The origin of shisha pipe smoking can be dated back to hundreds of years ago, and its initial traces have been found in the North Western provinces of India in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. According to Cyril Elgood who does not mention his source, it was in India where Hakim Abu’l-Fatḥ Gīlānī, an Iranian physician at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar I invented the idea. Following the European introduction of tobacco to India, Hakim Abul Fateh Gilani a descendant of Abdul-Qadir Gilani came from Gilan, a province in the north of Iran, to India. He later became a physician in the court of Mughal and raised concerns after smoking tobacco became popular among Indian noblemen. He subsequently envisaged a system which allowed smoke to be passed through water in order to be ‘purified’. Gilani introduced the ḡalyān after Asad Beg, the ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar to take up smoking. Following popularity among noblemen, this new device for smoking soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry.
In North India, it is a great tradition followed among Gurjars, Jats, Bishnois, Rajputs etc. However, a quatrain of Ahlī Šīrāzī, a Persian poem, refers to the use of the ḡalyān (Falsafī, II, p. 277; Semsār, 1963, p. 15), thus dating its use at least as early as the time of Shah Tahmasp I. It seems, therefore, that Abu’l-Fatḥ Gīlānī should be credited with the introduction of the ḡalyān, already in use in Persia, to India. The shisha pipe is also known as the hookah pipe in the UK, especially in the North East, where it is used for recreational purposes.
So what year was the first ever shisha pipe made?
Although very different to the type of shisha pipes we know and see today in 1588 the first shisha pipe was invented.
I am surprised how long ago the shisha pipe was invented.
It was the Turks that first used glass in shisha pipes.
hehe…. this is a great idea!
Forget history as its been and gone. But have you seen the new futuristic Porsche shisha pipe?
Many people now stop shisha in india