A new health initiative is aiming to look at why more and more young people are smoking shisha.

One Voice through the Baiter Sehat campaign will interview between 100 and 200 shisha users in the region about their attitudes to the habit.

This initiative will be one of the most comprehensive local studies into the subject to date.

One Voice, which is delivering the Baiter Sehat campaign in partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Council, will also host a far reaching set of road show events engaging with users, potential users and parents of shisha smokers.

The Council’s Stop Smoking Service, GPs, Lifeline and other agencies will be involved in delivering their messages to all ages, including providing advice on how to quit smoking.

The roadshow will take place in August, September and October, delivering to over 100 people within the community. ¬ A spokesperson for the award-winning Baiter Sehat campaign, said, "In our research and focus groups we have found the issue of shisha smoking enveloping many angles.

"Therefore, we have taken the decision to carry out the research to understand the views of both users and non-users before providing our recommendations to the authorities.

“Furthermore, we are seeing more girls getting in to the habit of smoking shisha. We are also finding parents advocating shisha or hookah smoking. And shisha bars are still flouting legal notices about their practices.

“We will be speaking to all these people during the course of our extensive road show."

The five road show events, will have titles such as, 'An Addicition You Can Ill Afford to Start' and 'Why Would You Let Your Child Smoke Shisha?'

Donald Read, Acting Consultant in Public Health for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council said, “We are delighted to be working with One Voice to raise awareness of the harms of smoking tobacco.

“Shisha smoking is particularly attractive to young people and we are aware from research carried out locally that there are many misconceptions that smoking shisha is not harmful to health. Smoking shisha is addictive and harmful in exactly the same way any form of smoking is.

“If you smoke any type of tobacco, quitting is the best thing you can do for your health and we have a free stop smoking service available to help.

"If you would like support to quit smoking, contact Blackburn with Darwen Council’s free stop smoking service on 01254 587999 or email: quitsmoking@blackburn.gov.uk”