What is shisha?
Shisha is tobacco mixed with molasses and fruit flavors and is smoked in a hookah. It is very light and flavorful with a wonderful fruity aroma. It is smoked for the flavor and not for any kind of effect. Though the most popular flavor is apple, others include strawberry, pineapple, apricot, grape, rose, mint, and even cappuccino! In the Middle East, from Turkey to India, there are shisha cafes where people gather to smoke and drink coffee or tea. Smoking shisha can last two hours or more and is a very peaceful, social occassion generally filled with good conversation with friends.

So what is a hookah?
A hookah is known by many different names in different parts of the world: a shisha, a nargile (pronounced nar-geelah), a hubble-bubble or hubbly-bubbly, a waterpipe. The most famous instance of hookah smoking is probably that of the caterpillar in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. A hookah consists of a hollow glass (sometimes clay or brass) base which is filled with water, a vertical pipe topped with a clay bowl for the shisha and coals, and a usually colorful hose. When one sucks on the hose, the smoke is drawn down the pipe and through the water, which cools and filters it. This also produces a peaceful bubbling sound.

What's the point of all these information?
I am a proud owner of a brand new hookah and is now peacefully puffing on apricot flavoured shisha. (: