Muʽassel

Muʽassel (Arabic: معسل, meaning "honeyed"), or maassel, is a tobacco mix containing molasses, vegetable glycerol and various flavourings which is smoked in a hookah, a type of waterpipe.

It is made by fermenting tobacco with molasses, glycerine and flavoring agents, producing a moist and pliable mixture.

It quickly became the most common type of hookah tobacco globally, and sales skyrocketed, fuelled by the ever increasing variety, growing internet availability and advertising.

[3] In many places in the Arab world, the smoking of shisha is a part of traditional culture, and is considered a social custom.

Some expatriate residents arriving in the Middle East frequent hookah cafés in lieu of pubs in the region, especially where prohibition is in place and alcohol is not served.

[citation needed] In the Levant (Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan), hookah (sometimes referred to as "arguileh", or "narguileh") is widely used, and its availability is nearly universal.

In Iran, the hookah is known as a ḡalyān (Persian: قليان, قالیون, غلیون, also spelled ghalyan, ghalyaan or ghelyoon).

One difference is the uppermost part of the hookah, the "ghalyoun," locally called 'sar' (سر, i.e. head), where the tobacco is placed.

Smoking was so popular, that the shah had his own private ḡalyān servant, and the first evidence for the position of hookah tender (ḡalyāndār) dates from this time.

The wealthy owned gold and silver pipes, and even the general population spent more on ḡalyāns than they did on the basic necessities of life.

An emissary of Shah Sultan Husayn, to the court of Louis XV in the early 16th century, on his way to the royal audience at Versailles, had in his retinue an officer holding his ḡalyān, which he used while his carriage was in motion.

There are several chain clubs, bars and coffee shops in India offering a wider variety of muʽassels, including non-tobacco versions.

[9] Koyilandy, a small fishing town on the west coast of India, once made and exported hookahs extensively.

The custom has also been present in the indigenous Muslim Filipino community (a considerable religious minority), where a historical following of Middle Eastern socio-cultural trends led to the hookah being a rare—albeit prestigious—social habit of the nobility in the vital trade hubs of Mindanao such as Cotabato and Jolo.

Presently, hookah use is gaining popularity among younger, more cosmopolitan Christians, particularly with college students and young adults who may be underage and thus unable to purchase cigarettes.

In South Africa, hookah, colloquially known as a hubbly bubbly or an okka pipe, is popular[needs update?].

[15] Hookah bars and cafes have become popular especially among college students and young adults in big cities across North America.

[16] There is a growing hookah bar and café industry, especially in inner cities and near universities and colleges where youth and young adults gather.

In cities with indoor smoking bans, hookah bars have been forced to close or switch to tobacco-free muʽassel.

From the year 2000 to 2004, over 200 new hookah cafés opened for business, most of them targeted at young adults[17] and located near college campuses or cities with large Middle-Eastern communities.

[21] However, since then the US Department of Health and Human Services has stated that older teens have decreased their use of hookahs in recent years.

Several of the toxic chemicals in mu’assel smoke can cause cancer, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., benzopyrene), heavy metals (e.g., arsenic, chromium, uranium, polonium, lead), and ultrafine particles.

Carbon monoxide is a highly toxic odorless gas that can damage the heart and central nervous system.

There have been many cases of carbon monoxide poisoning among hookah smokers that require treatment in hospital emergency departments for symptoms such as headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue and weakness.

[30] Herbal muʽassel and shisha poses similar risks to the tobacco-containing counterpart: smoke from herbal muʽassel contains equal or greater levels of carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, aldehydes, tar, and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) as tobacco-containing smoke.