What exactly is "doing hooka?" In my youth it mean opium through a pipe. Since I cannot see the facebook page I don't know what is going on.
A hookah is a device used for smoking anything that can be normally smoked in other methods.
I believe that the original hookahs were used with just tobacco and with additional added flavours for taste.
It was this method that has inspired the popular menthol flavoured cigarettes of today.
The tobacco or whatever is being combusted passes through a water bath and this gives it a more pleasant and less irritating taste.
This added affect with the water, leads smokers to believe that the hookah smoking is less harmful than cigarettes!
The truth is that it is NOT any safer at all, but just that the dry and irritating effect on the throat is not there. The harmful and toxic matter is still there.
Yes, marijuana, opium or heroin are widely used nowadays but for a drug user this method turns out expensive because more opium gets burnt than absorbed, therefore the cheapest alternative is always going to be to inject the drug and make sure that even a slight milli or microgram does not get wasted !!
From what I gather , the proud singh shown in the picture is showing off the hookah as a
'status symbol' !!
Around the world and in punjab it is considered very low status to be seen smoking a typical birhi or cigarette
sat down in some areas.
They associate this with lower castes.
But
sitting at a tabha and smoking a hookah makes you 'cool' amongst he crowd.
However, if one is wearing a suit and shirt lets say, and walking
around with a cigarette, then that is considered cool, because the guy is on the move and has a busy lifestyle, as he is not sat down smoking !
This is why the singh in the picture looks proud- 'PRAT!!'
Anyway, I have noticed that smoking associated with a status symbol is something that happens in many corners of the world !!
I have seen that in certain parts of Cuba it is also considered 'low' to be smoking cigarettes as they prefer to see 'cool' and upmarket people with big hand rolled Cigars !
You can find this trend around many hispanic areas around the americas, especially in places like Miami.
The world is getting very sad when people take these extremes just to be with the 'in crowd' or be cool.
I remember a time when the coolest guy was cool for just giving his two thumbs up to the crowd, and they called him 'The Fonz' ! (from Happy Days)