Introduction. The high degree of international confusion surrounding hookah research, likely never reached in the history of tobacco research, is mainly due to the abuse of smoking machines and the use of a reductionist nominalism (““waterpipe””)[1].
1) While biomedical research on hookah smoking is very old and particularly informative, it is surprising that the arguments of ““waterpipe”” antismoking researchers almost exclusively rely on levels of toxic substances produced by smoking machines operated at the...
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Response to Comments by Dr. Kamal Chaouachi(Khaled Aljarrah, 16 February 2010)
We thank Dr. Chaouachi for providing valuable comments on our article and finding two typos that we missed. The first typo was calculating and using the number 36 when it should be 3.8 in the statement “hookah smoke also contains 36 times the amount of nicotine” based on table 2 in the reference by Shihadeh 2005 [1] that we cite. The second typo is mistakenly switching 900 with 450 and 450 with 900 for the respective temperature of cigarettes and hookahs [2]. For the other points raised by Dr. Chaouachi we do have different explanations and understandings based on the published literature. Under his comment titled “NICOTINE”, we do not agree that one hookah session would not deliver more nicotine than one...
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Hookah Smoking Harmfulness: Correcting a Few Errors and Clarifying Some Points of Interest (Kamal Chaouachi, 16 February 2010)
Dear Editor,
NICOTINE. Aljarrah et al state that “scientific facts indicate that “when compared to cigarette smoking […]”, "hookah smoke also contains 36 times the amount of nicotine” [1]. The authors cite for this purpose two papers from the US-American University of Beirut. In fact, this elevated figure is not that that for nicotine and it should be divided by at least 18. Indeed, there is a growing consensus among tobacco control researchers that one hookah session would not deliver more nicotine than one single cigarette.
TEMPERATURES. There is also another error concerning the working temperatures. 900°C is a common figure for the temperature at the tip of a cigarette, not inside the hookah...
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Hookah Smoking Harmfulness : Correcting a Few Errors and Clarifying Some Points of Interest (Kamal Chaouachi, 20 January 2010)
Dear Editor,
NICOTINE. Aljarrah et al state that “scientific facts indicate that” when compared to cigarette smoking "hookah smoke also contains 36 times the amount of nicotine” [1]. The authors cite for this purpose two papers from the US-American University of Beirut. In fact, this elevated figure is not that that for nicotine and it should be divided by at least 18. Indeed, there is a growing consensus among tobacco control researchers that one hookah session would not deliver more nicotine than one single cigarette.
TEMPERATURES. There is also another error concerning the working temperatures. 900°C is a common figure for the...
read full comment
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Time to Make Tabula Rasa of Some Misconceptions in Research on Hookah (Narghile, Shisha) Tobacco Smoking (Kamal Chaouachi, 02 July 2010)
PLAN: Introduction; 1) Smoking machines ; 2) Nicotine intake ; 3) Temperatures involved; 4) Origins; 5) Second hand smoke ; 6) Gateway hypothesis; Conclusion.
Introduction. The high degree of international confusion surrounding hookah research, likely never reached in the history of tobacco research, is mainly due to the abuse of smoking machines and the use of a reductionist nominalism (““waterpipe””)[1].
1) While biomedical research on hookah smoking is very old and particularly informative, it is surprising that the arguments of ““waterpipe”” antismoking researchers almost exclusively rely on levels of toxic substances produced by smoking machines operated at the... read full comment
Comment on: Aljarrah et al. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 5:16
Response to Comments by Dr. Kamal Chaouachi (Khaled Aljarrah, 16 February 2010)
We thank Dr. Chaouachi for providing valuable comments on our article and finding two typos that we missed. The first typo was calculating and using the number 36 when it should be 3.8 in the statement “hookah smoke also contains 36 times the amount of nicotine” based on table 2 in the reference by Shihadeh 2005 [1] that we cite. The second typo is mistakenly switching 900 with 450 and 450 with 900 for the respective temperature of cigarettes and hookahs [2].
For the other points raised by Dr. Chaouachi we do have different explanations and understandings based on the published literature. Under his comment titled “NICOTINE”, we do not agree that one hookah session would not deliver more nicotine than one... read full comment
Comment on: Aljarrah et al. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 5:16
Hookah Smoking Harmfulness: Correcting a Few Errors and Clarifying Some Points of Interest (Kamal Chaouachi, 16 February 2010)
Dear Editor,
NICOTINE. Aljarrah et al state that “scientific facts indicate that “when compared to cigarette smoking […]”, "hookah smoke also contains 36 times the amount of nicotine” [1]. The authors cite for this purpose two papers from the US-American University of Beirut. In fact, this elevated figure is not that that for nicotine and it should be divided by at least 18. Indeed, there is a growing consensus among tobacco control researchers that one hookah session would not deliver more nicotine than one single cigarette.
TEMPERATURES. There is also another error concerning the working temperatures. 900°C is a common figure for the temperature at the tip of a cigarette, not inside the hookah... read full comment
Comment on: Aljarrah et al. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 5:16
Hookah Smoking Harmfulness : Correcting a Few Errors and Clarifying Some Points of Interest (Kamal Chaouachi, 20 January 2010)
Dear Editor,
NICOTINE. Aljarrah et al state that “scientific facts indicate
that” when compared to cigarette smoking "hookah smoke also contains
36 times the amount of nicotine” [1]. The authors cite for
this purpose two papers from the US-American University of Beirut. In
fact, this elevated figure is not that that for nicotine and it should
be divided by at least 18. Indeed, there is a growing consensus among
tobacco control researchers that one hookah session would not deliver
more nicotine than one single cigarette.
TEMPERATURES. There is also another error concerning the working
temperatures. 900°C is a common figure for the... read full comment
Comment on: Aljarrah et al. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 5:16