social smoke

[ioannisds]

I bought my first hookah from them, and to be perfectly honest, I was
not 100% satisfied.  Their customer service was actually terrific,
and I made a change to my order the day after I placed it with no
problems.  When it arrived, however, the base had a large crack in
it, so I was kinda bummed I could not use my hookah right away (I had
already waited a week or so as they were back-ordered).  Anyway,
they sent me a replacement base which I received about a week
later.  My original hookah base was medium sized (which is what I
ordered), and the replacement base they sent me was quite a bit larger,
had some bubbles in the glass, and a neck opening that was almost a
1/4" bigger than my stem with the grommet on (translation: leaked air
like a mofo).  At this point I was just glad to have a base in
hand that was not broken, so I contacted them, and told them about the
problem with the size of the base and the neck opening.  Rather
than replace my base again, they sent me some thick-walled rubber
grommets, which in all honesty seem to work just fine.  I still
feel that the large base (anyone have a medium base they want to
trade?) looks a little bit out of proportion with the shorter stem, but
hell, it works, and actually smokes pretty well.  The quality of
the stem and the hose seems to be very nice, and the bubbles in the
base are the only real flaw; I know I am probably nit-picking this
point, as I am sure it is a bit tough to find hand-blown glass like
this that is perfect.  Like I said before, their customer service
was terrific, but it would have been nice if the whole situation had
not been such a pain in the buttocks.  Hope this helps.
   

[yashman19]

Don't consider it "nit-picking". If you arn't 100% satisfied with your
order, you should bitch and moan until they make you happy. They have
to learn that a good business is run by satisfying their customers,
especially when word gets around boards like this. If a few people have
crappy orders coming in, they won't do business with that company
anymore, and I haven't heard of a company that doesn't need business.

But I guess what I'm saying is that Social Smoke has been in the
business for a while, and although they might not get everything
perfect, I think they are still safe to order from. Just remember you
don't have to live with any problems they give you. Send it back until
they get it right.

I'd rather wait a few more weeks if it means getting quality products.

Good luck and if you decide to go ahead with an order, let us know how it goes.

[hassan]

hey man wich hookah are looking at getting?

[hassan]

by the way i just bought my hookah last month from hookah-shisha.com
and i was very satisfied with my order i also can see that they give
you more stuff with your hookah such as the carreing case they also
give you free romman insted of alwaha.

[ioannisds]

Hey all, just a follow up.  To make a long story short, I just
bought my second hookah from hookah-shisha.com about a week or so
ago.  My first was from Social Smoke, and, as you can read above,
my experience with them was not perfect (which is why I tried another
website).  First, let me say that it was not my intention at all
to bash socialsmoke.com in any way.  I was just trying to relay my
own personal experience, and, taken as a whole, it was very good. 
I just got off the phone with Abrahim at Social Smoke, as I sent them
an e-mail earlier today.  This is where Hookah-Shisha comes
in.  Here is the e-mail I sent to Social Smoke:

Hi Ali. I am sending this message to you because everyone speaks veryhighly of you at the Hookah Forum. I would like to tell you guys my story of hookah-shisha.com vs. socialsmoke.com. I ordered my first hookah through Social Smoke a few months ago, and you were very helpful with a couple of changes I had wanted to make before my order shipped out. When I received my order, I was sad to find the base was cracked. I contacted Social Smoke and spoke to Abrahim, who was great to me. He sent out a replacement base right away. When I received the second base, it was the large size asopposed to the medium size which I had originally ordered, and the stem did not seal properly at all. I e-mailed Abrahim again, and he sent out some thick-walled grommets to see if that would take care of the problem, and in the end, after a few weeks, I had a very nice quality hookah that I waspleased with.So where does hookah-shisha.com fit in? Well, a couple of weeks ago, Idecided that I wanted to get a two-hose hookah to use with friends. I will admit, I was not 100% satisfied with my order with Social Smoke, even though everything turned out ok in the end. So I thought I would give anothercompany a shot and see what happens. I ordered a double-hose Egyptianhookah from hookah-shisa.com. I assumed that, being an Egyptian hookah like the ones that you guys sell, it would be of comparable quality, especially considering the price (around $80). I was wrong...When I got my new hookah, I was quite disappointed. I was immediatelyobvious that the quality of the stem was NOWHERE NEAR that of the stem that I got from Social Smoke. It had a slight air leak, and just did not look as well-finished as your stem. The hoses which came with it, although they look very nice (they are the "cobra" style), draw a bit tight, and are not washable like the wonderful hose I got from you guys. All the accessories I received (brushes, bowl, tongs, etc.) were sub-par in quality. About the only thing that I am happy with is the glass, which is actually quite nice.To make a long story short, I am wishing I had just given you guys another chance when I bought my second hookah, as I am sure it would have been much, much, nicer than the one I got from hookah-shisha. Guess I have learned my lesson! So, my question for you is, do you sell just the stems to yourhookahs? I would just send the stem back to hookah-shisha, but I am sure that the replacement will be just as bad, if not worse, as the one I have now. If I can, I would like to replace the one I got from them with one of your better quality stems. As I said above, it is a double-hose stem, and the entire hookah is about 26" tall. If you can sell me just the stem, that would be great. Please give me a price if this is at all possible. I am not 100% sure I want to buy another stem, having already spent $80 on the hookah, but if the price is right I will go for it.Thanks for taking the time to read this e-mail. Now that I have seen how much of a difference in quality there is between you and the other guys, I will most definitely be ordering from you in the future. In fact, I amgoing to be asking my wife to order me one of your Sol hookahs once mybirthday rolls around again! They look spectacular. Thanks again. Warmest Regards,JohnAgain, it is not my intention to bash Hookah-Shisha in any way at all, justas I was not trying to crap on Social Smoke. The quality of their product is just not anywhere as nice as what I got from Social Smoke a few months ago. Their customer service, shipping time, etc. was all superb. And their Romman ma'assell is fantastic, and I will continue to buy it. BUT, it is my opinion that you can get a much nicer hookah from the guys at Social Smoke. Abrahim also told me that Social Smoke is coming out with some cool new products (chrome plated stems, new hookahs, etc.) in the next few months, and that we should keep an eye out. Please, please, please don't turn this into a flame war or anything. After the recent crap with Monsieur Badass and his many clones, I was this close to never visiting the board again. I hope that this madness has all passed.

