HYDERABAD: The ongoing drug bust in the city has caused an unlikely bird to lose its wings - the hookah parlours, with most of them being shut for obvious reasons. It seems like teenagers of schools and colleges of Hyderabad are resorting to hookah pens, an e-smoking device in the form of a pen, to satisfy their smoking desires.
Though most of the pens are marketed by sellers to be free from nicotine and tobacco which is always contested by health experts, the question of its psychological impact seems to be manifold, warn psychologists.
Vapes, the commonly used term to buy an e-cigarette from a pan shop or a medical store has become a rage especially after the ban. These pens, which costs between `500-15,000 are available at all major medical stores, pan shops and hookah shops in Hyderabad and are even sold to minors.
“I and my friends get the pens from Dimmy pan shop located in Secunderabad. The pens are not injurious to health and that is the reason we smoke. We derive pleasure from doing so,” Mahesh (name changed), a student of a school in Hyderabad said.