The "hookah" or waterpipe has been used by tobacco aficionados since the sixteenth century. Although the beginnings of this useful invention are rather obscure, it appears to have been invented by a Persian physician named "Hakim Abu’l-Fatḥ Gilani". Dr. Gilani worked for a Mughal emperor in northern India during the 1500s. Tobacco had just been introduced to India by European traders and he became concerned about how this might affect the health of the Mughal emperor and his court. In his attempt to make the smoking of tobacco more healthy, Dr. Gilani introduced the water pipe. He believed that the smoke would be purified by passing it through water and would thus improve the health of the smoker. Shortly thereafter, smoking the hookah became a popular pastime for Indian nobility and quickly spread to the Middle East and Turkey. At present times, many tobacco aficionados continue to enjoy the hookah in these places as well as South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Hookahs and hookah tobacco have been popular for so many centuries for the same reasons that cigar aficionados enjoy a quality smoke. When you smoke a hookah, you sit back and relax with friends while meditating on the complex taste of flavored tobacco.
The easiest way to find hookah tobacco is by shopping for it at online cigar stores. The next time you order Dutch Masters Cigars, get some hookah tobacco to understand why it hasn't gone out of style for more than 400 years.
Comments for A Brief History of the Hookah