SIR - It's sad that shisha lounges are falling foul of the smoking ban.

I have relaxed in shisha lounges in Baghdad, Marrakesh and Nablus, as well as Bradford, and as a lifelong non-smoker, I have never felt threatened by their hubble-bubbling.

Certainly their sweet aromatic perfumes are less troublesome to my lungs than the acrid stench of burning tobacco and saltpeter-impregnated paper.

It would be interesting to have a medical opinion on how many carcinogens, if any, survive being filtered through water.

If shisha lounges were to be legalised, they might well become refuges for the sad groups of addicts who gather in the rain and snow outside offices and pubs.

One thing though: I've never come across a shisha lounge that sold alcohol.

Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford