JamminJonah

QUOTE (rduffy123 @ Jan 28 2007, 09:12 PM) its a sign that your retarded. I'm sorry but this cracked me up. Has anyone seen that shirt that says "Your Retarded" ... makes me laugh every time.

Dude Earthbound, Chronotrigger, Secret of Mana, Link to the Past... can't beat those SNES era RPGs though the new Zelda is worth buying a Wii. Excite truck is also really fun - so is wario ware.

I LOVE RPG but only on console. I play CZ once in a while but I'm not very good, I'll find out what my ID is I need to log on.

Bigfoot? Why not? There's certainly room for him believe it or not. As a city kid I'd probably be quite skeptical about this, but I've done some sections of the Appalachian trail and spent some time in the boundary waters - believe me there could be an entire species of giant ape like creatures and we could never know it. Aliens too - seems quite a waste not to use the universe for something other than us. Whole lot of room for nothing. Then again, humans are predisposed to ego and ethnocentrism.

Greetings Hooahites- So I just ordered a hookah and what should be some sweet sheesh. I ordered from separate vendors as I found HookahCompany.com on these forums but ordered my hookah before I found this valuable resource. Here are my impressions on the ordering process and everything up until now. I’ll post reviews once I receive the product (Tuesday is the day slated to get my new Hook J and I’ll get my shisha before that.) My Personal Hookah History: I owned a hookah in college that I bought from the owner of a hookah bar we used to frequent. It was your classic 18 inch single hose with no mods no special bowls or anything and we pretty much smoked double apple exclusively as that’s what the place carried. 3 kings coals. It was great and we certainly got our use out of it before the fated night in which it was ruined. We had been smoking a fantastic frosty bowl – it was summer and I’m a huge fan of the ice water smoke – this being mostly ice and enough water to cover the stem about 1 in. That way you’ve got ice to melt and it raises the water level but also makes the smoke just freezing which is nice. It was summer and we were, as good residents of the south would be, chillin’ on the front porch in rocking chairs passing the hook. The bowl smoked pretty quick as it wasn’t deep and I’m not sure how high quality our shisha was in the first place. I went in to rinse it as I do almost religiously. The bathtub was the only place big enough to fit the vase and it was tricky to find the temperature as this was an old house and the dials were all worn off. So long story short, I flipped on the water to what I thought was cold, went to rinse the hookah and to my dismay the water came out cold at first and then super hot. So the glass couldn’t take it and the bottom blew out. This was about 2 years ago. So now I’ve ordered my new hookah and a bunch of shisha to see what I was missing out on. Here are my impressions. BuildaHookah.com: Ordered from www.buildahookah.com. I found this vendor and placed my order before I found these forums and haven’t heard much so I figured I could contribute a review once business has concluded. The site is well designed and the build – a – hookah feature was huge to me. Looks to be most parts made in China but I could be wrong on that. What I ordered: Double Exotic, 20 inches, 2 hose, with the “miracle valve system” which I’m guessing is a simple ball bearing configuration that prevents the other smoker from having to plug their hose every time you wanna smoke. The hookah is red vase with design, red stem, and black bowl and hoses. It really looks pretty neat based on the computer generated image. I’m probably going to name