shisha

A synonym for hookah, water pipe, or narghile. The word comes from the Persian word for glass. The term “shisha” is primarily used for water pipes in Egypt. Misinformed Westerners tend to refer to the tobacco smoked from a water pipe as "shisha". This is due to slang use in the Middle East, where it is acceptable to request a “flavored shisha” which means a hookah with flavored tobacco. The incorrect inference that “shisha” refers to the flavored tobacco spread into the vernacular and is primarily used by those that have only experienced this particular aspect of Middle Eastern culture in its cheaper, commercialized form in the West.