A hookah is a device for smoking tobacco, also called a water pipe. Coals are used to burn the tobacco (which is usually flavored), which is contained within a ceramic “bowl.” To reduce the harshness of the smoke created by the burning coals sitting on the tobacco, it is filtered through water, thus mixing vapor with it and cooling it down significantly. What the hookah smoker ends up inhaling ends up being a combination of water vapor and smoke

A typical hookah is made up of a few simple parts:

Bowl: The ceramic container that hold the shisha while it burns. It has holes in the bottom for air/smoke to filter through.

Plate/Tray: Holds hot coals for later use, catches ash as it falls off burning coals.

Hose: The bendable tube that carries the smoke from the base to the smoker.

Jar/Base: Holds the water at a level the stem can access; secures the rest of the hookah.

Body/Gasket: The most complex piece. The static metal unit that manages the inhaled air/smoke mixture.

Related: Hookah Preparation