This is a topic that I hear brought up quite regularly.
“I’m sick. Should I stop smoking hookah?”
The short answer: Yes!
Smoking of any kind is bad for you and makes it harder for the body to recover from illness. The worst case scenario is if you are dealing with a chest cold or other kind of respiratory infection. I wanted to make it clear right off the bat that if you are smoking while you have an illness of the lungs you are just asking for serious trouble. Pneumonia is just one of the many complications that could arise.
Less sever illness should be treated the same as well. If you are sick to your stomach then smoking is just going to make that worse. If you are smoking tobacco the nicotine is going to add even more to that. If you have a head cold it’s kind of silly to smoke at all for a few reasons. Firstly, smoking can prolong a sickness by weakening your natural defenses. Second, if you are having trouble breathing because of a stuffed up nose then hookah is just going to make it worse. Lastly, if you’re stuffed up you can’t taste the hookah in which case, why smoke it at all?
With something like allergies, of which I am a sufferer, hookah can be smoked but should be taken in moderation. Very strong flavors like mint and menthol can actually be a nice bit of relief for itchy and stuffed up sinuses. I have a hookah flavor mix that I use once in a while when my allergies act up and when I am looking for something really strong to smoke. I call it Vicksotussin. Al Fakher cardamom mixed with Nakhla Mint. Super strong, cooling and relieving blast of spicy, minty, burning goodness.
My favorite sinus clearing flavors are
- Nakhla Mint
- Nakhla Cinnamon
- Nakhla Cardamom
- Al Fakher Mint
- Al Fakher Cardamom
- Social Smoke Absolute Zero
- Social Smoke Cinnamint
If you have light to moderate allergies these are great flavors to keep around. Not only are they awesome flavors of hookah tobacco but they are strong and will help open up the sinuses. Cardamom is a little bit strong for some people but I LOVE it. If you do get some I suggest mixing a small portion of it with a mint and see what kind of flavors you can pick out and move up from there. Cardamom is also a traditional spice used in Turkish coffee so I mix it with coffee flavors like Starbuzz Arabic Coffee and enjoy.
The bottom line. If you are sick smoking hookah is just going to make you sicker or make this sickness last longer. It’s no worth it. It’s a great hobby and very relaxing but it’s not worth risking your health over.
Smoke healthy, my friends.