No it will not be the same as smoking it off the hookah. You need a hookah, some charcoals specially made for smoking shisha, and some foil. What you do if you have a hookah is, you put tobaco in the ceramic bowl, you cover the bowl with a square piece of foil, just enough to cover the bowl and not too much, poke about ten to twelve holes with a toothpick, and you light the specially made charcoal. (that's if it's self-lighting, kind of like the charcoal disks for burning powdered incences) The charcoal disks are what you need anyways, because the tobaco is soaked in pieces of fruit, juices, or malassis. Where did your friend obtain the stuff from?, if you don't mind me asking.