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To determine the nicotine content of commonly used tobacco in hubble-bubble (HB) and compare it with that found in cigarettes.Analysis of nicotine content of 13 commercial brands of HB tobacco was carried out using gas chromatography over an 8 month period; November 2002 through to June 2003 at the Toxicology Laboratory, University of Jordan.A wide variation in nicotine content in all brands was noticed with an average of 8.32 mg/g tobacco, range (1.8-41.3 mg/g). The average nicotine content in each HB head (20 gm) of unflavored tobacco was (713 mg/head) and flavored tobacco has (67 mg/head). One head of unflavored tobacco has nicotine equivalent to 70 regular cigarettes. The addition of adulterations; honey, glycerin and other flavors in the process of preparing the flavored (Muasel) tobacco contributes to lowering the nicotine content in each gram of flavored tobacco. Smoking one head of flavored (Mua'sel) tobacco which contains on average one third of nicotine presented in 20 cigarettes (204 mg/pack) usually resulted in a higher plasma nicotine level by 20%.Hubble-bubble smokers are not at a lesser risk from smoking than cigarette smokers in relation to nicotine dependence. The inability of water to trap significant amounts of chemical substances present in tobacco (especially nicotine) and the danger which might result from the combustion of additives like; glycerin, honey and other flavors could be a very important factor to extrapolate the damage resulting from HB smoking.

Idiopathic headache is a stressful complaint, whose treatment is not well established. Our study is an attempt to examine the relationship between idiopathic headache and inferior turbinate cauterization as a surgical treatment, and to explain the central physiological effect of cauterization.Thirty-four patients, 15 females and 19 males complaining of idiopathic headache were treated by inferior turbinate cauterization. Cauterization of the inferior-medial aspect of the turbinate was carried out once under local anesthesia for few seconds. This study was performed between November 1993 and December 1996, a joint project of the Zarka Government Hospital, Zarka and Faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.More than 82% of the patients showed significant improvement in the sense of decreased headache.Cautery of the nasal turbinate could be a novel method for treatment of idiopathic headache.

The physiological effects of cigarette smoking have been widely studied, however, little is known regarding the effects of smoking hubble-bubble. We examined the acute effects of hubble-bubble smoking on heart rate, systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure and maximum end-expiratory carbon monoxide.This study was carried out in the student laboratory, School of Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, during the summer of 1999. In 18 healthy habitual hubble-bubble smokers, heart rate, blood pressure, and maximum end-expiratory carbon monoxide was measured before, during and post smoking of one hubble-bubble run (45 minutes).Compared to base line (time zero), at the end of smoking heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial blood pressure, and maximum end-expiratory carbon monoxide were increased 16 2.4 beats per minute, 6.7 2.5 mm Hg, 4.4 1.6 mm Hg, 5.2 1.7 mm Hg, and 14.2 1.8 ppm, (mean standard error of mean, P.05).Acute short-term active hubble-bubble smoking elicits a modest increase in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial blood pressure and maximum end-expiratory carbon monoxide in healthy hubble-bubble smokers.