[Mathazar]

Well,  we're glad you didn't leave buddy,  your presence here
has been a positive one and I'm sure as time goes by you will consider
The Hookah Forum your second home,  as I and most of the other
members of this forum feel.

Stick around pal,  we don't want you to leave.  Very nice letter,  btw 

[mushrat]

Good of you to take the time to tell them and us of your experience. I believe that most crappy customer service is the result of those in charge not being aware there is a problem in the first place. I also will take the time to make supervisors etc aware of problems, and am just as likely to take the same time to complement good service.
It looks like were back to our usual interfamily squabbling, all's well.

[Elrahma]

I too had a bad experience with Social Smoke.-The base had cracks {especially at the top}.-The rubber is difficult to work with {pulling off and replacing}.-The bowl that came with it cracked after three uses.-The bowl's interior is not coated, so the flavor settles into the clay.-I did call and complain {spoke to a female} and never received a call back.-I thought the stem was stainless, but there has been rust.I didn't follow through, admittedly, but I wouldn't buy from Social Smoke again. Nothing personal against the owner.

[ioannisds]

[quote name='Elrahma']I too had a bad experience with Social Smoke.

-The base had cracks {especially at the top}.
-The rubber is difficult to work with {pulling off and replacing}.
-The bowl that came with it cracked after three uses.
-The bowl's interior is not coated, so the flavor settles into the clay.
-I did call and complain {spoke to a female} and never received a
call back.
-I thought the stem was stainless, but there has been rust.

I didn't follow through, admittedly, but I wouldn't buy from Social  
Smoke again.  Nothing personal against the owner.[/quote]

Um, are you sure it was Social Smoke?  When did you place the
order?  I have had contact with them many times, and never dealt
with a female (not to say there isn't one working there).  Also,
your experience was downright TERRIBLE, while mine was just a bit
inconvenient.  As far as some of your complaints, I have found
that the rubber grommet around the stem that fits into the base is
always a pain in the ass to remove, replace, no matter who you get the
hookah from.  I use a small flat-screwdriver to pry an end up, and
then work it off from there. And their stems are stainless
steel dude.  I think a mistake that some people make with the
whole stainless vs. non-stainless is that stainless steel does not have
to be SHINY.  Yes, the outside of the stem is worked with and
polished to get it sparkling, but the interior parts, inside of
stainless bowls, etc, will not look like the pots and pans in your
kitchen.  Like I said above, the quality of my stem from Social
was light-years ahead of that from Hookah-Shisha.  I can post pics
if people are interested (and will tell me how to do it . 
I'm not saying you are lying or anything, but that seems like an awful
lot to have gone wrong (and unresolved) from a company that most people
on the board have been pretty satisfied with.

[Elrahma]

Well ionnisds, the fact is that Yashman made a good point (about speaking up until it's right), but I have always just gone by the rule that if I don't like the product or the service, I won't do business with them again. So as not to get evryone worked up, let me just say that the experience was not "terrible". I mean, the hookah does work. The cracks are something you see, primarily because the glass is blown very fast, and it's more about functionality than aesthetics for the manufacturers of these bases. I did go to the website to triple check on your question about verifying whether or not it was Social Smoke, and it definitely was. Thank you for getting me to do that, just in case it had been someone else. As far as the stem. Don't get me wrong, it's better than a Chinese Hookah, but perhaps you have a point, that I may have been setting the bar too high. I'm far from an expert on hookah engineering. The thread just caught my eye, and since I had an experience with Social Smoke, I thought I could give runride some more info to throw into the mix.Like I said in my first post. It's nothing personal. I have a number of hookahs, but for my money, I would rather see some more quality and a return phone call. They did have a couple of months to call back (LOL). Anyway, no hard feelings at all, and I don't want to create any. I sould have, and perhaps should have followed up on this much more when it happened.

[Elrahma]

Whoops, should have read "could have, and perhaps should have".Sorry! I also forgot to reiterate my feelings on the bowl. That is bad to the bone. Nothing worse than getting bowl fragments in a freshly prepared bowl. Runride, if you do decide to buy a hookah from Social smoke, definitely buy an additional clay bowl (fully coated). For a $1, it will make your life a lot easier. You can always keep theirs around as a spare, or to smoke a flavor you don't smoke often (as it will set into the bowl like crazy).OK nuff said.