The history of water pipe smoking

One Waterpipe, also known as alyan , is a single or multiple stem instrument for vaporizing and smoking flavored tobacco, or sometimes cannabis or opium, the vapor or smoke of which is passed through a water basin before inhalation – often on a glass basis.

There are two theories about the origin of shisha. The first is that after the introduction of tobacco in medieval India by the Jesuits, the water pipe was invented by one of Akbar’s doctors, Abu’l-Fath Gilani, in the Indian city of Fatehpur Sikri during the Mughal India; the water pipe spread from the Indian subcontinent to the Middle East, where the mechanism was changed. Alternatively, it could have come from the Safavid dynasty of Persia, from where it eventually spread east to the Indian subcontinent at that time.

The word water pipe is a derivation of the Hindustani term “huqqa”. Outside its home region, water pipe smoking has gained worldwide popularity, especially among younger people, mainly due to immigrants from the Levant, where it is particularly popular.

On the Indian subcontinent the word huqqa is used; this word is the origin of the English word “hookah”. The widespread use of the Indian word “hookah” in the English language is the result of colonization in British India (1858-1947), when a large number of emigrant Britons tried the water pipe for the first time. Mr. Hickey, shortly after his arrival in Calcutta, India, 1775, wrote in his memoirs:

“The best dressed and most splendid water pipe was prepared for me. I tried it, but I didn’t like it. Since I still thought it unpleasant after several attempts, I asked with a lot of gravity whether it was essential that I become a smoker, which was answered with the same gravity: “Undoubtedly it is, because you might as well be out of the world as out of fashion. Here everyone uses a water pipe, and it is impossible to get on without it…[I] have often heard men say that they would much rather be deprived of their food than their water pipe”

Argilah or Argileh (Arabic: ?,sometimes pronounced Argilee) is the most commonly used name in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Iraq, while Nargilah is the most commonly used name in Israel. It comes from narghile , which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word, coconut, suggesting that early water pipes were carved from coconut shells. In Persian it is known as qalyan.

In Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria na[r]gile is used for the pipe, while šiša refers to the tobacco smoked in it. The pipes there often have one or two mouthpiecee. The flavored tobacco, which is produced by marinating tobacco slices in a variety of flavored molasses, is placed over the water and covered with perforated foil with hot coals placed on it, and the smoke is drawn through cold water to cool and filter it. In Albania the water pipe is called “lula” or “lulava”. In Romania it is known as Narghilea.

“Narguile” is the word used in Spain for the pipe, although “cachimba” is also used, along with “shisha” from Moroccan immigrants in Spain. The word “Narguil” is also the word that is used in Brazilian Portuguese.

Shisha or Sheesha, from the Persian word Shishe, which means glass, is the common term for the water pipe in Egypt, Sudan and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Yemen and Saudi Arabia) as well as in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Somalia. In Yemen, the term mada’a is also used, but for pipes with pure tobacco.

In Persia the water pipe is called “Qalyan”. The Persian Qalyan is included in the earliest European tobacco compendium, the Tobakolgie written by Johan Neander and published in Dutch in 1622. It seems that water pipes have acquired a Persian significance over time, because in 18th century Egypt, water pipes were used in the production of tobacco.lem im Nordosten, wo sie für Freizeitzwecke genutzt wird.
In Sindhi, einer weiteren Sprache Südasiens, heißt sie Huqqo.