Please Help Me Identify This Hookah!

[ban me im a spammer]

Greetings everyone,

I just came back from Israel, where I bought a nargile! Not knowing much about this stuff, other than 'suck in, blow out', I ended up at this forum of knowledgeable hookah enthusiasts

I have no idea who the maker of this is, but I hope that someone here can recognize it. I've seen many hookahs similar to this one while traveling in Israel, so I suspect that they are mass produced, although I was unable to find a 'made in china' sticker anywhere.

I'm not sure what the etiquette here is about putting full-size images in the thread, but I'm pretty sure that if you click on the pictures, you will get a full-size version of each photo.

The box is leopard print, candidate for a spraypainting.

The middle part

The.. ventricles. The stem screws into here, pretty snugly.

This is as much as I could disassemble it. The middle portion actually rotates almost freely, it's weird.

The vase. The frosting is coming off pretty quickly from rubbing about with other parts in the box.

The head. Came with a screen and a protector thingy. Is it common for bowls to be this shallow? Is it because the hookah is small?

The hose. Spiffy.

Fully assembled.

Not sure what the customary way to measure the size is, but it's around 18" tall.

Alright, besides not knowing where this thing was made, I have a couple of questions about this thing:

1) I tried smoking it once (Nakhla 2x apple), and it was pretty flavorless. Later, I decided to test it for air-tightness, and discovered that, though perfectly airtight, the air from it tasted like ass. It didn't even occur to me to clean it before the first smoke -- should have I done that? What's the best way to clean it?

2) Also, I heard that some hoses are washable, while some aren't. Is my hose washable? It certainly doesn't smell very good right now (or have tasty air coming from it), although it's a dusty "I've been in a shelf in a small arab store for a few months" smell, not a "I have been smoked through by a small arab for a few months" smell.



Regards,
Stas

[Canon]

ok, no ur hose isnt washable.

best way to clean it is with vodka or lemon juice or baking soda. and a brush (did you get a brush with your hookah?)
it does look like its made in china or somewhere mass produced.

[ban me im a spammer]

ok, no ur hose isnt washable.

best way to clean it is with vodka or lemon juice or baking soda. and a brush (did you get a brush with your hookah?)
it does look like its made in china or somewhere mass produced.

No, no brush (I'm planning to grab a pipe cleaner from a store, but for now I'm just using an automotive rag wrapped around a bamboo skewer).

As for baking soda, I left all the components in a bucket of water with some soda in it, and I think I damaged the finish a little. Is this usual for brass?

I will try cleaning with lemon juice (all I got is Realemon). Should I mix it with water, and if so, what's a good proportion?

Thanks,
Stas

[Canon]

yeah, real lemon would work just fine. also you can watch this, i made a very good brush out of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=totmiVLs0n8

the soda and water didnt help with your hookah, id just let it soak in the lemon juice.

[avtomat]

Nice vid Canon

[ban me im a spammer]

Hey, cool idea! I'll definitely make a brush like that

[Canon]

i believe 2 scrubbys work best and i havent tested it on smaller hookahs.

[Estariol]

i agree with canon - it definitely looks like a factory made hookah.

i like to use hot water mixed with lemon juice to clean my hookah (with a brush of course). i've recently been using bought lemon juice (which has added sugar) but squeezed lemon juice is better when you can be bothered or when u have lemons.

yeah measuring a hookah is just by height - so it's an 18". i think 18" hookahs are a good compromise between big and small they can definitely make big clouds but they are much more portable than anything over 20".

just out of interest, what were you in israel for? a holiday?

[ban me im a spammer]

Hey Estariol!

I was in Israel on a birthright tour (free trip!) for 10 days -- I got back literally 3 days ago. This nargile I bought in a shop on Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem -- we had 40 minutes to shop and I spent almost all of that time haggling with the shop owner ;p


Oh, by the way, I scrubbed off the frosting on the vase completely with a scour pad, and now it looks much better, and the water level is visible. I think it's kind of weird that the frosting was painted on, rather than etched into the glass -- could it have something to do with the fact that the glass has a raised design?

It looks a bit odd in the photo:



Regards

[Canon]

i find it very funny that you scratched it off, that made me laugh..
but yeah it looks alot better.

[Canon]

and as far as the design goes. thats the way they molded the glass i bet.

[EvansLight]

The hose looks like a knock-off mya hose, which means that it probably would want to claim its washable, but i wouldn't get water anywhere near it.

[ban me im a spammer]

The hose looks like a knock-off mya hose, which means that it probably would want to claim its washable, but i wouldn't get water anywhere near it.

Ah, thanks for the heads up!

[EternalSoil]

to me, that looks more like copper than brass (which would be bad!)

but i dont think they would do that, i hope at least.

[Canon]

its not copper, its stainless steel with a coating, look at the chamber picture where you screw the down stem in.

[EternalSoil]

Touche Canon, touche!

its pretty by the way.

looks Chinese made. i smoked one kinda similar (not as pretty) for about a year.

[Canon]

yeah its a very nice hookah, i dont know if the purge or the pull is good due to it being made in china but you can fix that with a screwdriver.

[The Devils Playground]

Its cool looking for sure. Also its for sure Chinese. I just glanced but it looks nice.

Congrats on something everyone else don`t have.

[ban me im a spammer]

Hey guys, thanks for all your comments!

I really doubt that it's pure copper, since that stuff is pretty expensive The inside of the stem is most definitely stainless steel, and the other parts -- dish, collar, etc. -- is likely either pure brass, or is plated with brass (which, by the way, is ~65% copper anyway).

Why is copper is bad, anyway? As far as I know, it has germicidal properties similar to silver, just not as strong. I bet all the water, cold and hot, in my house is delivered and distributed with copper piping.


Canon, the pull seems alright, feels pretty much like the large nargiles that I've smoked (and the whole thing is seriously airtight). The purge takes a little more effort, but the chamber is not that big, so clearing the smoke out isn't difficult in the end.

What contributes to the quality of the pull, anyway? Shouldn't a small hookah have an easier draw, because there's less distance between my lungs and the tobacco?

How do I tune the pull/purge with a screwdriver?

Also, I have noticed that I get dizzy really quickly with this thing. It's difficult for me to compare to another narg side by side, but is this a typical thing for small hookahs, or is it just me?

[Canon]

getting dizzy is called a buzz, or you could have co2 poisoning but i think its the buzz.

you take it apart and use a small screwdriver and make the purge bigger, just dont do it bigger then the bb.

no the pull is how big the tubes are, its like sucking through a straw compared to a coffee straw. bigger the smallest tube in your hookah better the pull.

heres why copper is bad
http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showtopic=14563

[ZenSilk]

It's Chinese Made by the looks of the Common Chamber with 4 holes, of course factory made. i don't know if that's copper, it looks like metal made to look like copper and it's factory made so probably not.

Hoses that come with hookahs like that are never washable. And smell terrible after a couple uses.

It's basically a Chinese knock-off hookah.

Your pull is tight because of the lack of sufficient airflow through those little holes. It's not based on the hookahs size.

Purging is basically impossible with common chamber hookahs (meaning not Hand-Made hookahs).

You get dizzy really quick because it's a smaller hookah, so the CO2 from the coals doesn't have time to dissipate as much as a larger hookah. Especially if you are using QL coals (coals that you light with a lighter that spark and smoke until red hot).

I would reccomend buying some Natural Coals. Edited January 13, 2008 by ZenSilk

[SafeSearchOff]

looks to me like its a Mitsuba hookah, though one can never be 100% sure with all these factory knockoffs in china. However their MYA knockoff hose is usually a pretty good give-away, along with the type of bases that accompany them.