New social trend is smokin'

A trend beginning centuries ago in Persia and India has college students blowing smoke. It’s called “smoking hookah,” or flavored tobacco, and it’s the new “in” trend for casual smoking.

A hookah is an oriental tobacco pipe with a long, flexible tube that draws the smoke through water contained in a bowl. Recently, hookah cafés have popped up all over the United States. In 2006, there were 300 hookah cafés in operation and that number is growing as hookah use increases in young adults.

So why the increase? For students like Brandon Westergaard, who smokes and owns his own hookah, it’s because it’s entertaining and it tastes good.

“I smoke hookah because it’s relaxing and a good way to socialize. I do it about two to three times a month at most, and usually with a group of four or five people my age (19-20),” said Westergaard, an engineering student at the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City. “My favorite flavors are pumpkin pie and orange dreamsicle (a combination of orange and vanilla shisha).”

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