A hookah, shisha, or waterpipe is a single- or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking either tobacco, flavored tobacco, or sometimes cannabis, hashish and opium. The smoke is passed through a water basin—often glass-based—before inhalation.
Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor workplaces and buildings open to the public such as restaurants, bars, office buildings, schools, retail stores, hospitals, libraries, transport facilities, and government buildings, in addition to public transport vehicles such as aircraft, buses, watercraft, and trains. However, laws may also prohibit smoking in outdoor areas such as parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas, college and hospital campuses, and within a certain distance from the entrance to a building, and in some cases, private vehicles and multi-unit residences.
Because of the damage to health due to smoking in the United Kingdom it may be the first country to ban sales of cigarettes to people born after 2008.
In the Netherlands, coffeeshops are a type of cannabis retail outlet, establishments where the sale of cannabis for personal consumption by the public is tolerated by the local authorities.
The loi Évin is the French alcohol and tobacco policy law passed in 1991. It takes its name from Claude Évin, then Minister of Health, who proposed it to Parliament.
A hookah lounge is an establishment where patrons share shisha from a communal hookah or from one placed at each table or a bar.
A cigar bar is an establishment that caters to patrons who smoke cigars. Many serve food and alcohol as well. The prevalence of cigar bars varies by country; some jurisdictions ban smoking in all businesses, while others offer an exemption for cigar bars.
The Smoke-Free Illinois Act is a comprehensive anti-smoking law that took effect in Illinois on January 1, 2008. It bans smoking inside most buildings and vehicles used by the general public, used as a place of employment, or owned by the government or other public body. It also requires "no smoking" signs, bans smoking within 15 feet (4.6 m) of openings in the targeted buildings, and requires at least 75% of rooms in each hotel to be non-smoking. The act replaced the previous Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act.
The use of tobacco for smoking in New Zealand has been subjected to government regulation for a number of decades. On 10 December 2004, New Zealand became the third country in the world to make all indoor workplaces including bars and restaurants smoke-free. The smoking rate in New Zealand was about 8% as of 2023 when the new government planned to eliminate the nation's smoking ban to fund tax cuts.
Muʽassel, or maassel, is a syrupy tobacco mix containing molasses, vegetable glycerol and various flavourings which is smoked in a hookah, a type of waterpipe. It is also known as "shisha".
Smoking in China is prevalent, as the People's Republic of China is the world's largest consumer and producer of tobacco. As of 2022, there are around 300 million Chinese smokers, and 2.4 trillion cigarettes are sold there every year, 46% of the world total.
Tobacco smoking in Hong Kong has declined in recent decades, with 10 percent of Hong Kongers smoking on a daily basis as of 2017. It is the policy of the Hong Kong government to discourage smoking. Smoking is banned in most public places and tobacco advertising is prohibited.
About a quarter of adults in Turkey smoke. Smoking in Turkey is banned in government offices, workplaces, bars, restaurants, cafés, shopping malls, schools, hospitals, and all forms of public transport, including trains, taxis and ferries. Turkey's smoking ban includes provisions for violators, where anyone caught smoking in a designated smoke-free area faces a fine of 188 Turkish lira (~€9.29/$9.90/£8.22) and bar owners who fail to enforce the ban could be fined from 560 liras for a first offence up to 5,600 liras. The laws are enforced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey.
SmokinginCanada is banned in indoor public spaces, public transit facilities and workplaces, by all territories and provinces, and by the federal government. As of 2010, legislation banning smoking within each of these jurisdictions is mostly consistent, despite the separate development of legislation by each jurisdiction. Notable variations between the jurisdictions include: whether, and in what circumstances ventilated smoking rooms are permitted; whether, and up to what distance away from a building is smoking banned outside of a building; and, whether smoking is banned in private vehicles occupied by children.
Smoking in Nigeria is prohibited in public places. It is punishable by a fine of not less than 50,000 nor exceeding 100,000.00 naira, or by imprisonment to a term of not less than 10 years or your lifetime, or by both a fine and imprisonment.
Smoking in India is one of the oldest industries and provides employment to more than five million people directly and indirectly. India is the second-largest producer of tobacco in the world. Smoking has been known since at least 2000 BC when cannabis was smoked and is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda. Fumigation (dhupa) and fire offerings (homa) are prescribed in the Ayurveda for medical purposes and have been practiced for at least 3,000 years while smoking, dhumrapana has been practiced for at least 2,000 years. Tobacco was introduced to India in the 17th century. It later merged with existing practices of smoking.
Tobacco smoking is popular in North Korea and culturally acceptable among men, but not for women. As of 2014, some 45% of men are reported to smoke daily, whilst in contrast only 2.5% of women smoke daily, with most of these being older women from rural areas. Smoking is a leading cause of death in North Korea, and as of 2010 mortality figures indicate that 34% of men and 22% of women die due to smoking-related causes, the highest mortality figures in the world. There are tobacco control programs in North Korea, and although smoking was not prohibited in all public spaces, the smoking rates have declined since their peak in the 2000s.
