Although smoking rates in the United States are declining, a new trend is popping up. This trend is smoking Hookah, which is a tobacco pipe with a tube that draws smoke through water contained in a bowl. Hookah bars are appearing across the nation, and the trend is becoming more popular among young adults, specifically college students.

A new study published in the January/February issue of Public Health Reports compares the dangers of hookah to the dangers of cigarettes. The research team on this study viewed over 540 scientific articles relating to cigarette and hookah smoking. They then narrowed down their search to 17 studies that contained enough data to draw results.

Researchers found that one hookah session delivered 125 times the smoke of a single cigarette. It also delivers 25 times the tar, 10 times the carbon monoxide and 2.5 times the nicotine. Although this is a large difference, and it would seem that hookah smoking is far more dangerous, the researchers state that the products are used much differently. Cigarette users smoke multiple cigarettes a day, while hookah users may only smoke the product once a week.

This information is very relevant right now as the CDC recently reported that there was a higher number of past 30-day hookah users than past 30-day cigarette users.