We have all been there previously. You successfully complete your first bowl of hookah while entertaining guests at your home.
Everyone is having fun, perhaps conversing, watching movies, or playing games. Then, somebody has the wonderful idea of preparing another bowl of shisha for everyone in order to maintain the pleasant nicotine rush.
When you go to retrieve your shisha, you discover that all of your shisha packs and tins are empty, and you only have some old jars at the back of a shelf or drawer. This raises a number of issues, such, “How old is this shisha?” Is it worthwhile? Would it still taste decent?
It occurs to even the best of us. But we’ve got you covered to determine if your old shisha is still safe to use.
Here is a comprehensive response to the question: can shisha expire?
WHAT IS SHISHA?
To get into the specifics of how shisha expires, it is necessary to understand what shisha is.
Shisha is the concoction that is smoked through a hookah. Shisha is a blend of chopped tobacco leaves, glycerine, molasses or honey, and flavorings, such as fruit pieces, fruit juices, spices, herbs, and other natural and artificial flavors.
Also there is tobacco-free shisha prepared with chopped tea leaves, however it is not nearly as popular as traditional shisha.
However, your shisha is a tasty, gummy smokeable designed exclusively for hookah use.
WHAT PART OF SHISHA GOES BAD?
To determine whether or not shisha actually expires and how it expires, it is necessary to understand which shisha constituents expire.
Tobacco itself expires, as we will explore in further detail later. In addition to this, however, the other components of shisha also have an expiration date. Those include glycerin, molasses or honey, and flavorings used in your preferred shisha tub.
It is crucial to understand how each of these factors influences the freshness of your shisha in order to determine how long your shisha will last.
When it comes to tobacco, how long does it last before it expires?
The first and possibly most important component of the puzzle is the length of time your tobacco will remain fresh. The tobacco used in cigarettes, i.e., regular tobacco, does not have an expiration date, but it does go stale.
Exposed cigarette tobacco will only last a few days before becoming stale. Even if they are sealed (or even covered with the foil that comes with packs of cigarettes), you should still smoke them within a few weeks.
This may be accurate for cigarettes and loose tobacco that has been exposed to air, but not for shisha, which is both moist and sealed.
How long is the shelf life of Shisha?
If tobacco can last in shisha form, how long does it last overall? Because glycerine and molasses coat the tobacco in shisha, it is more stable than dry tobacco.
Shisha tobacco will survive at least two years unopened and at least six months once it has been opened, if it is sealed tightly and stored in a cold, dark location away from direct sunlight. This provides you far more flexibility while smoking older shisha.
However, six months or 2 years is not as long as you may believe for a jar of shisha stored in the back of your shisha cabinet. Ensure that you conduct periodic inventory to determine what you must overcome.
HOW CAN I FIND OUT IF MY SHISHA HAS TURNED BAD?
So we know that shisha can definitely go bad, or at least stale over time, but how can you determine if your shisha is still good to smoke, or if you should toss it out and place a fresh order immediately?
The first and possibly most noticeable characteristic of stale shisha is that it is no longer moist and sticky. If your shisha has become dry, this is a fairly strong indication that it has lost its freshness.
Additionally, keep an eye out for unusual colors, fuzzy-textured mold forming in your shisha, and a terrible odor emanating from the shisha container. Tobacco leaves are plants, thus they can and do develop mold when kept in favorable conditions.
If your shisha tobacco is drier than usual, smells strange, or seems different than usual, you have a nasty tub of shisha on your hands.
WHAT IF YOU SMOKE STALE SHISHA?
Sometimes you’re in a hurry, don’t have any fresh shisha on hand, and desperately need a bowl of hookah without having to go downtown to a hookah club. In these circumstances, you might be wondering what’s so horrible about smoking some old shisha.
Smoking stale shisha, on the other hand, is not a good idea. You will undoubtedly notice that it smokes harsher, hotter, and less pleasant than fresh shisha. However, if your shisha contains mold, you run the danger of developing more serious health problems.
If you’re in good health, breathing mold particles from poor shisha may cause terrible coughing, nausea, and chest discomfort. However, if you have a weakened immune system or underlying lung problems, you may develop a dangerous infection.
The possible danger, as well as the disagreeable feelings and aromas of stale shisha, are just not worth it. Hookah is intended to taste and feel wonderful, yet terrible shisha achieves neither.
HOW TO PROTECT SHISHA TO MAKE IT LAST LONGER?
The good news is that we won’t abandon you — there are a few things you can do to extend the life of your shisha and have it last as long as possible.
The trick to keeping your shisha in good shape for as long as possible is to store it in an airtight jar or bag and keep it in a cool, dry spot away from direct sunlight. The two elements that speed up the aging process for shisha are exposure to air and light.
Keep your shisha in sealed jars or bags, preferably in a cold cabinet or drawer where it won’t be exposed to light. If you follow these instructions, your shisha will last for at least six months, if not longer.
CONCLUSION
You can find yourself in a position where you don’t have any fresh shisha to smoke. And it’s during moments like these that you’re undoubtedly wondering whether and when shisha will expire.
Shisha does not “expire,” although it does become stale and can go bad if kept for too long. Coughing, nausea, and pain are all common adverse effects of stale or molded shisha, as are severe lung infections.
If your shisha is unusually dry, stinky, or moldy, discard it and replace it with new shisha. It’s never worth it to expose yourself to the dangers of stale shisha.
