Apart from the quality and design of the pipe itself, one of the keys to a satisfying hookah experience is the quality and flavor of the tobacco. Contrary to popular belief, most hookah smokers are merely smoking tobacco, although at one time opium and hashish were commonly smoked. Hookah tobacco is smoked for flavor rather than effect and most smokers find it relaxing and satisfying.
Hookah tobacco is different from the tobacco used in cigarettes or cigars, most hookah tobacco is traditionally blended from fresh tobacco leaves along with various additives such as honey, molasses or fruit pulp. This mixture is known as maassel or tobamel.
Rose oil or the juice from pomegranates has also occasionally been added to the mixture, which added more flavor to the smoke. During the 1980s, Egyptian hookah tobacconists started adding all sorts of flavors to their tobacco, fruits and spices in particular. The result is a strongly flavored tobacco sometimes called shisha.
More recently, many hookah tobacco manufacturers have also started adding glycerin because of its sweetening ability and ability to keep the tobacco moist. Because it is so wet, shisha tobacco must be smoked using hookah charcoal.