A hookah (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (huqqā) (Devanagari), حقّہ (Nastaleeq), IPA: [ˈɦʊqːa]; also see other names),^[1][2] also known as the qalyān (Persian: قلیان‎) or Shisha, is a single- or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking either tobacco, flavored tobacco (often Mu‘assel), or sometimes cannabis, hashish, and in the past opium. The smoke is passed through a water basin—often glass-based—before inhalation.