it Red Dragon so I hope I can make thick smoke. Reasoning behind this is I usually hang out with about 6 people or so all of whom smoke hookah and we like to play FIFA World Cup or NHL 2K (or Hitz) on the Xbox and pass the hookah. This is getting hard to do with only one hose. So I figure I’ll get good use out of two and plus I can always just plug one up to smoke alone right? Looks like it comes with a pretty standard bowl but I can’t tell what it’s made out of. I’m guessing that an upgrade to a smiley bowl will be inevitable as soon as I find a new job. First Impressions: Site is well designed, limited shisha selection as they carry exclusively Fantasia which I’ve read some good things about. I didn’t order any though. Processing time is long, it said 8-10 days to PROCESS the order let alone ship – thankfully though they were fast and I’ve already got my tracking number. I ordered Sunday 2/18 and should have it in my hands 2/27 according to the projected delivery. I chose free shipping as I’m currently between jobs. So far things have gone smooth as silk and I’ll post an official review when I receive the merch. HookahCompany.com: Very nice site, easy to navigate and reasonably clean HUGE shisha selection. The selection combined with all the nice things I’ve read about them on this site are why I ordered all of my shisha from here. I got two sampler packs as I’m new to all of these flavors. I ordred: Layalina 12 sampler pack which (in the photo) includes: 50g Peach (or nectarine?) 50g Grape 50g Fruit Mix 50g Apple 50g Orange 50g Kiwi 50g Rose 50g Blueberry 50g Watermelon 50g Double Apple 50g Mint 50g Vanilla I’m guessing this is what I’ll get based on the photo, but I think you get whatever they ship so I’ll let you know if this lineup is different. I was hoping for some raspberry so maybe that will show up! And the Al Fakhir 7 sampler pack which includes: 50g Grape 50g Strawberry 50g Rose (nervous about this one but I love those Violets candies you can buy) 50g Apple 50g Two Apple 50g Mint 50g Orange And I totally neglected to enter the code from the forums. Oh well, I’m pretty sure there will be a next time as I really like the set up of the site and the selection. The prices are great too. My only complaint: I want to try Pharaoh really bad and they don’t carry it (but they do carry Sultan? I’ve only heard bad things about that stuff). Plus they threw in a free sample of Al Amir – I chose Banana Split as I’ve never tried any banana flavors and these sample packs sort of overlap on most flavors. Again, I’ll post review as I smoke. As far as shipping it’s lightning people! It’ll be here before my hookah and I ordered the shisha 2 days later. Shisha should be here this Saturday. So as it stands I’m quite pleased with both of my selections but I’ll probably be ordering another smaller, more travel ready hookah once I get a new job. Something geared more for solo smoking. That one I’ll probably buy from Smiley just because I dig his style and involvement in the forums plus his bowls look really cool and I love the smiley logo. Reviews on the $15 were huge to me as well. Shisha I’ll probably keep getting from HookahCompany unless this order gets messed or something (I don’t expect that it will) the selection and price is spot on. So what should I upgrade? I’m guessing a smiley all glass hookah bowl with glass cover will be first, I think the hoses are fine they look like washable ones from the photo. Anyway just wanted to share some thoughts and see what anyone had to say about either place. Thanks, this place is full of cool people, good crowd here. If you live in Chicago area (I’m out in the burbs but not far) and want to share a bowl I’m totally game. - Jonah

