ILLEGAL tobacco used for shisha smoking has been seized from three Oxford businesses.

The suspected smuggled goods were found after Oxfordshire County Council's trading standards team visited seven premises.

It was part of a joint operation with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and Oxford City Council Environmental Health and Licensing.

Illegal tobacco was seized from three premises, all of which had previously been visited in August and written advice issued with follow-up meetings to ensure legal requirements were understood.

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Environmental Health detected smoking in 'substantially enclosed parts of the building' in several businesses and issued a prohibition notice to one business due to concerns regarding the burning of coals with lack of ventilation.

A press release from Oxfordshire County Council about the seized tobacco said g warned of the dangers of shisha smoking.

It said it was popular in Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African communities, especially among young people and was becoming 'increasingly popular' in Oxford with the city now home to several bars offering it.

Dr Mohammed Jawad, a Research Fellow at Imperial College London, said that there are many misconceptions about shisha that had led to a surge in use among children in UK’s major cities.

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Dr Jawad said: “Many people falsely believe that the smoke is filtered by water in the pipe, or that fruit used to flavour shisha somehow makes it less harmful than cigarettes. 

"The truth is that all the research done on shisha shows one thing: it is as bad for you as cigarettes."

Smoking shisha usually involves burning charcoal to heat up specially prepared shisha tobacco which is commonly flavoured.

When the tobacco is heated up, it produces smoke. 

The smoke bubbles through a bowl of water or other liquid and into a long hose-like tube or pipe. Smoke is inhaled through a mouthpiece fitted to the end of the pipe.

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County councillor Judith Heathcoat, cabinet member for community safety, said: “In a typical shisha session of about one-hour, a shisha smoker can inhale the same amount of toxins as a cigarette smoker consuming over 100 cigarettes.

"Like cigarette smoking, these toxins put shisha smokers at risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases, cancers, nicotine addiction, and other health effects."

Trading Standards have launched formal investigations against three businesses.

Premises possessing smuggled shisha tobacco for supply could lose their alcohol licence and face unlimited fines.

Anyone with information about the illegal sale of any tobacco including shisha should contact 0300 999 6 999 or report it anonymously via the website stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk.