what is hookah(shisha)?

Tobacco, native to the Western Hemisphere, arrived in Syria in the Ottoman Empire in 1570 and in Istanbul in 1600.

In Iran, one historian reports that an Uzbek ruler entered the northeastern province of Khorasan in 1612 and requested tobacco,

which was granted. A few years later, a Spanish diplomat recounted Shah Abbas's campaign to ban smoking, deeming it sinful but granting it to envoys from the Mughal Sultan.

Initially, European merchants brought tobacco by sea to Asia, and the Mughal Empire soon cultivated and exported it to Iran. By the mid-17th century,

it had also become a significant crop in the Ottoman and Safavid empires.

The hookah, a distinctive smoking device in the Islamic world,

also sparked considerable controversy when it first became used. Iranian historians believe the water pipe was invented in Iran,

with a poem dating its origins to before 1550. Early sources indicate that water pipes were used to smoke other substances before tobacco was introduced.

Straight clay and wooden poles were also used, particularly in Turkey and among the poor.

In Persian, the word for water pipe is qalyan, which comes from an Arabic word meaning "to boil or bubble."

Two common Arabic words are nargilat and shisha*, the former from the Sanskrit word for "coconut" and the latter from the Persian word for "glass."

In India, the term "hookah" is commonly used, meaning "jar." There, coconuts were often used to hold water. While there's no definitive linguistic evidence to identify a specific country of origin for the water pipe, it is increasingly clear that it developed and spread before the introduction of tobacco.

Smoking was practiced by all social classes, and women were as addicted as men.

Preparing and lighting a shisha pipe in coffee was an ideal leisure activity during celebrations.

This activity was very popular in the Ottoman and Safavid empires. In other environments, the size and fragility of the shisha pipe would be inconvenient.

When traveling, wealthy Iranians would have a servant hold the pipe, and the servant would hang a small pot of hot coals from the saddle.

This way, his master could always puff on the road.