Where There's Smoke

"Remember, if you smoke after sex you're doing it too fast."
-- Woody Allen

Today we got a base wide warning prohibiting smoking a hookah. I've heard of Hookah pipes but never exprerienced one myself. Didn't know you could here either, but apparently a bunch of people got sick the last couple of days and the commonality was they all went hookahing….(is that a word???)

What, you might ask is a hookah?? (I'm not sure they have many in Zelie, but you never know….) For those of us who are unititiated in the joys of hookahing…I checked Wikipedia and found the following:

A hookah (Hindi: हुक़्क़ा, Urdu: حقّہ, hukkah) is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe for smoking. Originating in India,it has gained popularity, especially in the Arab World. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits.

Depending on locality and supply, hookahs may be referred to by many names, often of Arabic, Indian, Turkic, Uzbek, or Persian origin. Nargila is the name most commonly used in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Albania, Bosnia, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Bulgaria and Romania, although the initial "n" is often dropped in Arabic pronunciation. Narghile derives from the Persian word nārgil (نارگیل), meaning coconut, and in turn from the Sanskrit nārikela (नारिकेला), suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.

Shisha (Arabic: شيشة), from the Persian word shīshe (شیشه), meaning glass, is the common term for the hookah in Egypt and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia), and in Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia and Yemen.

In Iran, hookah is called ghalyūn (غلیون), ghālyūn (قالیون), or ghalyān (قلیان). In India and Pakistan the name most similar to the English hookah is used: huqqa (हुक्का /حقہ). The terms "hubble-bubble" and "hubbly-bubbly" are used by Red Sea tourists.

So there you have it. Don't hookah if you are in the Air Force in the middle of the desert. For everyone else (and I'm sure Patti and April might want be tempted to try this with some wild mushrooms....) hookah at your own risk. You've been warned!!!