Just Got My First Hookah In Years Today... The Kremlin

[derogatory]

I just recieved my first hookah in years and began smoking again today. I bought The Kremlin from... oops, an apparently banned website?!?


Here's how I found the package. It looked like maybe customs opened it since some things were taped a few times in an odd manner. It was addressed from Tel-Aviv.


The stem without the bottom piece attached:


Bottom of the stem, not the best design I've ever seen I imagine it will get cloggy at some point.


This piece screws on to the bottom. I love that alot of things unscrew on this thing.


The base. I've done alot of shopping around and I haven't seen a base that I liked better that cost less than 200$. Looks great in person too unlike alot of the ones I've seen where they only look pretty online.


Everything I got today sans the knife, I used that to open the package.


Looks great in the sun. The bowl is this: http://www.shop.gothookahs.com/product.sc?...p;categoryId=14 I bought it when I bought the 48" MZ which I completely hated and sent back.


After unwrapping and washing everything I sat down to enjoy some Licorice Al-Sultan, which was ok, but hardly had any Licorice flavor to it. I also used the Al-Waha Natural charcoals I got and I liked them alot. They smoked really clean and burned for a really long time, lit up really easily and hardly had a smell upon lighting either.


And finally I'm enjoying some After Nine on the couch weven though it was before 9, lol. After 9 is some badass stuff.


So I know a good portion of this post could go in the review section but I don't feel like breaking up each individual review so here goes, I hope it's ok.

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What I Didn't Like:

- The rubber used was like tire rubber and has an awful odor. After washing it 3-4 times with hot soap and water the smell went away and none of the smell actually got into the smoke.

- The ashtray doesn't fit on their well and I need to get a rubber washer to keep it from jangling all over the place while I'm smoking.

- The hose it came with is a little thin. Acceptable, but could be better.

- The stem is solid but I'm concerned that it's design will make it hard to maintain and keep fresh.

- The stem also has some rough spots on the inside that tore off little bits of the cleaning brush. I wasn't thrilled about that at all.

- Only time will tell, but the faux antiqued copper finish will most likely look a bit shabby after a while.

- The Al-Sultan shisha it came with is way too colored and has a really weak flavor.

- The brush it came with falls apart too easily

What I Liked:

- The base, the base, the base. I just love the look of this thing.

- The package got here much faster than I anticipated. I believe it said 5-7 business days but it only took 4 business days somehow, I guess it depends on how you define business days. We ordered it on Friday late at night and got it Wednesday afternoon.

- After smoking it twice for hour or so long sessions none of the shisha dripped into the stem, I must be doing something right.

- Smokes like a charm. Huge clouds when I want them, tastes smooth and great when I put decent shisha in it. It's a hookah. (Unfortunately I timed my pictures poorly so I didn't capture any huge cloud pictures. Besides the clouds always look bigger with a flash so I might take a few night-time pictures.)

- The purge valve is nicely built and aesthetically pleasing.

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So overall I'm having a blast with this thing and I love it. I'm just really good at finding flaws in anything so that's why I had more negative things to say about it all even though I'm thoroughly pleased with everything.

I also plan on making my own beaded hookah skirt for this thing which I will put up in the DIY section with pics when it's completed.

[MechAnt]

Actually, I like how it looks a lot!

Great pics.


Must say, you rival Snoopy for best beard on the forum!

[vaypourus]

I'm feeling the cut crystal bohemian vase. Looks pretty pimp.

If you are into licorice, I've got an unopened 250g box of Nakhla licorice I will give you if you pay shipping. I can't stand the stuff Drop me a PM.

your house looks pretty sick too. that hookah would make a nice centerpiece in your living room.

[Exile]

Nice setup! I like what you've done with the place.

[SafeSearchOff]

dude, i must say, you have one of the most badass man-beards ever.


nice looking hookah man - hope it serves you well!

[ilikemyusername]

holy hell batman, that pipe is RADICAL! is the clear part on the stem glass or acrylic?

[mattarios2]

I just recieved my first hookah in years and began smoking again today. I bought The Kremlin from... oops, an apparently banned website?!?


Here's how I found the package. It looked like maybe customs opened it since some things were taped a few times in an odd manner. It was addressed from Tel-Aviv.


The stem without the bottom piece attached:


Bottom of the stem, not the best design I've ever seen I imagine it will get cloggy at some point.


This piece screws on to the bottom. I love that alot of things unscrew on this thing.


The base. I've done alot of shopping around and I haven't seen a base that I liked better that cost less than 200$. Looks great in person too unlike alot of the ones I've seen where they only look pretty online.


Everything I got today sans the knife, I used that to open the package.


Looks great in the sun. The bowl is this: http://www.shop.gothookahs.com/product.sc?...p;categoryId=14 I bought it when I bought the 48" MZ which I completely hated and sent back.


After unwrapping and washing everything I sat down to enjoy some Licorice Al-Sultan, which was ok, but hardly had any Licorice flavor to it. I also used the Al-Waha Natural charcoals I got and I liked them alot. They smoked really clean and burned for a really long time, lit up really easily and hardly had a smell upon lighting either.


And finally I'm enjoying some After Nine on the couch weven though it was before 9, lol. After 9 is some badass stuff.


So I know a good portion of this post could go in the review section but I don't feel like breaking up each individual review so here goes, I hope it's ok.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I Didn't Like:

- The rubber used was like tire rubber and has an awful odor. After washing it 3-4 times with hot soap and water the smell went away and none of the smell actually got into the smoke.

