BLACK LACQUER DINING TABLE

Hookah:
A hookah (Hindustani: ???????? (Devanagari), ???? (Nastaleeq) huqqa)[1] or waterpipe[2] is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) instrument for smoking tobacco in which the smoke is cooled and filtered by passing through water.[3] Originally from India,[4][5][6][7] hookah has gained popularity, especially in the Middle East and is gaining popularity in North America , Europe, Australia and Brazil.[1]
The Hookah was invented in India in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542 - 1605 AD).[10][11][12] Following the European introduction of tobacco to India, Hakim Abul Fateh Gilani a descendant of Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani came from Baghdad to India who was later a physician in the court of Mughal raised concerns after smoking tobacco became popular among Indian noblemen, and subsequently envisaged a system which allowed smoke to be passed through water in order to be 'purified'.[10] Gilani introduced the hookah after Asad Beg, then ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar to take up smoking.[10] Following popularity among noblemen, this new device for smoking soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry.[
In the Arab world, people smoke it as part of their culture and traditions. Social smoking is done with a single or double hose, and sometimes even more numerous such as a triple or quadruple hose in the forms of parties or small get-togethers. When the smoker is finished, either the hose is placed back on the table signifying that it is available, or it is handed from one user to the next, folded back on itself so that the mouthpiece is not pointing at the recipient. It has been recorded that the Arabs are the biggest shisha smokers in the World and have the most shisha Cafes.[citation needed]

Most cafes (Arabic: ?????, transliteration: maqhah, translation: coffeeshop) in the Middle East offer shishas. Cafes are widespread and are amongst the chief social gathering places in the Arab world (akin to public houses in Britain). Some expatriate Britons arriving in the Middle East adopt shisha cafes to make up for the lack of pubs in the region, especially where prohibition is in place.
Source: Wikipedia