Better Know a Turkish Smoker (Part 2): The Narghile

"Hos Geldiniz."

Open the door and walk into the haze. Hear the clicking of OK, the CRACK! POP! of players brutally slapping down the backgammon pieces. Sit down, and join the big hall of card tables. An old man offers a tea from his tray of red glass bulbs. Take one, let him mark it on your bill, and order a narghile. I recommend apple. Let him set down the blue glass bottom and here comes another man with a hot tin of coals. He selects a few embers with his tongs, then sets it on the foil. Give it a few strong sucks and voila! a fire-breathing narghile smoker. Breathe in, not down the lungs and release. Feel the stimulating blast and the brain will levitate in the skull. The mouth may get dry, so I recommend an Ihlamur tea with a little sugar and lemon.

Bubbling at the floor, sits the glass base of shisha, the hookah, the water-pipe, or here in Turkey -- the narghile. A word descending from Persian "nargil," meaning coconut, which comprised the original narghile. From the base stems a tube the water passes through from the tobacco on top. Snaking out of the side is the smoking tube with a mouthpiece and a disposable reed. Putting it between the lips, draw air through the coals into the bowl, heating the tobacco. The air passes down the tube into the base, which is cooled by the water before slipping up the smoking tube into your mouth.

From there many people believe the effects are less damaging than cigarettes due to the water-filtering process. Most studies conclude that although this is partially true of some toxins, it isn't true for a significant amount of carbon monoxide (from the charcoal), carcinogens, heavy metals and nicotine. Most people don't smoke narghile as often as cigarette addicts and therefore, studies are limited. The few suggest, due to the large amounts of smoke inhaled, a 60-minute narghile session can be the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes.

A limited message on these hazards certainly hasn't helped to quell a rising trend of narghile bars and cafes sprouting up in masses around the Eastern Mediterranean countries. The trend also extends to its growing popularity around college campuses in the US. The water cools the tobacco making it less harsh than cigarettes, therefore more tolerable and even relaxing --though -- no doubt as relaxing as hashish, which was the common smoking substance until the import of tobacco hundreds of years ago from the Americas. The wide variety of flavored tobacco add to the appeal, from fruit to bubblegum to cappuccino.

Most narghile bars are spacious areas with card-tables and chairs, or bean bags and low-level tables with patrons sipping teas, orange juice, apple cider, or the usual unidentified concoction. Like most restaurants in Bursa, alcohol usually isn't served. Although, I doubt it's a gateway to becoming an addict for me, a defiant non-smoker here in Turkey, I can quite easily be persuaded to sit down with the narghile and some friends once a month or so. If I can pull that off living in Turkey for a year, then that ain't so bad.

That is until you consider the 100+ hand narghile smoke.