KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Teenage smokers are turning to shisha, a flavoured water pipe from the Middle-East to replace cigarettes.

They can afford shisha smoking as a RM17 (S$7) bottle, twice the size of a two litre mineral bottle, is enough to go around for six people.

At a counselling session to quit smoking, four teenage smokers argued that shisha, also known as "hookah" was safer than cigarettes.

The teenagers who spoke to the New Straits Times about their shisha habits said shisha was read`ily available in the city.

The health ministry has said that smoking the shisha had the same health risks as smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The smoke from the hookah contained toxins that could cause lung and heart diseases, said the ministry.

New Straits Times/Asia News Network