Smoking a water pipe, or hookah, was a favorite pastime as well as a social custom for the inhabitants of Central Asia. In a hookah, air is pulled through burning coal and into a bowl containing a tobacco mixture, producing smoke. Drawn along the tube, smoke bubbles up through the water to the top of the jar and into the mouthpiece.

In Asia, people had historically used hookahs to smoke herbal fruits, cannabis and opium many centuries before tobacco leaves arrived from America in the 1600s. As opium contains morphine, hookahs were also used to alleviate pain.

 

Happening Now

Monumental Soviet Paintings

Saturday, April 12, 2025 - Sunday, September 21, 2025

Monumental Soviet Paintings post image
Russia’s Native Mushrooms: Botanical Watercolors by Alexander Viazmensky post image

Chemiakin’s Worlds

Saturday, March 15, 2025 - Sunday, June 22, 2025

Chemiakin’s Worlds post image

Geometric Abstraction: Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation Collection

Saturday, February 1, 2025 - Sunday, June 1, 2025

Geometric Abstraction: Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation Collection post image
Say No to War: Political Cartoons by Ukrainian and Russian Artists – The 4th Iteration post image
The Permanent Collection Gallery post image