Everyone knows that cigarettes are bad for you. Since 1965, manufacturers have been required to place a Surgeon General's warning on cigarette packages. But hookahs always seemed to be different. These Middle Eastern water pipes (also known as shishas, narghiles and arghiles) have no warning labels, and many people reason that the water inside them filters the smoke, making them less harmful. Hookahs also just tend to feel cleaner than cigarettes because they use flavored tobacco which leave you smelling like pomegranate or cinnamon, rather than an ash tray.

However, an increasing number of studies suggest that smoking a hookah may not only be bad for you, but may do more harm to you than smoking a cigarette.

Unfortunately, hookahs can be quite alluring. Instead of excusing yourself from a group to go smoke outside, you bring the group with you. Some hookah aficionados even say that a "hookah culture" is beginning to take shape. This culture, according to www.hookahculture.com, provides a new way for people to unwind. "As we venture forth into a new millennium, we're stressed out from normality, seeking a new niche and behavior to reinforce our potential sophistication," the Web site explains in its mission statement. It continued, "When we feel sophisticated, we have more potential for success."

Though hookahculture.com's mission statement escapes me (perhaps I'm not sophisticated enough to understand), one thing rings true: smoking hookah is becoming a popular way for people to kick back and relax.

But what should you know before you light up a water pipe that looks vaguely akin to a sprinkler system? First, you're going to inhale a huge quantity of smoke. According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, a renowned medical practice, "a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette." Though the smoke passes through a gurgling pool of water inside the pipe, few of the harmful substances from the tobacco smoke are actually filtered out. "Even after passing through the water, the tobacco smoke produced still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals," the study continues. Lame, I know. But other studies demonstrate even more serious implications of hookah smoking.

Research published in Food and Chemical Toxicology and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that smoking a hookah is far worse for your health than a cigarette, as bad as the latter may be. Smoking a hookah for 45 minutes draws 36 times the tar, 1.7 times the nicotine, and 8.4 times the carbon monoxide into your lungs. Much of this is because hookah smoke is cooled, allowing you to inhale more smoke than you would from a cigarette. It's also because not many people sit around puffing on a cigarette for 45 minutes or more. So as relaxed as you may feel while smoking a hookah, your body is taking a real beating.

The bottom line is that hanging out with your friends is great, but that you shouldn't depend on a hookah to mellow you out. There are lots of other ways to de-stress, so don't pick one that's bad for you. Going for a run, playing dodgeball at the Student Health Educators' (SHEs') "Return to Childhood" events, sleeping or watching Amherst clobber Williams in pretty much every sport are all great ways for you to unwind. Just find what works best for you.

Shameless plug: If you need some new ideas, or have some questions about this article, please send an e-mail to the SHEs' guru, Denise McGoldrick, at dmcgoldrick@amherst.edu. She can hook you up with a lot of great resources and also work out a time for us SHEs to give a Stress Workshop in your dorm.

The statistics for this article come from "The Great Hookah Hoax," which can be found on www.yourstrategy.org/images-posters/07/StallSeat07-1.pdf.

Please submit your health-related questions and concerns to dmcgoldrick@amherst.edu.