Al Fakher Large Solid Look-Alike All Brass Syrian Hookah

[Chreees]

[u][b]AF Large Solid Look-Alike All Brass Syrian Review[/b][/u]

Just got this pipe from Ashley AKA Skoozle (huge props man, thanks!). Smoked it for about 3 hours today. Here are my thoughts:

When I first got this in the mail, I was not TOO impressed. It needed some work. Overall the inside of the pipe was clean, but the outside was rough. So I first rinsed it off with water, dried it, and went to work polishing it with Brasso. Took a good bit of work, as it had patina, mainly on the heart of it (Wish I had taken pics, but oh well, basically it looks kinda like rust). After I was done, THEN I was impressed. It looked very nice. The purge valve was stuck, but I took some pliers and got it off, and thoroughly cleaned the threads and bearing. Now it screws on and off with no effort. There was a gasket already on it, but it was too far gone to be used. It was worn down a LOT and practically glued on it seemed like. I had to take my trusty pliers and break it off in pieces. Ashley was kind enough to throw in a brand new white ribbed silicone gasket with it. I LOVE this gasket. Best gasket I've ever used, because it allows you to use the shank with practically any vase without having to adjust the size by adding electrical tape (or whatever else you might use). Perfect fit every time. Fits all of my vases for whichever one I want to use. I purchased a certain vase specifically for this hookah, however. It is a 14" tall Syrian trumpet vase with nice peacock designs on it (thanks to Mark at Kasbah.us for having such a nice vase available for purchase!). I think the vase goes perfect with this style/shape shank. Love it!

This shank comes with two adapters, one male for female fitting bowls, and one female for male fitting bowls. How handy! Note that these adapters WILL work on the Al Nawras shanks that have screw-on bowl port adapters. It also came with a standard Chinese tray. I know it is Chinese made because it's very light and I could probably bend it if I wanted to. Not as a durable as the one on my Al Nawras, which I know is Syrian-made because it had a "Made in Syria" sticker on it when I got it. A plastic diffuser also comes with this shank, which adds about an inch to the downstem's length. A Lebanese/Syrian style mod bowl with plastic gasket came with it as well, which perfectly fits the female bowl adapter. It is worth noting that yes, Elmas/Turkish clay bowls WILL fit this adapter. Very nice, considering I kept mine from when I sold my Elmas.

This shank is about 2 pounds in weight (I determined this by first measuring my weight, then again while holding the shank, so may not be exact). That's just the bare shank, nothing on it. Same weight as my Al Nawras shank bare. The total shank length (without bowl adapter or diffuser attached) for this Syrian is 27", compared to 21" on my Nawras. Downstem length is 5" (without diffuser attached); Nawras is 6" (which has a nut welded onto the end). This Syrian feels pretty solid, but not as quite as my Nawras. Nawras is smaller yet feels heavier, so this explains why they're the same weight I suppose.

Now onto the smoke. I first set this up with my Tangiers Mini Phunnel using Tangiers Lucid Double Orange. Used the diffuser and my red Razan Abu Mahir hose. Right away I noticed a metallic twang to the taste, and I realized I had forgotten to wash the shank after I had polished it the day before. Stupid me. I took it apart and washed it, reassembled, replacing the vase's water, but had a hankering for some Nak Guavamelon, so repacked my bowl. Also decided to not use the diffuser this time. Wow. Excellent clouds and smooth (slightly restricted) draw. Purge doesn't work as well as on my Nawras, but it'll do. Clears the vase, just a bit more effort is required to do so. I don't think the diffuser really made much of a difference except that it prevented the bubbling from going up as high. I was really afraid about the water level with this using my trumpet vase, but it didn't seem to be an issue whatsoever. Yes the bubbling went pretty high, but didn't reach the holes in the bottom of the heart. Good enough for me. I won't be making a downstem mod after all.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this pipe, and would recommend it if you're looking for a nice Syrian.

Pics!

Whole setup:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1742.jpg[/IMG]

Male adapter:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1743.jpg[/IMG]

Female adapter:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1744.jpg[/IMG]

Shank closeups:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1745.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1746.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1747.jpg[/IMG]

[Chreees]

Closeups of vase I chose to use this shank on:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1748.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1749.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1750.jpg[/IMG]

Underside of heart, new awesome gasket, and plastic diffuser:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/syrianunderside.jpg[/IMG]

Here is the Al Nawras I used for comparisons:
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p40/INCUBUSRATM/Hookah/IMG_1054.jpg[/IMG]

A+

[Moose]

Any care tips you've got for cleaning and maintaining this model? It seems like the stem screws apart, but I couldn't get it too, and was afraid to be twisting it too forcefully if it WASN'T supposed to screw apart.

[Chreees]

I know non-review posts are not kosher, but that's a very good question, and is probably something I should have mentioned in my review... Let me make it clear so you don't mess anything up... THIS SHANK DOES NOT SCREW APART. Actually, it does, but, at the factory, they tighten it so much that it shouldn't ever come loose for you. On my Al Nawras model, I went to take the shank off of the base one time after I was done smoking, and I felt one section of the shank unscrew ever so slightly. My face: Da fuck? After a bit of research online, I found out that these Syrian shanks are just like that. Some are made where they are meant to be unscrewed, while others are tightened at the factory. This model Syrian is one that shouldn't be unscrewed. The only parts that should ever be unscrewed on it is the bowl adapter that holds down the tray, and the purge valve cap. Everything else, don't mess with it. When my Al Nawras came unscrewed, I just retightened it best I could, and it hasn't come loose again. So basically, instead of welding separate pieces together like many Egyptian pipes are made, they just screw them together so tightly that it shouldn't ever come loose.

[Moose]

Cliffnotes review!

Looks nice, especially when cleaned up. It feels solid, I'm sure this one will last me for quite a while. Draw's nice, and it smokes better than any hookah I've used. Though that's partially because the only one I've owned was a cheap short, and the others I've used were a friend's decent medium sized one, and medium sized ones at a local hookah bar. Purge valve could work better, but works well enough. It was refitted with a new gasket, which works fine, no complaints there. The vase that came with it (genie style one, not the one Chreees got) holds a good amount of water, looks nice, and is nice and stable.
It has a few very minor dents, but it was advertized as probably having them, and they don't effect performance and are hard to note. In general, it's a great hookah, and was a fantastic value. I probably would have paid double the $75 I paid for this hookah.