Two Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper contributors have tracked down rings trading in shisha, also known as Arab pipe tobacco, which an increasing number of local youngsters have been hooked on in recent years. Over the past few years, “shisha” has become a can’t-miss at tea, coffee shops, bars, karaoke parlors and even sidewalk beverage and smoothie stalls which are typically frequented by young people in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and other large cities. Shisha is an Oriental tobacco pipe with a long, flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled as it passes through water. Groups of youngsters, including sixth graders, are typically seen lounging in the rooms, which are often decorated in an Arab style, and pampering themselves over hookahs of tempting shisha with different flavors. There are currently no regulations in Vietnam banning the advertising and sale of shisha, and the addictive substance is considered illegal only when it is illicitly imported. Infiltrating the rings The Tuoi Tre contributors recently “stalked” on and penetrated two rings in HCMC which supply the substance in bulk. Disguised as buyers, they ventured into a house on Ngo Quyen Street in District 9, where they were shown different kinds of shisha and smoking kits by Hai, 28. Hai said a kilogram of Al Fakher shisha fetches VND1.1 million (US$50.4), including transport fees. The prices will be down to VND840,000 ($39) or less per kilogram for bulk orders and regular clients. Hai claimed his goods are purchased from China and brought into Vietnam as personal belongings. He added substances from the U.S. and Dubai in the UAE are generally kept in plastic containers of 250 grams and 500 grams and fetch prices two to three times as high as those from China. These “luxury” substances are imported with clear origins and taxed. The man stressed dealers generally prefer Chinese stuff for the substantial profits they yield. The Chinese-made Al Fakher shisha which Hai and many other dealers in HCMC currently offer for sale are smuggled into the southern metropolis and Hanoi. Due to stringent checks at the Lang Son Border Gate to Hanoi in recent times, large loads of the substance are transported to Cambodia before being brought into HCMC. Despite the detour, prices remain almost the same as when they are transported directly from China to Vietnam. A number of dealers sometimes even refuse to sell their substance until the right time, when they raise their prices by two or three times. Hai divulged he currently wholesales shisha to around 20 “outlets” in HCMC and several provinces in the Mekong Delta, which will then distribute the substance to cafes, bars, discos and karaoke parlors. He is willing to lend hookahs (water pipe for smoking), other kits and attendants to newly opened shisha shops. Hai sells both China-made and homemade shisha smoking kits. The Tuoi Tre contributors were also introduced by a shisha addict to Phu, an attendant at a shisha shop cum a wholesale broker. He claimed his acquaintance in Dubai usually carries over 100 kilograms’ worth of “quality” shisha to the northern city of Hai Phong before sending the loads to HCMC. The Tuoi Tre contributors’ investigation revealed a number of local companies even advertise their legally imported shisha. The contributors were later escorted by a dealer to a contraband shisha warehouse on Nguyen Khuyen Street in Binh Thanh District. Nguyet, the warehouse overseer and transaction maker, divulged she takes in over 100 kilograms of shisha of various kinds each week. She offers her Al Fakher stuff for VND900,000 ($41) per kilogram for orders of 10 kilograms, and VND800,000 ($37) for orders of 50 kilograms or more. Nguyet bragged her abundant shisha stockpile is of premium quality and great diversity with over 40 aromas, and fetches best prices. Dealers like Nguyet pocket some US dollars for each wholesaled kilogram, while outlet owners earn over VND100,000 ($5) each kilogram. Nguyet earns more for each kilogram in retail. Long, Nguyet’s son, claimed their shisha is “airborne goods” and is wholesaled to outlets across the city. Duy, another dealer who supplies his contrabands to local bars and discos, saw the Tuoi Tre contributors at his friend’s shisha shop on Nguyen Trai Street in District 5, where many young people were getting high on the Arab pipe tobacco in air-conditioned rooms. “Shisha dealing makes easy profits, as youngsters almost anywhere throughout the country smoke it,” he added. Contrary to popular belief, smoking shisha, which is an addictive practice, exposes smokers to serious health hazards, which are similar to or even more sinister than those associated with cigarette smoking. According to Dr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, vice head of the Mental Health Institute under Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, shisha, which originated from India and then made its way to the Middle East, has damaging effects on its frequent users. "The amount of smoke which the body receives from a hookah of shisha can top 0.15 to 0.5 liters, which is 100 to 200 times more than that absorbed by smoking a cigarette,” he explained. “The volume of nicotine which the shisha smoker absorbs is up to 75 percent higher than cigarette smokers’ intake of the toxic substance,” Dr. Tuan noted. He stressed it is scientifically groundless to claim that most of the toxins contained in shisha are filtered out through water, as it is generally believed. Dr. Tran Ngoc Luu Phuong, of Ho Chi Minh City-based Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, added shisha smoke also contains a large amount of highly toxic CO. She pointed out that drug dealers can also put illegal drugs like marijuana, ecstasy or even cocaine in shisha pipes to enrich the flavors and boost the concoction’s addictiveness. Dr. Phan Quoc Bao, of the Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center, stressed some elements in certain synthetic aromas added to the concoction have been associated with cancer in respiratory organs, thus putting users at even greater risks.