With the rise of hookah bars, teens tend to think that this trend is a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. This simply isn’t true.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is warning us that smoking anything increases our risk for certain cancers. Even a single evening of smoking hookah can significantly increase carcinogen exposure (substances that cause cancer).

Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco found that smoking hookah is at least as toxic as smoking cigarettes. They say that hookah delivers a purer, more harmful form of nicotine and other cancer-related substances. And using the inhalant device in a night usually results in inhaling more toxic substances than smoking a cigarette.

After checking urine samples from healthy individuals who were exposed to hookah smoking, they noted higher levels of nicotine. In some cases, people were exposed to second hand smoke in the hookah bars as well. One study noted that hookah smokers were exposed to 56 times more smoke than cigarette smokers (Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco).

In addition to the increased risk of cancer, the carbon monoxide from smoking impacts heart health.

In reality, any product with nicotine is not “safe.” So, if you want to improve your health, find an alternative to smoking!