Analysis of heavy metals and PAHs in the waste resulting from hookah consumption: Ahvaz City, Iran

Hookah, a popular form of smoking tobacco, has been commonly used in Asia and Africa. However, the widespread consumption of hookah has a major impact on human health being. In addition to health risks, discarding the waste products of hookah would be a serious potential danger for environmental resources. In this study, the waste materials of hookah consumption (water, tobacco, and charcoal) were analyzed for the determination of the metals and PAHs using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), respectively. Results showed that the average concentration of iron in different flavors of tobacco had the highest amount (3654.2 ppb). Iron had the maximum concentration among the heavy metals, particularly in the mint flavor (10,863.3 ± 4.1). The highest Ʃ PAHs were related to the mint flavor (47.48 ± 15.21 ppb). Results showed that the aromatic tobacco available in the Ahvaz-Iran market is polluted by heavy metals. The high consumption of hookah in Ahvaz city and the presence of pollutants in hookah waste materials, apart from health risk aspects, can be potentially regarded as sources of environmental contamination. Therefore, education and preventive measures are necessary for this concern.