Shisha

Shisha is the Egyptian word for waterpipe, or nargilè. It is a complicated structure where a special kind of tobacco (mixture of tobacco and treacle, or honey or, sometimes, sugar and distilled water, in a proportion of one for two and half to which some glycerin and different essences are added. The latter confer on tobacco extremely varied tastes and flavours: apple (the most common), strawberry, grape,watermelon, melon, rose, and even cappuccino) is smoked through water. Traditionally women who smoke shisha are not very well considered by society: not in every cafè on the street it is possible for a woman to do it. Yesterday I was told that in Upeer Egypt, the poorest area of the country, every old woman smokes "home made shisha". They make it out of insect spray bottles, to which they add a plastic tube and the tobacco which usually is not enriched with essences, but pure.
I'd love to get a chance to meet one of these women...in the meanwhile, I am adding a picture of me and my Palestinian friend Lourdes smoking shisha (she's the one I started smoking it with..)