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In SA OC 554 the Caf Hachyim SK 3 rules that to smoke hookah is prohibited almost before Chats it, if not as a mean to treat constipation. But in SK 4 he allows to snuff tabac.

My question is if to smoke cigarettes is similar to hookah or to snuffing. Hookah is based on water vapour and moistens the mouth and is a hedonistic ritual, but snuffed tabac doesn't. So, cigarette that also doesn't is similar to the second, on the other hand, it's smoking and similar to the first. What is the Din?

I think that the point I make to distinguish vaporous smoke from the dried one is not noticed in answers written on previous questions and answers regarding smoking in the site. Additionally, the material ingestion is lesser in cigarette than in snuffed tabac.

kouty
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  • I think that the point I make to distinguish vaporous smoke from the dried one is not noticed in those answers – kouty Jul 29 '20 at 21:12
  • I already explained why this is not a duplicate in the end of the post – kouty Jul 29 '20 at 21:55
  • Are you sure Tutun is hooka? Another aspect is that smoking anything was seen as a leisurely enjoyable act. That is why it was prohibited in shul. That is why Meam Loez said it was forbidden on Tisha B'Av. Have you ruled out that is the distinction, and not the vaporous methodology? – user6591 Jul 30 '20 at 19:04
  • @user6591 this is as well a difference, as for instance a difference between cigare and cigarette – kouty Jul 30 '20 at 19:33
  • My question is specific regarding nargilla difference with cigarette – kouty Jul 31 '20 at 02:34
  • Boker tov from Giv'at Shaul, Kouty! My thinking is as follows: cigarettes were not invented until after the Maran Shulchan Aruch's time. The only form tobacco was available in at that time in the Ottoman Empire was nargila. R. Chaim Benveniste argues in his Kenesset Ha Gedolah that smoking on a fast day is a chillul Hashem because the Muslims do not smoke on their fast days. The issue would therefore appear to be smoking regardless of form. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_in_Jewish_law – יהושע ק Jul 31 '20 at 03:53
  • Extract from that article: "Writing in Turkey, an Islamic country, Benveniste further argued that smoking on fast days is Chillul Hashem (a defamation of God's name), because Muslims refraining from smoking on fast-days would see Jews smoking on theirs.[6] Despite such concerns, some Jews did smoke on Shabbat using hookas prepared before Shabbat, or else visited Muslim neighbors to enjoy the smoke in their homes. Rabbinic authorities banned this practice on the grounds that Gentiles would consider Judaism as ridiculous.[7]" – יהושע ק Jul 31 '20 at 03:56
  • This doesn't explain why snuffing is permitted, because there is no smoke, this is not avsha milta – kouty Jul 31 '20 at 04:47

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