Formerly a favorite pastime among the more modest strata of Egypt's male population, shisha smoking has recently become an integral part of the Cairo hip scene and widely adopted by young women.
"Girls who smoke cigarettes are badly perceived in Egypt but shisha is fun and it doesn't feel like it's that bad for you," said Hoda, a veiled 20-year-old woman puffing on a brightly colored shisha in a trendy cafe which offers cappuccino or cantaloupe flavored tobacco.
Known as "hookah" in India and Pakistan, the waterpipe goes by a number of other names, including narghileh in most other Middle Eastern countries.
The name "shisha" used in Egypt is a transformation of the word hashish, which harks back to the original purpose of the device.
At the Zahret Strand cafe in central Cairo, life appears to have frozen half a century ago and the health awareness campaign being launched across Egypt looks set to make little impact on the clientele.
Mohammed, a 61-year-old widower, dons his best suit and a neatly ironed white shirt to come to smoke his two shishas every night. "I have no doubt that it's bad for my health but it's my daily treat," he said.
"Something else will kill me if this doesn't. It's a matter for God to decide."
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