question about pot and hookah

[dashcat]

Last night difficult child had some friends over and they began the evening smoking "hookah" on my porch. I've been led to believe this is a popular fad among this age group where they smoke flavored tobacco from this communal pipe thing (that looks a lot like a bong from my olden days). It appears to be very Alice in Wonderlandish and perfectly legal. There are even hookah bars where people go to indulge in this mysterious passtime.

Anyway... difficult child today volunteers the following: "You'd be proud of me!!!! Mike wanted to bring pot to put in the hookah last night, but I told him I'd kill him if he did." I snorted and said, "i think I would've put a quick stop to that as soon as I smelled it." (I was home and working in a room near the porch where this was taking place). She commented breezily "Oh, no, it just smells like pineapple when it's mixed with hookah tobacco".

Ok. Am I the only one seeing red flags here? I'm guessing they did, indeed,have pot and were smoking in right under my stupid, untrained nose.

Anyone else have experience with this? Not sure how to proceed. Like many difficult children, she states a lie as the comlete truth. Ugh.
dash

 

[InsaneCdn]

As far as I remember... hookah pipes aren't really for plain tobacco anyway. Usually involves some sort of drugs. Or did back when I was more aware of this stuff.

 

[toughlovin]

I had almost the exact same experience....and i looked at the package of flavored tobacco and wondered but wasnt quite sure what to think except i felt like i was being played......wondered later when my son got into spice if this flavored tobacco is a form of spice...but i really dont know.

TL

 

[susiestar]

There are all sorts of strange trends around. One of the tanning places here has an 'oxygen bar' and why anyone would pay five bucks for a few min of that is beyond me. We have had a few hookah places in our small city and they keep getting shut down. One of the cops that I know says he has yet to hear of a hookah bar that only sold tobacco. I could be wrong, but he said the flavored tobacco is used to mask the smell of the pot smoke.

there may be places wehre only flavored tobacco is used, but I would be very suspicious.

why not tell difficult child that you won't allow a bong/hookah/whatever on your property and she and her friends are not to bring it onto your property, much less use it on your property? It is your property and you do NOT have to explain why you don't want it there. Or else next time she and her friends have t there, call the cops to come check it out.

 

[Nancy]

For some reason we have a lot of hookah bars around here and it is very popular in the high school crowd (I heard it's also very popular around college campuses). Maybe it's because we have a large population of Serbians and Indians and it is popular in their culture. I know of several of difficult child's drug friends who frequented these bars often and always felt that it was used as a cover up for smoking pot, especially if you use the bud rather than the leaves. If you go to the new store that opened at the mall we meet at they sell the hookah water pipes and I'm sure it's not being bought by people to smoke hookah.

in my humble opinion if these are people who smoke pot then there was probably most certainly pot in the hookah pipe. Of course I'm very suspicious but I've had enough experience with difficult child's covering up their use of drugs and trying to make it look legal.

I also wanted to mention that several times difficult child came home reeking in tobacco smoke, a sweet smelling tobacco smoke and I'm sure now she was smoking a water pipe with flavored tobacco and pot. I would ask her what smelled so strogn and she always gave me a run around answer. There was one time I made her get out of my car because the smell was overpowering.

Nancy

 

[DDD]

We have a popular hookah place here that difficult child#2 has frequented for a few years. It is considered an alternative safe place to go since there are a bunch of bars full of drunk young adults. The hookah place caters to "born agains" mostly and plays music that is not rap, lol. Anyway about a year ago difficult child#1 was on his way to get drunk at his favorite watering hole and saw difficult child#2's car outside the hookah place. He decided to check it out in person and was really surprised. There was no indication of drug use...and, sadly, he does "know" drug use inside and out. He started off with #2 and then cruised around visiting people who shared. Weird! Anyway, in our City (at least at that time) there was no pot in the mix. DDD

 

[ThreeShadows]

Ick, what a way to share diseases using a communal device! High school sports teams are told to avoid sharing water bottles. What makes these young people think that this is a safe practice?

 

[DammitJanet]

Hookah bars and hookah pipes are not for pot. I have one in a case in my closet with little packets of the different flavors of tobacco in it right now. It doesnt look exactly like the bongs I remember from the 70's because the ones we used were tall and only one person hit it at a time. These hookah pipes have several flexible tubes that lead off from the main pipe where the tobacco is placed and lit. People puff on the flexible tube sort of like smoking a cigarette or a pipe. Im not quite sure what the allure is except cigarettes are so expensive now and people can go in together on a small pack of hookah tobacco and listen to music and talk and smoke together. Why you can have hookah bars but not be able to smoke in a restaurant is beyond me though.
'

 

[Nancy]

I know hookah bars and pipes are not for pot but is certainly used in them by some people. Dash's difficult child admitted that by telling dash her friends wanted to put pot in it. Do a google search and you will find many discussions about that. I'm not saying everyone does it but it is a good way of hiding pot use.

Nancy

 

[dashcat]

Thanks everyone! I am pretty sure, at this point, that the hookah is being used for something other than tobacco. What I can't believe is how I bought into it at first. I actually never questioned it because I couldn't smell pot. I will not be welcoming Mr. Hookah back onto my porch again.

 

[dixiegirl40]

Here in my area, hookahs are a gateway for pot. They may start as flavored tobacco but someone always brings pot in and mixes it sometimes to the naivety of other kids in the group and then of course they find they like it and keep doing it. My difficult child buys those small cigar type cigs and adds his pot to those. I've learned that's what many do to disguise the pot smell. I wouldn't beat yourself up about believing her. I did too in the beginning. I object to my difficult child even using tobacco. It's so addictive and I've had so many people in my life die from it. Plus he has health issues that tobacco will exacerbate. On a side note, not judging just making a point here, I won't let any of my difficult child's friends smoke anything at my house because I've had to fight so many parents allowing my difficult child to use at their house. I know once they drive it's hard to know where they are 24/7 but like I told one parent who was letting my difficult child smoke at her house when I asked her if she was aware of his medical issues, he hadn't told anyone, that there isn't anyway to know any child's medical history when they are at your house so it's safer and legal to not allow any drug at your house, tobacco or other, to minors. That's just how I feel about it having to deal with parents that allow it. I know he'll do it if he wants to but I'd prefer it wasn't under another adult's watch. Again, not judging ,just another patents perspective here. We're all in this together, in my opinion.

 

[DammitJanet]

Im very much in the minority about tobacco and I know it. Even though my father had emphysema and ended up dying from lung cancer, my son started dabbling with cigarettes at age 12 and smoking regularly at age 14. I allowed it and bought his cigarettes because I knew he would just attempt to shoplift them if I didnt and I didnt want him to get any more legal charges. Smoking cigarettes kept him from trying pot until he was 3 months before he turned 18. That is extremely late where I live. Now he wants to quit. It is an expensive habit and he has to buy them himself. He doesnt smoke near as much as he used to. He has never smoked as much as I do. Thank heavens.

I dont think it much matters though if I would have let him or not. We didnt let Jamie and he never showed any interest in it. He also was one of those kids who refused to even touch a drop of alcohol when he was out with his friends as a teen. He went into the Marines and the next thing I knew he was smoking and drinking beer. I have no idea how Marines under 21 buy beer but they are never carded.