somebody have to do it

[alen]

Waddaf**k let the swede make an ass of himself well im not known to be a shy guy and i think it could be funny to know little of the dudes you chatt with
well im born in sweden 1965 and living just outside of stockholm -my favorit interests have been motorcycles i bought my first when i was 16(triumph)and my first H.D when i was 19 and sold the last H.D 1993when i met my wife nowadays we have a kawasaki 1500-i dont ride so much nowadays
i listen to most music but when i was younger i really liked guitar music-hendrix-marino-winter -vaughan+ old hard rock bands-purple- atomic rooster-ten years after-mc5-blue cheer+everything with a nice feedbacknowadays im more in to a little easier listning and classics like -the band-ccr-grateful dead+some little modern stuff-ambience and instrumental music
in the summertime we are out much fishing and camping and travelling a lot around scandinavia -the beaches of denmark- the mountains in norway -and the deep woods in finland and i often go to london-amsterdam i also having a dog (rottweiler)8 years old
other interest are tattoos (have won some prices on different conventions around sweden) one of my best friend has won the title swedens best tattoist many times
in 1999  i hurt my back in a accident so im just working halftime now helping a friend with a little this and that but before that i was a truckdriver
well i think thats everything about my boring life-oh sorry i almost forgot hookahs in any form and shape and all nice flavours you can lay your hands on- i think thats the biggest interest right now- take care and i hope i will learn something of you guys out there 
 

[Guest]

Looks like alen beat me..  my name is adam and I'm one of the admins of the forum. I smoke ALOT of hookah and really just wanted a place to answer my own questions.

[alen]

sorry i just forgot my shoe size is 41

[burque_guy]

Hi, my name is Jon and I also have a passion for the hookah. I have a love for music and spend a great deal of time playing and recording music in my home studio. One of the coolest things I have ever done was spend a month in Peru where hiked the Inca trail from Cuzco to Machu Pichu. I have learned a great deal about the hookah over the last several years and hope to be able to contribute to this forum in a positive way.

[NERV]

my name is jason, im 18, my hobbies include anime, my car, and of
course, the hookah. i originally found this forum in search of info on
the fastest way to light wood coals, i smoke about 3 times a day,
usually while watching a movie or anime. so far my favorite brand is
nakhla, favorite flavors are sweet melon and double apple. i have a
curious nature, always fooling around with new ways to make my smoke
better and plan on making my own hookah soon, i doubt it will smoke as
well as a classic egyptian but i just like being creative

[MR Bubble]

Hi, My name is Randall (MR Bubble). I tried the hookah for the first time about 3 years ago while in Egypt and have been hooked. I'm about 5 months from a twenty year military retirement. Needless to say that my views on the hookah and those views by the Army do not compliment each other. In fact I'm beginning to think those people in the Army "anti-hookah" system are communist infiltrators that slipped through the crack years ago in Berlin. They will be happy when I'm retired. I will be happy to have them happy when I'm retired. Right now I work in an Aviation life support equipment shop in the top floor of a hangar in Louisiana. My goal before I retire is to sneak up on the roof of the hangar, sit in a lounger and smoke a hookah while watching the aircraft.
My interests outside of hookah smoking are bass fishing, making friends, and photography. Photography is pretty much a thing of the past since I married and made babies. Well, you have the baby pictures and all, but none of the landscape and travel/nature stuff anymore. Someday I want to be free to do it again.
I have lived in Germany for 9 years, Egypt for 2 years and of course, various places in the States. Most of my time overseas, before my interest in photography were spent in the gutter, drunk. The hookah is a great tool to help me unwind without hitting the bottle. I still do while smoking my machine, but I don't abuse it like before.
That's all I got to say about that.
MR Bubble
 

[tuma al Zrai]

Marhaba, Salaam yalaykum!
Kifek everbody? Ismi Tuma, I'm from Brooklyn, but I'm still a leb. I prefer the Naklah double apple, but the Arz Lubnaniya (lebanese cedar) kicks ass too. Most of my experiances with argileh are either at arabic coffee houses or at freinds houses with Arabic music blaring in the backround. I kinda feel like the only Arab in this whole damn place, kinda weird considering WE INVENTED THE NARGILEH! It's not called a "hookah" in the middle east, that's a bastardization of the farsi oogah-vase. Well it seems we just can't trust our culture to the west anymore without it being gutted until its scocially acceptable.Anyway, theres a bi-lingual (English-Arabic) newspaper ou here called Aramica, in it there was a great article about Argileh from the Arab point of view. It discussed the differences between Arabic coffee houses and western-style lounges/bars/clubs that serve argileh. There was a great quote that Americans love argileh, listen to arabic music (mostly without realising it) and LOVE arabic food, but they hate Arabs. Not bad reasoning, my cousin Jamal can't fly without being strip-searched.
Arabic coffee houses are ussually attended only by men, and consist of a small kitchen to prepare Mezza (tabbuleh, homous, baba ghanouj, etc.) and Arabic tea/coffee, glaring florecent lights, a big-screen tv with either Al Jazeera or Al Arabiya (Al Hura sucks, everyone thinks it's just a mouthpiece of the Americans, and they're kinda right). The Argilehs are ALWAYS on the floor, thew Americans screwed that one up big time, the tables are ussually just for chess/checker boards, tawleh-backgammon boards, and maybe a glass of shai- sweet mint tea. There are maybe 15-20 of these in New York, but they are ussually in the outer boroughs. Steinway street in Astoria and 5th avenue between 60th and 80th streets in Bay ridge are the densest areas. Most of the time, they either only serve apple flavor, or a handfull of old fashioned flavors, like mint, plain, or strawberry mu'uessel.
The new Argileh lounges on the other hand, are almost exclusively in Manhattan, and cater mostly to non-Arabs. They range from moderately-priced cafes for students, to rediculously expensive restaraunts that "rent a hookah" (Les Babouches in Brooklyn charges $20 for 15 minutes). Many of these also serve as restaraunts, ranging from having bad food and chauky argileh(Sahara East,to a certain extent Rico,m but not as bad) to having extrordinary food, lighting, decor, and even belly dancing (Le Souk, Mamlouk is good too, but the decor isn't as good, and these no belly dancing). Generally, these places stick out by the extensive menus of both tagines, mezzas, and shisha-tobacco-flavors . Many of the newer flavors, such as mango, capuccino, or bubble gum, are meant just for the crowds these establishments attract.
You all will probably be hearing more from me.

