A hookah is known by different names in different parts of the world: a shisha, a nargile (pronounced nar-geelah), a hubble-bubble or hubbly-bubbly, a waterpipe. Egyptians call it Shisha, Lebanese refer to it as Nargila, in English, it is Hookah.
They're suprisingly nice actually, very smooth (think I tried either apple or melon in Egypt), can make you a bit light headed, and even as a smoker, I couldn't smoke too much of it.