Smoking hookah may cause cigarette addiction

A team of researchers at Dartmouth College and University of Pittsburgh, who enquired in 2,541 young adults aged 15 to 23 years old, found that teens who had smoked water pipe tobacco but not smoked cigarettes were at increased risk of cigarette smoking after two years.

The study explained that hookah smoking, which commonly begins as a social custom, and use among non-cigarette smoking adolescents were longitudinally associated with subsequent cigarette smoking including initiation of high-intensity cigarette smoking.

Samir Soneji, PhD, a tobacco regulatory control researcher at Dartmouth and lead author on the study said that they found hookah smoking increased the probability of trying cigarette smoking over the next two years by 19 percent.

Soneji advices Food and Drug Administration regulation of all tobacco products, to restrict manufacturer's ability to flavor, package, and market their non-cigarette tobacco products in ways designed specifically to appeal to adolescents and young adults, so that onset of cigarette smoking can be curb.