First Post

[nofrendo]

Hello all! Just thought I would start a new topic, but first let me introduce myself... My username is Nofrendo and I like to smoke Hookah. My setup is a Mya base with a Mya stem... let's see about 16 inches altogether... I prefer to use the male fitting bowl because it doesn't drip sticky crap all over your ashtray. I also have a second hookah, with an Egyptian base and a Mya stem. My preferred tobacco is Hookah Hookah, and I use Easy Lite Japanese charcoals.

Well, after reading the FAQ's and the Stickies, I thought of a good contribution to the forum. I am from the Bay Area, and everywhere I have been and most of the people I have talked to (including myself) consider it a major violation of Hookah etiquette to discuss smoking anything other than tobacco out of a Hookah. This is obviously to preserve Hookah smoking as what it is: a relaxing experience which formerly had a stigma which we are all working hard to eliminate. It seems like this attitude is not present in other areas, and I wonder what the attitudes are like toward Hookah in other regions.

[misterbeetz]

Hello all! Just thought I would start a new topic, but first let me introduce myself... My username is Nofrendo and I like to smoke Hookah. My setup is a Mya base with a Mya stem... let's see about 16 inches altogether... I prefer to use the male fitting bowl because it doesn't drip sticky crap all over your ashtray. I also have a second hookah, with an Egyptian base and a Mya stem. My preferred tobacco is Hookah Hookah, and I use Easy Lite Japanese charcoals.

Well, after reading the FAQ's and the Stickies, I thought of a good contribution to the forum. I am from the Bay Area, and everywhere I have been and most of the people I have talked to (including myself) consider it a major violation of Hookah etiquette to discuss smoking anything other than tobacco out of a Hookah. This is obviously to preserve Hookah smoking as what it is: a relaxing experience which formerly had a stigma which we are all working hard to eliminate. It seems like this attitude is not present in other areas, and I wonder what the attitudes are like toward Hookah in other regions.

Hey nofrendo! Welcome to the forums. Thanks for the suggestion, proper hookah etiquette is defentiley valuable information for newcomers. I will add this to the list of things I intend to cover in the FAQ section. If there is any other good stuff you think would be valuable for newcomers to know then please keep your suggestions coming.

- misterbeetz

[Allia22]

Simple advice: don't bring your hookah to Wisconsin. Ignorance abounds, and it's making me think quite highly of the FIBS at this point (no offense to all you Illinois people, just stating my findings ).

[Hammerhead]

I get that from all of my friends. What are you smoking in that thing? So I do my best to educate them and answer their questions. They still think I am way off base. Then I let them try it and they get the idea. I usually get the hey this is nice response once they have tried it.

On a side note my mom tried it and ended up giving me trouble for hogging the hose. I know proper etiquette is to not smoke with women on the same hose at least that is what I read on the wiki as traditional hookah use. But my mom loved it and had to leave after a while. She said I could easily get one of those and sit around smoking it all day! It was a nice experience to share that with her.

[ASUSEAN1]

Simple advice: don't bring your hookah to Wisconsin. Ignorance abounds, and it's making me think quite highly of the FIBS at this point (no offense to all you Illinois people, just stating my findings ).

hey there.. watch it

[cemab4y]

I would love to discuss hookah ettiquette, and learn more. I never heard anything about sharing your hookah hose with a female. My (ex) GF and I enjoyed the Hookah very much. (BTW- I live in Iraq, and I used to live in Saudi. In Saudi you cannot even ride in an elevator or an automobile with a female that you are not related to).

I should think that in the USA, we can put the archaic single-gender rules of the Arab world behind us, and enjoy the pleasure of hookah smoking without regard to this custom. Here in USA, we should put this custom in the trash can where it belongs.

[nofrendo]

I don't know, it's frustrating when I am told by some random person to "get out of here with that thing before I call the cops"... and I know it's due to the dumbasses who DO smoke their other stuff in public... My usual response is, if you allow someone to smoke a cigarette, then why the hell would you hassle someone about something that (usually) is not only a beautiful piece of art, but actually SMELLS GOOD and is, on the whole, unoffensive??? If I was doing something illegal, don't you think you would be able to smell it? And why would I take the time to light coals? Just ignant....

[Hookah Joe]

My Neighbors can get rediculous. They all were sayin things about how I had weed in it, and they could smell it from my bong... Just makes me laugh. I still think my dad callin it "shishum" was the funniest one I've heard. I live on a main street, and ALOT of cars slow down to look, haha.

[yashman19]

I don't know, it's frustrating when I am told by some random person to "get out of here with that thing before I call the cops"... and I know it's due to the dumbasses who DO smoke their other stuff in public... My usual response is, if you allow someone to smoke a cigarette, then why the hell would you hassle someone about something that (usually) is not only a beautiful piece of art, but actually SMELLS GOOD and is, on the whole, unoffensive??? If I was doing something illegal, don't you think you would be able to smell it? And why would I take the time to light coals? Just ignant....

You'd think so ya? Gotta understand though, hookahs aren't really known by everyone still. Sure they're becoming more and more popular, but a majority of the people I know have never heard/scene a hookah before. What have they scene though? Bongs and other drug paraphanlia. Sure its annoying that they make assumptions, but it's not entirely their fault.

I've had the cops called on me and my friends when we were smoking in the park. A concerned dad was with his two boys. Told the cop we were smoking weed out of a bong the size of mount everest....Cops came and they were nice. Asked us if we didn't mind packing up shop. They agreed that we weren't in fact doing anything illegal, but they were getting more calls on us as we spoke, and said they would have to keep coming out to us for every call they got.

It wasn't a problem, especially since they were so nice.

[hookah hippie]

Welcome to the forum

[girlgeek]

Hello all! Just thought I would start a new topic, but first let me introduce myself... My username is Nofrendo and I like to smoke Hookah. My setup is a Mya base with a Mya stem... let's see about 16 inches altogether... I prefer to use the male fitting bowl because it doesn't drip sticky crap all over your ashtray. I also have a second hookah, with an Egyptian base and a Mya stem. My preferred tobacco is Hookah Hookah, and I use Easy Lite Japanese charcoals.

Well, after reading the FAQ's and the Stickies, I thought of a good contribution to the forum. I am from the Bay Area, and everywhere I have been and most of the people I have talked to (including myself) consider it a major violation of Hookah etiquette to discuss smoking anything other than tobacco out of a Hookah. This is obviously to preserve Hookah smoking as what it is: a relaxing experience which formerly had a stigma which we are all working hard to eliminate. It seems like this attitude is not present in other areas, and I wonder what the attitudes are like toward Hookah in other regions.

Welcome fellow Bay Area smoker! I've seen a lot of different responses to hookah from "well I don't approve of pot" after telling this woman repeatedly that flavored tobacco is smoked out of it, to "ooh what flavor are you smoking" I think the reason it's considered a major violation in the Bay Area is because of how open smoking "other things" is. You have to distinguish yourself from the kids lighting up in the back of the bus or the guy with the crack pipe on the corner.