They are not quite a Victorian invention. There were smoking rooms in the 17th and 18th centuries—for example, Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire had one in the 1760s. These were parlours where a gentleman ...

Smoking a hookah or water pipe isn't safe, either, according to the Mayo Clinic, because it contains tobacco that's no less harmful to your health than cigarettes. Pipe smoking effects on your health ...