Table 4.
Responses by Ever Hookah Users among Undergraduate University Students to the Open-ended Question: “The first time you smoked hookah, if you did not use a mouth tip, list reason(s) why not.” (N = 970)a
| N | (%) | Quotes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not necessary with friends and family | 84 | (39.1) | I knew the people. I didn’t think it was a big deal with my friends. Not needed at friend’s home. I was among friends, not strangers. I trust that my friends are clean. I was with friends and am not paranoid about germs. I was with friends I knew were not diseased. I was with friends, we share drinks, so this was the same. Friends too young and innocent to get herpes of the mouth. I did not think there were severe health problems. It was my friend’s hookah and sharing germs wasn’t a big deal. The hookah was cleaned before used. I shared with girlfriend. It was my boyfriends’ hookah and he shared only with our friends and they were tested for cooties so no worries. I was with family at home not in a hookah bar. It’s my cousins. It would have created mistrust. It just seems rude and insulting. |
| Did not have a mouth tip | 82 | (38.1) | I didn’t have any. I wasn’t given one to use. I wasn’t offered one. Nobody gave us any. The hookah bar did not provide mouth tips. There weren’t any to use. Not available at a party. Friends did not have them. It was a hookah owned by a friend and he did not have any. Someone offered me to share and did not have one. |
| Did not know about a mouth tip | 29 | (13.5) | I didn’t know about it. I didn’t know it was an option. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know mouth tips were available. I didn’t know there was such a thing. |
| Did not want to use a mouth tip | 20 | (9.3) | I didn’t want to use a tip. I didn’t care to use one. No one uses them. Too much effort. Why would we use one? Taste of the smoke is altered. Too time consuming to take the tip off and switch it from each person. But none of us thought the experience was unsanitary. No one else was using one. |
Note.
a
: Some participants provided no response, and others provided more than one response, for a total of 215 responses.