Hookah is everywhere, from “Hookah in the Sukkah” events to house parties - but how much harm can it cause? Oregon Daily Emerald reporter Lindsay Funston devotes an article to the health risks involved in the popular pastime.
She opens with a typical case:

University junior Shayna Brown occasionally puffs tobacco from a hookah with friends.
She first smoked shisha, hookah tobacco, while visiting Israel a few years ago, and she doesn’t think her sporadic, strictly social use of the Indian water pipe has health risks, she said.
A recently released Georgetown University study, however, suggests that a 30- 60-minute hookah session can pose dramatic health hazards, mirroring warnings from public health officials about the similar effects of smoking shisha and cigarettes.
Christopher Loffredo, director of the Cancer Genetics and Epidemiology program at Georgetown University Medical Center, who led the study, compares a typical water pipe session to inhaling a pack of cigarettes.
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The myth that smoking hookah is less harmful than other forms of tobacco disproportionately affects college-aged women who fear the social stigma of lighting up a cigarette and opt to smoke a hookah instead, the study says.
“There hasn’t been a lot of research done in the U.S. because it’s a new phenomenon,” said Paula Staight, University Health Center health education director.
Some people believe smoking hookah is less harmful than cigarettes, but health experts dispute that claim.
People think water absorbs all toxins, but tar, the carcinogen found in tobacco, is not water-soluble, Staight said.
“I think there’s been an attempt to make it seem less harmful,” said Laura Hammond, Lane County Public Health tobacco prevention and education program coordinator. “It’s another way to lure people in.”