what is a Scalli mod?

QUOTE (samildanach @ Feb 22 2007, 06:17 AM) hi billy here's a guide i found on hookah kings website for u http://hookahkings.com/hookah_setup.htm 1. Fill the glass base about half full of water. Submerge the bottom of the stem about 1 ½" into the water. 2. Place the large black rubber base grommet onto the bottom of the metal stem. Insert the metal stem into the glass base by applying pressure downward while rotating the stem so it fits snugly. 3. Place the circular ashtray on top of the metal hookah stem. 4. Place the rubber bowl grommet (the larger rubber grommet) onto the top of the metal hookah stem. Place the ceramic tobacco bowl on top of the grommet to create an airtight seal. Be sure not to push the bowl onto the stem too hard, as this may split the bowl in two pieces. 5. Insert the hose grommet (the smaller grommet) into the hose port on the metal hookah stem. Place the wooden end of the hose into the rubber hose grommet and secure snugly to create an airtight seal. Do this for all hoses if using a multiple hose hookah. 6. Sprinkle some hookah tobacco into the clay bowl. Be sure not to over pack the bowl, as you want good airflow through the tobacco. Also, it is advisable to keep a small amount of airspace between the top of the tobacco and the underside of the foil, not more than ¼". 7. Cover the tobacco in the bowl with a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side down. Punch holes in the foil w/ a large pushpin or any pointed object. Try to make the hole pattern fit the size of charcoal you'll be using. Too many holes will result in fresh, unheated air to combine with the hookah smoke resulting in a less thick smoke. A fork can be used to quickly create a 4 x 4 hole pattern. 8. A) Quick-lighting charcoals. Use the charcoal pincers to secure a piece of charcoal while igniting it with a lighter or match. Let the charcoal continue sparking until no chemical igniter is left. Blow on the charcoal until it is red hot and place on top of foil covered bowl. Natural charcoals. Natural coals are not quick lighting and therefore require more exposure to heat to get them red hot. Set the charcoal on either a gas or an electric stovetop burner for best results. This takes about 8 to 12 minutes. A blowtorch from any hardware store works well too, but requires constant attention. 9. When the coal has a grey coating, place the coal on top of the foil. 10. The metal charcoal windscreen can be used when smoking outdoors to prevent the wind from blowing hot charcoal or ash. The windscreen can also be used indoors to prevent a hot charcoal from burning the floor. 11. The hookah hose should be rinsed out before the initial use and also between uses to prevent molasses build-up inside the hose. Simply put the hose grommet on the hose upside down. Press the hose w/ upside down grommet against a sink faucet to push water through the hose. 12. The air exchange valve, or one-way valve, allows the user to clear stale or overly thick smoke form the glass base. This is done by blowing into the hose and pushing the used smoke out through the air exchange valve. The valve is blocked off by a steel ball bearing, which prohibits fresh air from entering the hookah when sucking on the hose. Nice post! Is there anything like this stickied? I'm guessing these questions come up a lot around here... Just curious... - Jonah

My previous experience(s) with cigarettes showed me that it's pretty much 100% will power. Nicotine is addictive for sure but you can overcome it with a strong mindset or creative mind (camping in the woods without bringing your smokes and thus you have no access to smokes). The hardest times not to smoke are those that you habitually smoke. For instance if you have a hookah with your morning coffee or if you smoke right after a big dinner - those sort of scheduled timings, you won't forget this. It's pretty Pavlovian - those times of day will trigger cravings because those are the times of day you smoked. Try to find replacement activities for those times and it makes it way easier. Another tip, the longer you can wait to smoke the better - obviously nicotine interferes with sleep so you don't want to do it right before bed but your lungs clean themselves pretty well overnight so the longer you can wait to smoke gives your lungs a better chance to clean up.

Any higher risk of rust in the hoses or or other metal parts with salt water? I'm just curious because I love a cold hookah and if you can make it colder with salt than I'm all for it!

As something of a reptile guy, I have a pet ball python and used to frequent ball-pythons.net which is great if you're getting a reptile of any sort by the way.... you can pick up at the pet store a Rheostat - Zoomed makes the one I have - it's essentially a dimmer switch that lets you control the amount of energy going to the heater and thus the temp. I've got one on my ceramic for my snake along with a thermostat. If I recall it was like ten bucks. Creative thinking!

I know that this question comes down largely to personal preference but what brands and flavours are most widely celebrated in the hookah world? I'm looking to stock a few flavors, I have a feeling that Golden Apple will be on my list - what brands are safe bets and are there any must have flavors in every smokers collection? Also, pardon my ignorance but what is the acclamation period?

Hi there, I'm new around but have been browsing posts for a few days. What have you found successful in the way of coal arrangement and foil holes? In the tobacco review section someone posted a neat little diagram involving Japanese coals and two circles of foil holes, I'm just wondering how to avoid burning the shesha whilst keeping the smoke coming. Any advice is appreciated!

Greetings Hookah Afficianado's, I've been browsing the site for a few days now and figured it was in best interest to join. I live around Chicago, IL USA and I used to smoke hookahs at a restaurant in Nashville, TN where I used to live. Since then haven't really had much of a chance. Recently, however, I was feeling motivated to get back on board and ordered a hookah from buildahookah.com as the price was right and it looked like a pretty decent place to get sort of a starter hookah. I opted for the 2 hose set-up as I'll probably be sharing with my soon to be wife. Anyway, I look forward to picking your brains on tobacco and upgrade topics. - Jonah