The History of Hookah

We can thank India for the Hookah’s origins many decades ago. However, the Hookah we know and love today has been around since the 15th Century. It all started with the Indian Glass manufacturing and the exporting of said glass through the British East India Company. From there, the glass base took the name of Shisha and spread to Iran. Iran favored a strong but flavorless tobacco known as Ajami. It steadeily rose in popularity from the Ottoman Empire’s rule to that of the sultans becoming a symbol of status. It was used as an after social event at diplomatic and royal dinners. Hookahs have many names, some of them being: nargeela, nargile, narghile, argeela, shisha, okka, kalyan, ghelyoon and more. They come from many different places, including Arab, Somalian, Ethiopian, Turkish, Indian, and Persian. Though many from the United States of America region refer to tobacco as shisha incorrectly. Shisha is a Persian word that means glass and it is a synonym for Hookah.