Illegal nicotine products come in a variety of forms, but one most will be familiar with is sisha.
What is shisha?
- Shisha is also called hookah, narghile, hubble bubble or a waterpipe.
- Shisha tobacco is heated by burning wood or charcoal. It produces smoke which bubbles through a bowl of water and is breathed in through a long pipe with a mouthpiece at the end
- Shisha is usually fruit flavoured to make it sweet.
- As shisha contains tobacco, it is classed as a tobacco product. A tobacco product is defined as “a product that can be consumed and consists, even partly, of tobacco”.
The sale and supply of shisha are regulated in the same way that cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco is, and is caught under the provisions of The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
Unlike cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco, Shisha can still be sold in various flavours, although its packaging is now restricted on how it communicates this to the consumer, on its packaging. Any reference that refers to taste, smell or any flavourings or other additives, or the absence of any such thing is now prohibited on Shisha packaging that contains tobacco.
By virtue of The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 any pictorial representation of fruit and flavours are not permitted on packaging of any tobacco product.
This includes the specific labelling requirements that must appear, depending on its shape, on both sides of the packaging.
These are known as
- A combined health warning; and
- A general warning and information message.
The combined health warning must consist of a text warning with a corresponding Pictogram. In addition to this, “Get help to stop smoking at www.nhs.uk/quit”, must also appear.
The general warning must state: “Smoking kills – quit now”.
The information message must state: “Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer”.
The Display Regulations that apply to tobacco products also apply to shisha tobacco. This means that is mustn’t be on open display to customers
Shisha must be kept in its original packaging at Shisha cafes to enable traceability of the product and to comply with the relevant tobacco legislation.
Many people think that by drawing the smoke through water smoking shisha is less harmful than smoking cigarettes. This is not true. Shisha smoking creates the same health risks as smoking cigarette tobacco. In fact, in a shisha session lasting 20-80 minutes, a shisha smoker can inhale the same amount of smoke as a cigarette smoker consuming over 100 cigarettes. More information on the health impacts of smoking shisha can be found on the British Heart Foundation website Shisha – BHF