Looking/purchasing Tomorrow, Please Help!

[Travis Moore]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm going to look at hookahs tomorrow at a local shop. The store has a wide variety of items and I got the feeling that the sales staff were not hookah experts. Basically, I'm wanting to know what all I need to get started. The list I have so far is..

1)Hookah pipe
2)Shista
3)Coals
4)Replaceable mouthpeices (optional?)
5)foil (optional? Can i just use tinfoil?)

Any help would be appreciated, thanks. Also, is it easier to use a conventional style cigarette lighter, or one of those ones with the little blue flame?

Travis

[NickReppinThe909]

1. MZ or KM are the way to go
2. Al Fakher,Layalina or Al Waha are good starters
3. 3Kings quicklites or coco naras
4. a BS item just get a 2 hoser and keep one hose to yourself
5. reynold heavy duty is all you need

[mushrat]

His local shop may not carry either of those branmds or the staff may not know the difference.

Look for soemthing Well made. Check the welds at the joints, around the part where the hose plugs into the hookah, and around the purge valve. Make sure the welds are solid and complete. Check for how straight the thing stands. Check the pipe that goes down into the base. Make sure the pipe is straight and the hookah as a whole is straight.

Pull the stem out of the base and flip it over. There should be several holes at the bottom where the down pipe is connected. Make sure all those holes are clear, no metal partially covering them from poor construction. If there is metal blacking one of the holes you can probably use a pen or something to punch it out of the way but make sure you double check before taking it home.

There are 2 basic types of traditional hookahs construction wise. There are the hollow spun shell types. Cheaper but less durable in the long run, and the solid brass cored type. There will be MUCH heavier and likely to last you longer. These are liable to be more expensive. I have both types and the smoke is the same, its just how solidly built they are and how long they are likely to last.

Also check for stability. I've seen hookahs with all sorts of crap built into the stem. These will make it easier to knock over, then there goes your security/damage deposit. Go for simple yet effective.

Check the type of bowl it uses. The most common is the egyptian style where the bowl fits over the top of the stem. This will be the easiest to find other bowls for. The Syrian style has a socket at the top of the stem and the bowl is pointed and fits into the socket. These are nice because any excess juice will flow down the inside of the pipe instead off all down the side and pool in the tray. The problem is that your bowl choices will be limited. No phunnels, jets, smileys/pyrex, multi head, etc will fit this hookah.

Hope this helps.

[mushrat]

Ah forgot the pther stuff...


Your local shop, if its like a middle eastern market, will likely have Nakhla (a good solid brand but very strong and many of the flavours are less than good.) and perhaps a few other Egyptian made tobaccos like the Prince or El Hennaway (both ok but not high quality). It MAY have Al Fakher if you are lucky. Get the Al Fakher.

If you are going to a real Hookah shop or a head shop you may be able to find soem other brands. If you are just getting started and don't smoke cigarettes I'd check the boxes and look for stuff that's "washed" so it has a .05% nicotine content. It will be easier to smoke and you are less likely to puke as you get everythign right in your set up.

Take a minute to look through the tobacco reviews in the review section, write down a few brands and flavours people tended to like, see if they have any of them.

Get a single hose hookah. It's just easier. 2 hoses at the outside and train your friends to thumb the hose end when the other hose is beign used. Any more hoses that that and you'll have to take turns smoking anyways so why not pass the hose and be sociable?

If you are going with Quicklites for coals, get 3 kings. They are about the best for ql's. Stay away from starlite, rollands, and goldens (goldens arent too bad but they tend to have this nasty habit of exploding). If you are going for finger coald. See if you can look at the coals. The denser they are the better they are likely to be. If they are fluffy looking with lots of air holes then they are nto very dense and will burn out quickly, creat a lot of ash, and will fall apart if you try to move them too much or too far. Smooth finger coals are better.

you only need tips if you are smokign with peole you don't trust or if someone is sick.

I use pain old regular foil. you can use heavy duty if you want. Though one thing i have noticed is that you should stick to name brands. Don't cheap out on the foil.