Steam Stones are one alterative tobacco product where no quantitative information is available. These small
pebble-like rocks contain no tobacco or nicotine and are coated in a viscous flavored fluid formulation consisting
of glycerin, and are placed in a hookah head as an alternative to hookah tobacco. A total metal analysis with ICP–
MS/MS was performed on the two originally marketed brands, Mya and Shiazo. The coatings of the stones
underwent an initial hot water extraction for the purposes of determining the stones' metal composition for
26 metal targets. The toxic metals detected in both the Mya and Shiazo stones included trace levels of Cr, Ni,
Cu, As, and Pb. This led to analyzing the toxic metals a smoker could potentially be exposed to during a
30 minute smoking session using both brands of steam stones and two different types of traditional smoldering
charcoal. It was found that a smoker could inhale statistically similar quantities of Cr (between 12.2 ± 9.91 ng per
smoking session to 1130 ± 776 ng per smoking session) and As (between 191 ± 30.1 ng per smoking session to
246 ± 101 ng per smoking session) when smoking one of four hookah head scenarios (scenario 1: Mya stones
and Coco Nara charcoal, scenario 2: Mya stones and Fantasia charcoal, scenario 3: Shiazo stones and Coco Nara
charcoal, and scenario 4: Shiazo stones and Fantasia charcoal).