HUBBLY BUBBLY: SIGNS OF TROUBLE?

At the end of April, a week-long antismoking campaign was organised in Bahrain by the Smoking Eradication Group. The main person behind the campaign was Sheikh Essa bin Hamad Al Khalifa, chairman of the group and a member of the ruling family.

Is the hubbly bubbly safer than cigarettes?

Although the campaign focused on the dangers to health that result from smoking, it also drew attention to the role of Bahrain in exporting tobacco products throughout the Middle East. Figures from the government's Central Statistics Office revealed that revenue from these products rose to a record £12 million in 1996, an increase of 8.7% on the previous year.

Bahrain is not a tobacco-producing country, but imports tobacco and treats it to suit Arab tastes. The main reason for the increased production stems from the popularity of a hookah tobacco product called maasal, which is manufactured by the fermentation of ordinary tobacco in syrup with added fruit essence such as apple. Maasal hookah tobacco is used in the smoking of narghile (hookah or hubble bubble). In 1996, the demand for this hookah tobacco increased by 36%.

Smoking habits in the Arab world are changing. Although cigarettes are still in demand, they are less fashionable than in the past. Instead, during the past 10 years, there has been a proliferation in the number of smoking cafes serving the hubbly bubbly. This habit, which originated in Turkey many centuries ago, used to be the province of older and retired men who inhabited bazaar cafes but this image has now changed and narkeela is enjoyed by younger men and increasingly by women. Even some university cafes serve hubbly bubbly.

Aficionados insist that nargile is less harmful than cigarettes. According to Marwan Talas, a chest physician in the Syrian city of Aleppo, it is far less dangerous than cigarettes because the smoke travels through water before being inhaled. However, he admits that it is very difficult to carry out a comparative study because most narkeela smokers are also current or former cigarette smokers.

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By Peter Kandela