Tokel Turkish Canary Hookah

[Chreees]

Tokel Turkish Canary Hookah Review

 

First off, I waited exactly one month to get this thing. Found a guy on eBay who was selling Turks and asked him some questions about them, found out they were "Tokel" brand. Looked at Tokel Nargile's website and found this beauty: http://tokelnargile.com/tr/nargile-serleri/136-kanaryali-ser.html

 

Had to get it. Asked him if he was able to obtain one, and he said sure, he'd call Tokel's shop right away (located in the same town as him- Istanbul, Turkey). Replied not 5 minutes later he indeed could. Total quote shipped was $110. This was for the shank, tray, windcover, bowl, and something else... I forget. Anyway, I decided to take the gamble and paid the man via PayPal. Was given a tracking number right away. It updated the next couple days saying it left Turkey. It didn't update again until a couple days ago when it said it was in New Jersey. Not surprising, considering USPS's tracking. And not to mention it was an international shipment.

 

So I got it today. Wrapped like hell, but that's to be expected with Turkish shipping. :lol: It was literally the shank wrapped in one layer of Turkish newspaper, in a box with random pieces of styrofoam. Tray and windcover hardly wrapped as well. About twenty mouthtips thrown in there. No support whatsoever so the shank could rattle all about inside the box. The box was almost open on one end, btw. Anyway, no bowl and whatever else it was I was supposed to get (guess I won't miss it since I can't even remember what it was, right? Heh).

 

I inspect it and everything looks good, except... one of the canary birds is rotated facing down. Wtf? I thought it was broken, but it rotated right back up to the right position. It's on there good, and tightens fairly well, so I don't know if I will do anything about it or not. Whatever. It looks gorgeous. Etchings are very good I'd say, comparable to the Elmas 618 shank I once owned. In fact the "Tugrali" section is identical. The cast is smooth on both sides going down with no etchings, as is normal with many Turkish hookahs.

 

Tray and windcover look like those you see with many other generic Turkish hookahs. Nothing to write home about. I kinda like the little flame cutouts on the windcover over the Elmas windcover, though it does seem more cheaply made than the Elmas one. Tray obviously is lacking compared to the Elmas one I had with my 618, BUT it does feel sturdier than the Elmas one, which I like a lot.

 

Anyway, onto the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shank's weight is right at 4 pounds. Very heavy. Feels like you could bludgeon a man to death with it. Copper downstem, obviously. It is of considerable length, which is perfect for my trumpet vase. Exactly what I was hoping for. Total shank length is about 24", and total hookah setup height is about 28" (no bowl or anything).

 

This shank sports a female bowl port, as is common with Turks. Pavo was kind enough to send me a Mya bowl adapter and I modded it into a female-to-male bowl adapter so I can use my Tangiers Mini Phunnels. Just wrapped electrical tape around it and forced a mod gasket onto each end. Works perfect. Don't bother buying those clay adapters. They're not sturdy enough and leaves your bowl leaning.

 

Lack of purge? No problem if you have your heat management down, which I do.

 

How does it smoke? LIKE A FRIGGIN' DREAM. I seriously love it. It's got the perfect "in-between" restriction- a little bit more open than my Al Nawras Syrian hookahs, yet not near as wide as most Egyptians (most notably the Khalil Mamoon models I have owned in the past).

 

This hookah gets a 10/10 on all counts from me. A fucking plus, man. So glad I took the gamble and waited a month for it.

 

P.S. Hassouni has pointed out to me that this model could very well not be a Tokel, but rather an Elmas 639 with just the birds added-on. Very possible, if you compare the two shanks. Either way, I do not care what brand it is. I look past that when it comes to Turkish hookahs, as there's a lot of good ones out there, but also a lot of bad ones. Not to mention the different makers use many of the same parts. Brand isn't so much of an issue there. You just have to know what to look for in terms of quality. I'm calling this a Tokel Canary for search/review purposes, since this model is only found on Tokel Nargile's website.