Social Smoke visitation update

[Lakemonster]

From and earlier post I had let the board know that I was going to be paying SocialSmoke a visit today to buy a few things.
The following is a outline of how how my visit went.
Social Smoke is located in Arlington TX... in a small industrial plaza with offices that have attatched warehouses.
Ali, of SS called me as planned and let me know to come on in... I was out shopping with my parents and the wife at the time.... so we all showed up like a herd. We were warmly greeted and introductions were made and hands were shook.... in all a very warm greeting.
You must first understand that Social Smoke is a working warehouse.... they have a low overhead situation, they deal with online retail customers and do wholesale with lounge owners.
They have a  tidy display of theyre products there in the office section. It was nice to see the products they have online up close and personal.
I got schooled bigtime on the making of Egyptian hookahs. many of my preconceived concepts were blown clean out of the water. ... thats another thread entirely.
The warhouse isnt what some would consider a huge thing... but theres more stuff in there than you can shake a stick at. I saw shelving over 6 foot high and probably 8 foot wide or better of nothing but Al-Amir alone. Enough to make you lightheaded.... AlFahker was there too... and from what I was told...... plenty more to come (golden Al-Fahker too).
They introduced me to that new brand of ma'assel called Starbuzz, if you go and see the website, you will see it comes in a handy metal tin...... theres supposed to be around 30 flavors as an initial offering. From what Ali was saying... they just had gotten that in TODAY! Ali was kind enough to share a generous amount of that with me to try out.....6 flavors in total, Watermellon, Kiwi, Strawberry-Kiwi, Lemon-mint, Pomegranate and Sour apple. The graphics and logo do resemble a famous hot beverage chain..... upon close inspection... theres been alot of difference in logos between the two compnies..... but resemblance, nonetheless.
I was really interested in seeing that huge Sphinx model hookah that stands over 7 foot tall........ they had one that they use as a display, sans the actual internal lamp that they showed me. THAT THING IS HUGE....... they brought that thing in and had to lean it over to get it thru a doorway and still ended up bumping it a bit at the top. That hookah is a Sasquatch....... I had to reach up on tip-toe to feel inside the bowl..... the lamp part of it has to be at around 20 inches wide. The pics on the website dont do it justice.... I dont know how you capture that things "grandeur".
While I was there I had several different conversations with them about traditional hookah smoking in the middle east and even some discussion about hookah smoking research studies.
Ali will have to forgive me at this point.... but I didnt make the connection (My wife asked me a question during introduction) I'm assuming his Dad? showed me some video on his laptop showing how the parts of Egyptian hookahs were actually made.... blew my mind... Im gonna start a whole different thread on this one... Damn I wish I had a copy of that footage.. or knew where you guys might link to that if its hosted somewhere....... that will amaze you.
After seeing that.. you get a grasp where you rmoney is spent when you buy a good hookah. We discussed different manufacturing with different stems from around the world and glassblowing quality.
Toward the end of my visit... I briefly met the fella that runs a new Hookah Lounge in Irving... The lounge is called "Heat". Looks like they are gettin off to a good start. Ali told me the mood there is more dark and relaxed... one day I might need to stop in there... sounds like my kind of place to chill and have a head.
I will say they have themselves a nice tight-knit group up there. and they have they have the operations squared away with the record keeping and handling of orders. I personally cant imagine being that organized.
My Thanks to the all the guys up there for all your time. I learned much!
And if you read this, Ali... everything matched up just right, Thanks again!
(love that hose)
 
 

[MR Bubble]

Way cool!
Share some of that info on hookah smoking research studies, if you don't mind. But I can understand if you down-loaded all that info from being so overwhelmed.
Can't wait for the other threads on this adventure.
MR Bubble

[Lakemonster]

That particular conversation dealt with the fact that the studies were operating on control facters that really doesnt capture a typical users exposure to hookah smoke......
Stressing that general hookah session of 45 minutes. with multiple smokers in a party sitaution as they are used really doesnt reflect near the data they could get by hooking a hookah up to a machine and running stats on data that way. (omitting name at this point to respect any wished privacy) wassaying that a Three person smoke over 45 minutes migh actually trranslate to 6 minutes of actual hookah smoke exposure per person.
How do you really get a bead on the real impact?
One thing we did talk about is how in the middle east that hookah smoking is more like smoking. Everyone there validated the fact that the way westerners and europeans smoke the hookah is unlike what they do...... the fruity flavors and premium stuff is not in general use.... they take some form of regular tobacco and maybe add a bit of honey..... dump a coal right on it and flat out SMOKE it instead of our vaporizing.
The guys up there agreed that that is way harsh.....Ali's dad (I sure hoe I have that right) was saying that his dad smoked that way using the old traditional wooden stem Iranian style hookah.

[Cold493]

Thats really interesting and in a way some of the best advertisement for a company to hear that they are a quality operation from a first hand source, I'm very interested in the hookah making process.

[ZAP]

Nice review...

I am really interested in watching that hookah making video
now...  Maybe you can ask Ali if he can upload it/send it/put on
disc?

[ioannisds]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Social Smoke has been the
best online retailer to deal with for me so far, and the quality of
their products is top notch.  I am hoping the Starbuzz shisha ends
up being good, as a lot of the flavors sound fantastic.  I
e-mailed Social asking them if they were going to be offering any 50g
packs of the stuff so that people could try it.  All we have is
Lakemonster's upcoming reviews so far .  You.  Lucky.  Bastard.