i think hoookahs use brass bowls
brass supposedly is not very good for smoking, because of the fumes. I read that somewhere... but i'm probablly wrong

But HOokahs are actually the best for like 4 people, there great. Especially if you get a nice egyptian one with more than one hose that's a couple feet tall :-)
my friends has a cool mini hookah that's 6 inches tall...
hookahs are nice and stable, you don't have to move them like with bongs... and you can't really drop them, because all your smoking out of is the hose