History of Hookahs – The Early Years

Hookahs come from India and specifically in provinces near the border of Rajasthan, Pakistan, and Gujarat. The origins of the hookah date back to ancient history and were originally made of basic designs which usually consisted of a coconut shell with a tube and mouthpiece attached to it. The original designs of hookahs were made in order to smoke opium or hashish at the time.

Growth in Popularity

Eventually the hookah became popular in other countries as well when it started to gain interest inside the Persian Kingdom. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and various other locations in the Middle East gained a lot of interest in this product and started using it to smoke Tombeik as well. Tombeik is a tobacco which grows in Iran and is darker than normal tobacco. Since Tombeik gets rinsed and packed into the bowl it will give off a stronger flavor when ignited with lit coals.

Once cigarettes became popular it became a more normal thing to do instead of using hookahs to smoke tobacco. Usually the women would continue to smoke from hookahs though as they were usually always at home and didn’t need anything portable. At this time hookahs were seen as a pastime as well.
Five centuries ago hookahs gained popularity in Turkey as well. Once hookahs entered Turkey the popularity blasted to the sky amongst upper class and higher respected individuals. The design of the hookah was modified to be more appealing. Now hookahs were made bigger and had more complex designs. The designs of these hookahs are comparable to the designs of hookahs made in modern times.

As hookahs continued to become even more popular many hookah cafes opened in Turkey about two hundred years ago. The hookah bar server would play a role similar to a chef at a restaurant. He would be in charge of properly packing the bowl and this was considered to be a skill if done right. Now hookahs have been used for many years and have started to gain worldwide attention but it wouldn’t be for a while before the climax of popularity was reached.