A hookah, or water pipe, is an instrument, typically made of glass, in which water is used to cool tobacco smoke before inhalation. It is commonly suggested that the original design was invented by a Persian physician, Hakim Abu'l-Faith Gilani, while in service to the Indian court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar I in the 16th century. Tobacco had only recently been introduced into India from Europe, and Gilani offered his idea as a way to purify the smoke before it entered the body.
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Once adopted by the emperor, the device became popular among the court nobility and soon spread throughout the aristocracy, becoming a status symbol among the elite. While Gilani is probably instrumental in spreading its use throughout the region and later the world, it is also known that the Persian poet, Ahli Sirazi, referred to the galyan, the name given to hookahs in Iran (formerly Persia) to this day, decades earlier in one of his quatrains. Gilani should, perhaps, be more correctly credited with introducing the device to the Indian court, rather than inventing it. Nevertheless, once introduced to the Mughal nobles, its popularity was guaranteed.
The water pipe's popularity has since spread around the world. Deeply entrenched in the traditional cultural life of India (where its use is on the upswing again in urban areas), Pakistan and the Arab world, it is gaining in popularity in North and South America, Europe and Australia as well. A 2011 study in the United States reported that 40.3% of the college and university students surveyed had smoked tobacco from one of them. Despite a growing trend among municipalities to limit or prohibit indoor use of tobacco products, the number of lounges and cafes offering water pipes continues to rise.
The instruments are known by a dizzying array of names in various parts of the world. One such name, used throughout the Arab world, is Nargeela or Nargile. These names come from the Sanskrit and Persian words for coconut, leading researchers to conclude that early versions were probably carved from coconuts. The most commonly used term in the English speaking world comes from the Indian word huqqa. Large numbers of Brits first became aware of the water pipe during the British Raj in India, so it's not surprising that the anglicized version of their word became the common name in English.
There are many important brands in the hookah world including the Mya Hookah, 4 hose hookah, Hello Kitty Hookah (yes, really), Dragon hoookah, mini hookah as well as pink, Khalil Mamoon, Sahara, Electronic, Custom, Egyptian, Rotating, Electric and portable models.
The most common design for a water pipe, sometimes playfully called a hubble bubble, comes from the Middle East. A bowl at the top is filled with tobacco, which is then frequently covered by a screen or perforated tin foil on which burning charcoal is placed. Often the charcoal is covered by a perforated windscreen, to control the burn rate. A body tube extends from the bowl, down into the water jar, where enough water is placed to submerge the tube an inch or so. The smoker inhales through a hose, which draws the smoke from the charcoal down into the water. The smoke then bubbles up through the water and enters the top part of the jar, where it enters the hose and is inhaled.