The Narghile (Hookah, Shisha, Goza) Epidemic and the Need for Clearing up Confusion and Solving Problems Related with Model Building of Social Situations

Abstract

Many biomedical studies of the past seven years have failed in giving a sound picture of what hookah (shisha, narghile, goza) smoke and smoking are. The reasons are many: from the widespread use of a confusing neologism (“waterpipe”) instead of the few clear and natural words used for centuries by indigenous and non-indigenous people in their real life, to the use of artificial smoking (machines) instead of relying on quantitative and qualitative analysis of toxicants directly performed on real hookah smokers.