarette.

Director of the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre Dr Hilary Wareing, informed the BBC’s Asian Network: “Our mouths opened at the level of harm – none of the tests we did showed anything other than shisha is hazardous to health.”

One area of the country where shisha cafes are gaining momentum is Manchester’s Rusholme district – which is home to the so-called curry mile and various non-alcohol terraced cafes where the pipes are available.