This affects a practice which is intimately bound up with Middle Eastern & Far-Eastern cultural practices, and increasingly, the West as well. For those of us who smoke shisha which contains no tobacco whatsoever, the smoking of this sweet, flavoursome fruit-molasses concoction causes a vastly reduced amouont of harm than the smoking of tobacco-based products. The smoking of shisha is a growing cultural trend across the UK and Europe and whilst this is no excuse, should reflect the growing popularity of a product significantly less harmful than either smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol.
It even makes your streets smell nicer!