BY MILT THOMAS

EDITOR’S NOTE: InsideVero Contributing Editor, Milt Thomas, is traveling in the Middle East, and will be corresponding with our readers as he journeys to Egypt to the United Arib Emirates

I was never in my life a serious smoker. I smoked a pipe in college, have had an occasional cigar, but cigarettes never interested me.  One reason I never smoked is that I would cough my brains out. So, like Clinton, I never inhaled.

Another reason goes back to my childhood. My father smoked and one day as I looked at him with great admiration, he handed me his pack of cigarettes and said, “Go ahead, try it.”

I was ten at the time and had no interest, but I guess since he said it was okay, I never felt the need to sneak a smoke or to smoke at all. Very clever, my Dad.

That changed when I first came to Egypt back in 1992. I stopped in one of the many coffee shops along an Aswan street, and decided to try a sheesha. That is the water pipe also known as a hookah or hubbly bubbly and a fairly common sight these days around the U.S.

My first puff on the sheesha and I didn’t cough. In fact, I even inhaled. I was hookah-ed.

Before you think I have become a drug addict, you should know the sheesha is not a bong, which is used for smoking illegal substances. If you saw the 1980s movie, Midnight Express, you know what can happen if you try drugs in the Middle East.

In reality, smoking the sheesha and drinking tea or Turkish coffee is a social thing, like chewing the fat, which refers to sitting with friends or family and talking politics, sports or gossip. I don’t know if anyone ever chewed the fat, but they do smoke the sheesha here in Egypt.

So here’s a Cliff Notes explanation of the sheesha if you want to know. If you don’t, just skip down to the next paragraph: first, the tobacco contains hardly any tar or nicotine. It is cured in molasses and flavored to taste like anything from apple or mango to coffee, pistachio and even champagne. The tobacco is wet because unlike cigarettes or pipes, it is cooked, not burned. The water pipe itself has a ceramic or clay cup to hold the tobacco and is covered in aluminum foil. Red hot charcoal is put on top. The cup is attached to a metal stem which is placed in a glass bowl partially filled with water. To smoke, you take the plastic or cloth covered hose attached to the water pipe and draw on the mouthpiece. That draws the charcoal heat over the tobacco, producing smoke that travels down the metal rod, through the water, forms bubbles and passed through the hose and into your mouth. The smoke is cool, mild and flavorful.

People either smoke the sheesha at home or at one of the coffee shops found on just about every street corner. It is usually smoked after a meal to relax, have a cup of tea or coffee, and talk. Typically, you see men in the coffee shops, either with friends or alone, but it is not unusual to see couples or even several women together.

It’s not for everyone, and although I have all the equipment at home, I only use it when guests come over and want to give it a try. But as they say, when in Egypt, do as the Egyptians.