TECC Update: March 10, 2026 

In this newsletter, we share about hookah and health risks it poses, highlight some of our resources on hookah, including MatBuilder, and announce the release of our full TECC catalog.

All About Hookah

Hookah is a tobacco product that poses serious health risks and is not a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. Hookah is a water pipe that people use to smoke specially made tobacco. A typical hookah has a head, a metal body, a water bowl, and a flexible hose with a mouthpiece through which people inhale tobacco smoke. Tobacco is heated with charcoal, and the tobacco smoke passes through water to cool it before being inhaled. 

Hookah is often smoked in social settings and in groups with a shared hose and mouthpiece.  In California, hookah smoking can occur in hookah lounges and bars that are currently exempt from California indoor smoke-free laws, as well as on patios and other outdoor spaces. Despite common misconceptions, hookah is not a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. 

Hookah users can be exposed to 9 times more carbon monoxide and 1.7 times more nicotine than from a single cigarette. As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to: 

• Lung, bladder, stomach, esophageal, and oral cancers 

• Heart disease 

• Lung diseases and carbon monoxide poisoning, among other serious conditions 

TECC Resources for Hookah Education

TECC has almost 250 educational materials on a variety of tobacco and nicotine prevention topics that are free to view and download for anyone with a secure TECC.org account. To learn more about hookah and educate others, here are materials that you may find helpful: 

• Hooked on Hookah: This fact card urges people to understand that the tobacco in hookah is just as addictive and harmful as the tobacco in cigarettes and other tobacco products. Hookah contains two times more nicotine than cigarette smoke, delivers 10 times the carbon monoxide of a cigarette, and has 69 toxins and chemicals that can cause cancer. Also available in Spanish (J734SP), Arabic (J734AR), and Punjabi (J734PJ). 

• Hookah Smoking In Latino Communities: This fact sheet warns that the number of Latino youth and young adults smoking hookah is rising. It emphasizes the health risks of hookah, noting that one typical session delivers 200x the smoke of one cigarette. The fact sheet calls for people to talk to their elected officials and ask them to support laws that ban flavored hookah and reduce access to hookah. Also available in Spanish (J921SP). 

• Switching Isn't Quitting Poster: This poster emphasizes that switching from one tobacco delivery system to another isn’t a way to quit using tobacco. All these tobacco delivery systems contain addictive nicotine and other toxic chemicals: cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, e-cigarettes and vaping devices, hookah, snus, and chew. Switching from one of these to another won’t help a person quit for good. Includes Kick it California's information. Also available in Spanish (J365SP), and as a fact card in English and Spanish.  

Check out these materials, and others, here: https://www.tecc.org/search/  

MatBuilder Resources

MatBuilder, short for "material builder," is a free online tool that allows TECC website users to customize or adapt select TECC educational materials and create PDFs to download and save. For each material, you have the option of changing colors, images, and languages. You can also add custom contact information, copyright, or ordinance information, and your project’s logo on some materials. or ordinance information, and your project’s logo on some materials. 

Our “Switching Isn’t Quitting” poster is available as a MatBuilder template. Check it out under “Posters.” 

New to MatBuilder? Learn how to use MatBuilder to customize or adapt select TECC materials by watching the recording of our latest on-demand webinar, MatBuilder 101. The training covers:     

• What the MatBuilder online tool is  

• How to log in to MatBuilder 

• How to customize or adapt an educational material using MatBuilder  

• How to access saved MatBuilder materials in your TECC.org account 

Full TECC Catalog

The annual full TECC catalog is now live on our website! This interactive digital catalog makes it easy to explore our educational materials and resources.  

Discover our 41 new and revised materials on topics such as cessation, tobacco use and oral health, oral nicotine pouches, secondhand smoke, and tobacco product waste. All these materials and more are available to view and download free of charge both in office and professional print formats for users with a secure TECC.org account. In addition, you will find links to TECC’s Social Media Message Library, Tobacco-Free Image Galleries, MatBuilder, and more! 

You can view the catalog using this link: https://www.tecc.org/digital-catalog/ 

Have questions? Contact us!

help@tecc.org

phone (800) 258-9090

fax (800) 438-1442

TECC material is made possible by funds received from the California Tobacco Prevention Program, under contract #21-10001. The Tobacco Education Clearinghouse of California is a project of ETR.