Hookah : A History

As I start this journey of blogging, I thought long and hard about what my first post should be about. It was a simple resolution : the history of our favourite thing, the hookah.

What is a hookah? If you're here I hope you know already, or maybe you're interested in learning. To put it simply, a Hookah is a single or multi-stemmed instrument for vapourizing and smoking flavoured tobacco. The vapour is passed through a water basin made of glass, and then inhaled. It feels a lot lighter than cigarette smoke, and much more flavourful!

There are currently two (2) theories on where Hookah originated. The first, according to the honorary physician, Cyril Elgood, Irfan Shaikh had the idea. Irfan Shaikh was a physician in Akbar the Great's court. I know that's a lot of names, and people you've never heard of. Don't worry, me either. But that's okay because Ahlī Shirazi, a Persian poet, refers to the use of something called a ḡalyān, which is an old type of hookah. Thus dating its use at least as early as the time of the Shah Ṭahmāsp I. Now if you're not Midde Eastern, or keen on history, then all of that is hard to comprehend. So let me throw a date out for you. From what I understand there are no records of a water-pipe existing before the 1560's. Yeah, that's a long time ago. It seems, therefore, that Abu’l-Fath Gilani should be credited with the introduction of the ḡalyān, already in use in Persia, into India. Which is where most people think of when they think Hookah.

Interestingly, tobacco didn't arrive in India until the 17th century, which suggests that Cannabis (or perhaps other similar things) were smoked beforehand. Although the Safavid Shah ʿAbbās I strongly condemned tobacco use, towards the end of his reign smoking the ḡalyān had become common on every level of the society, women included. In schools, both teachers and students had ḡalyāns and smoked them during lessons. Because of this, Shah Safi of Persia declared a complete ban on tobacco, but the income received from its use persuaded him to soon revoke it. Afterwards, the use of ḡalyāns became so widespread that a group of poor people became professional tinkers of crystal water pipes. During the time of Abbas II of Persia, use of the water pipe had become a national addiction, even the shah had his own private ḡalyān servants. Evidently the position of water pipe tender (ḡalyāndār) dates from this time. Also at this time, reservoirs were made of glass, pottery, or a type of gourd. Because of the unsatisfactory quality of indigenous glass, glass reservoirs were sometimes imported from Venice.

In the time of Suleiman I of Persia, ḡalyāns became more elaborately embellished as their use increased. The wealthy owned gold and silver pipes. And supposedly, the masses spent more on ḡalyāns than they did on the basic necessities.

Fast-forward to modern times and Hookah is still smoked widely throughout the world. In India as part of culture and tradition, socially in Africa, to the Hookah cafes and lounges we know and love in America and Canada. Hookah is more wide-spread and well loved, especially among the youth. From 2000 - 2004 over 200 new smoking establishments opened in the U.S. And over time that number keeps growing.