Hookah, also known as waterpipe, argileh, narghile, shisha, and many other names is a glass-based device used for smoking tobacco. Although hookah has originated in ancient India, it has become a global phenomenon only in the last two decades. There are numerous substances of health concern contained in the smoke coming out from hookah. The majority of hookah smokers believe it is less harmful and more socially accepted than cigarette smoking. hookah smoking is associated with a variety of health hazards, on both short- and long-terms. In Palestine, Hookah is not only smoked in special lounges or cafés, but also in most restaurants and public places, and even in many homes. In this study, five hookah lounges in Palestine where investigated in Summer of 2018. In each of the lounges, a locally calibrated particulate monitor (AirU) was used to measure PM2.5 every minute during approximately 2-hour session. During these sessions, the numbers of people, active hookahs, and cigarette smokers were recorded. In addition, notes about ventilation condition during the sessions were recorded. The results show elevated PM2.5 average concentrations in all of the lounges (ranged from 75 to 380 g/m3). It also shows that PM2.5 concentration is highly correlated with the number of active hookahs and the number of people, and the open large window (OLW) ventilation system was the most efficient

Conference Title

A&WMA Annual Conference

Conference Country

United States of America

Conference Date

June 30, 2020 - July 5, 2020

Conference Sponsor

Air and Waste Management Association

Additional Info

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