Private Vs Lounge

[dank7oo]

I was wondering if there is a difference in quality between the products purchased for personal use and products proided at lounges? Or is it all pretty much the same deal??

[ghostofdavid]

The Al Fakher that I buy is of the same quality as the Al Fakher Gypsy Lounge purchases. The difference? The person packing the bowl and that can make a world of difference.

[Uncle G~Dogg]

All my stuff (new hookah included) is out for delivery today, so I will be playing with learning all of this packing stuff...

[hookahlife]

Hey Dank,

The products are the same, but the biggest difference as Ghost mentioned is that you don't know how well these lounges care for their hookahs/tobaccos. I found that many of the lounges that I've visited across the world don't seem to have the time to clean the hookahs and hoses (which makes a huge difference in smoke quality) and can't pack the bowl correctly if their life depended on it (usually they pack it so high that the foil is bulging out of the bowl.

Don't get me wrong, I've been to a handful of hookah lounges that do it correctly, in fact just last month I was at a hookah lounge in St. Petersburg, Russia, and had one of the best smoke sessions of my life, but the majority just can't get it right.

Hope this helps

-Eugene

[Sonthert]

The tobacco's the same, from brand to brand, theoretically. Some people have alleged that tobacco in 250g packages is better than the tobacco in 50g packages. It would then follow that tobacco in 1000g packages would be different too (A common size for lounges to buy for making their hookahs). Oddly enough, the same contention exists among liquor connoisseurs, they allege that 750mL bottles, 1000mL bottles, 1.75L bottles and smaller bottles are of different sizes.

Edit: Of course they really are of different sizes! What they allege is that different sizes of bottles are of different qualities, from where they were drawn from the barrel. In fact, in the case of whiskey it is well known that barrels that aren't appropriately shaken will vary greatly from the top of the barrel to the bottom. Filtered and stabilized booze won't separate, the same way homogenized milk doesn't need to be shaken to mix the cream into the milk (try raw milk, the cream floats to the top). I doubt that most, if any hookah tobacco manufacturers "homogenize" their products. For milk and booze its processing, for tobacco it would likely be chemical. You could use a low-mobility kind of design for the liquid, but then you better like the dryness of Nahkla, which is what a processed, non-chemically stabilized hookah tobacco would likely look like.

What is likely to be true is that tobacco thats made in large batches will vary more and whatever systematic procedures they work into their manufacturing tends to create a bias in the quality of the product. In the case of booze, they use a "vat" to fill the 750mL bottles first, then the 1.75L, then the 1L, then the smaller sizes (375mL, 200mL, 187.5mL, etc.). In tobacco, the tobacco will tend to settle slightly, without stirring, so the flavor will either migrate to the top or the bottom. So some flavors will end up running towards the top with the but the bottom will have less flavor (but more smoke as glycerine is extremely dense). In bottom running flavors, the flavor and the smoke will lay towards the bottom, so the middle 30% (It really is a guess, depending on the tendency of the flavor to sink) will be the least flavor and smoke. So, in short, there is a possibility that there will be variances in the product...what they are, would likely vary from brand to brand and how large their batches are. The larger the batches, the more variance. Also, flavors that are difficultly soluble, like citrus flavors, mints, etc will have more variances.

The skill level of lounges vary greatly. Also the quality of the tobacco, as in, one place will use Fumari, say, another lounge will use Hookah Hookah. Some lounges underpack their bowls, not just to save $.45, but also to move you along faster. If you get a rushed feeling, a sushi bar type ambiance, move to the next lounge (if possible). The higher the volume place, the more likely they are to end up giving you a lower quality product in an attempt to move you along. You've seen it in restaurants getting slammed. Your food is made in a more slapdash manner, your order isn't right. When its slow, everything is fine. Same thing for hookahs. Cleaning hookahs on a regular basis is important too. Some lounges believe cleaning hookahs is untraditional...it may be a tradition, but its bloody revolting and it interferes with the flavor of your smoking. Edited July 19, 2007 by Sonthert

[Hearsay]

[Good] Hookah lounges are good for the atmosphere they provide. Some will also prepare great hookahs, while others will not. If all I am interested in is smoking, I prefer a private hookah.

[dank7oo]

Thanks for the info guys - Also ... when I am ordering ... about how many sessions would you get out of 50g??? I just dont really have a method to judge right now how much smokes how much ... thanks

[Allia22]

Thanks for the info guys - Also ... when I am ordering ... about how many sessions would you get out of 50g??? I just dont really have a method to judge right now how much smokes how much ... thanks

Like... 2.5? Not too much.

[Ehagen8008]

Thanks for the info guys - Also ... when I am ordering ... about how many sessions would you get out of 50g??? I just dont really have a method to judge right now how much smokes how much ... thanks

Like... 2.5? Not too much.

i would say around 3 or 4....i can get like 5 or maybe even more with my little steel bowl (which still lasts 45 mins sometimes an hour) Edited July 21, 2007 by Ehagen8008

[hookahbiz]

Pretty much the same. It's all very inexpensive.

[boomhauer]

there is a huge difference depending on the hookahbar. all depends on packing and heat management. a lot of hookah bars will rush it and give you a bad sessions but people will pay for it because they dont know any better until they buy their own hookah

[Kae]

Thanks for the info guys - Also ... when I am ordering ... about how many sessions would you get out of 50g??? I just dont really have a method to judge right now how much smokes how much ... thanks

We buy a lot of 50g packages, because we are fairly new, and trying out a bunch of brands/flavors. We get anywhere from 3-5 sessions from 50g, depending on how wet the shisha is. The Layalina Black Grape was dripping wet, and we got about 3 sessions from that; the Al Waha Winter Flower was more sticky than wet, and we have already gotten 4 sessions out of it, and have another bowl's worth left.

I wouldn't even worry about how much you will get outta the diff sized pkgs. If you like it, you can just buy a bigger pkg of it. If you don't, you can toss it, and only be out, what, like, $2, maybe? (I would pay $2 to not have to smoke this Romman Coconut ever again! )