[hookaman]

Hey everyone, my name is Arsen and im 16. I know im younger then alot of the people here but I like hooka too lol. I was introduced to it when I was 15 actually, because we had one in the house and lately I got curious about it. I live in California, Hollywood and yes alot of the youth here is into hooka now. There are many hookah cafes and I go wit my friends sometimes. My parents dont get mad at me for doing hooka but they let me do it once in awhile. When i get real bored and have nothing else to do, I clean the hooka. But the problem is that its garbage lol. Its brass, and anything but air tight. Yesterday i found a few leaks and patched it up wit some cloth and aluminum foil. Its so old, it doesnt even have a air valve thing, opposite the hose stem, and the bowl is small and made of clay.I learned alot from this forum because I read almost every post for the past week or so lol. Im thinking of buying a new hooka but still not sure if I should get a Modern one taht screws on, or one with the grommets and rubber stuff. Thank you all for listening to my speech lol.

[tuma al Zrai]

If your planning an investement in a new argileh/"hookah", then the scre-ons are best for heavy ussage, but the grommets work weel with light usage if it's made well. There are tons of Iranian and Arabic markets in LA which ussually have the best prices, but you'll have to haggle. If not, Mya Saray has the best quality on the web. If you go traditional, the clay bowl is a good thing, it conducts heat better than metal. The copper or brass is a problem though, it will rust if it's not meticulassly taken apart, cleaned and died after every use. Stainless steal is best. One more thing, what kind of cafes do you mean? Like an Arabic coffee house or a lounge?

[hookaman]

Well, here are a few examples. Theres a place called habibi cafe which I think has belly dancers, thers the aquarium in north hollywood, theres blue cafe, cafe O, rama jeenies, many places. Most of them the owners are arabic. Their not just coffee houses some of them have live entertainment, a menu of some good food, and things like that. Their real enjoyable if u go with a few people. Try going with 10 ppl when ur all 16,17 lol fun experience. I guess you can call them lounges. And whats your definition of heavy usage, Ive used this brass one maybe 12 times total sumthing like that. If i get a screw on one, maybe do it twice a week cuz parents might talk if i do it more then that lol.

[tuma al Zrai]

Habibi cafe sounds like the real deal, but the other places definately cater to American kids (jeenie really means a demon or a devil, habibi means sweetheart, Rama is a city in Palestine, pronounced Ruma-not rooma or raama). It's kind of odd that they would let you in, most places think that kids are too loud and drive away business, but maybe thats just the old school cafes. If you go into one of thise, they won't let you back in, they think too many young people will be loud and scare off their regulars. Ok, most good quality Argilehs are made of stainless stel and are inported from Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and to a lesser degree Syria. Egyptians are most popular with people new to these pipes, and the quality is fair . Lebanese are made in the "Syrian" style, but of better quality (sometimes more expensive). Iranian are a little different in the bowls and filtering systems, they are harder to find and more "oriental" looking. Alot of people in the states who smoke regularly like the Syrian-style pipes for their appearance and features you can't find in Egyptian pipes. Lots of small shops carry pipes, but ussually just for show. Ussually, if you see mu'ussel and/or coals on the wall they have a good turnover and carry good-quality pipes for sale. Sometimes you may see pipes with alot less decoration and much more uniformity. These are genally made under contract in China, and even though they're cheaper, the quality is sometimes questionable and the decor suffers. And even alot of Arabic coffee houses use grommets, so they can stand up to abuse IF the pipe is made to fit the right way.

[tuma al Zrai]

Oh, I just noticed, ADROCK5150's quote was based on a poem by Khalil Gibran, born in Lebanon and exiled into New York. His village has a bunch of Argileh-smoking old men, enjoying the crisp mountain air. It's in Bishari, in AL Kura-the "christian heartland" in the north, in the Qadisha valley, the most beutifull part of the country. JFK didn't invent the line, he stole it from Khalil Gibran.

[hookaman]

Ya thats kool but most of the hooka cafes' business is young people lol. So today I might go and buy a nergileh theres this egyptian store in van nuys my dad says they have them there he said well go check em out.

[tuma al Zrai]

For a small, stainless steel Egyptian you should not pay more than $40. For a larger steel Egyptian, $50-$60 is about right. For made-in China, $35 for a small with case, $55 for a medium with case. I would recomend either a medium to large Egyptian or a medium Syrian/Lebanese, make sure to check for leeks and check the hose, too.