- The ashtray doesn't fit on their well and I need to get a rubber washer to keep it from jangling all over the place while I'm smoking.

- The hose it came with is a little thin. Acceptable, but could be better.

- The stem is solid but I'm concerned that it's design will make it hard to maintain and keep fresh.

- The stem also has some rough spots on the inside that tore off little bits of the cleaning brush. I wasn't thrilled about that at all.

- Only time will tell, but the faux antiqued copper finish will most likely look a bit shabby after a while.

- The Al-Sultan shisha it came with is way too colored and has a really weak flavor.

- The brush it came with falls apart too easily

What I Liked:

- The base, the base, the base. I just love the look of this thing.

- The package got here much faster than I anticipated. I believe it said 5-7 business days but it only took 4 business days somehow, I guess it depends on how you define business days. We ordered it on Friday late at night and got it Wednesday afternoon.

- After smoking it twice for hour or so long sessions none of the shisha dripped into the stem, I must be doing something right.

- Smokes like a charm. Huge clouds when I want them, tastes smooth and great when I put decent shisha in it. It's a hookah. (Unfortunately I timed my pictures poorly so I didn't capture any huge cloud pictures. Besides the clouds always look bigger with a flash so I might take a few night-time pictures.)

- The purge valve is nicely built and aesthetically pleasing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So overall I'm having a blast with this thing and I love it. I'm just really good at finding flaws in anything so that's why I had more negative things to say about it all even though I'm thoroughly pleased with everything.

I also plan on making my own beaded hookah skirt for this thing which I will put up in the DIY section with pics when it's completed.

Very nice looking hookah man, I dig it!

[waterboi]

nice setup and looks like a nice place to smoke! I am liking the hookah.

[s_smith001]

nice setup man,

on another note, why do people insist on quoting the entire post including pictures to write a one sentence reply....

[derogatory]

dude, i must say, you have one of the most badass man-beards ever.


nice looking hookah man - hope it serves you well!

Actually, it's funny that you say Man-Beard because that's what my friend Maggie calls me. I have no other name besides Man-Beard as far as she is concerned.

holy hell batman, that pipe is RADICAL! is the clear part on the stem glass or acrylic?

I thought before ordering it that it was glass but I'm pretty sure it's acrylic like you say. I haven't been brave enough to disassemble the whole thing or try scratching a part of it with something that wouldn't scratch glass. I have tossed around the idea of ordering cut glass beads the same size to replace it. The fact that the whole thing unscrews makes that completely possible.

nice setup man,

on another note, why do people insist on quoting the entire post including pictures to write a one sentence reply....

I have no idea why people quote the entire post like that. It's especially funny when it's such a long post like mine.

***As an addendum to my previous post, do yourself a favor and don't smoke all day long when you aren't a smoker or don't have any recent smoking experience, it leads to an awful headache or maybe worse, we'll see. If the hangover from drinking doesn't catch up with me tomorrow the hangover from smoking all day long might. Also, I love beer but I didn't think it would go so well with hookah. I was wrong it goes great with hookah. I'll post some pics of a few hotties smoking hookah tomorrow when I ressurect.***

[Dereksd]

beer hotties and hookah....you are a good man.beautiful hookah man!whats your beer of choice?i like shiner hef with fruity shish and oatmeal stout or sam black lager with more bold flavors

[SafeSearchOff]

i feel like there are two kinds of beards in this world - beards and man beards.

beards are the lesser. man beards would be derogatory's or chuck norris status. theyre more-intense, thus getting the redundancy of the term "man-beard"

[Travis Moore]

Hey man, any chance you could take some measurements for me? Your base gasket looks EXACTLY like the one that I need that I can't find. If so, get me the measurement of the diameter of the part of the stem that sits in the vase (without the gasket installed).

Thanks!
Travis

[Jeff_T]

looks pretty sweet man, especially that vase. Congrats.
Pretty sweet hookah chair in the first pic. I really like that tray thing the hookah is sitting on as well.
+1000 for the beard
-50 for quoting whole pic posts. We can see them in the original. Edited May 29, 2008 by Jeff_T

[NickReppinThe909]

im diggin that chair, the knife and the tray

+1000 for derogatory

[Joshmmc]

very nice looking, i like it alot.

[derogatory]

beer hotties and hookah....you are a good man.beautiful hookah man!whats your beer of choice?i like shiner hef with fruity shish and oatmeal stout or sam black lager with more bold flavors

I was drinking Dick's Danger Ale last night, it's a Washington microbrew http://dicksbeer.com/. Really rich malty flavor, not overly hopped, really dark for an ale, somewhat english-style with a touch of west coast. I'm into all kinds of beers really. I'm wondering how some of the stronger flavored beers will do with shisha, have you tried any hoppy IPAs with shisha? I can't make up my mind whether they would be good while smoking or if they would ruin the flavor.

One of my favorites I can't wait to try with shisha is Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale, I've always loved that stuff. I'm guessing though that because I usually lean towards Belgian style ales that I'm going to probably enjoy belgians with hookah more.

looks pretty sweet man, especially that vase. Congrats.
Pretty sweet hookah chair in the first pic. I really like that tray thing the hookah is sitting on as well.
+1000 for the beard
-50 for quoting whole pic posts. We can see them in the original.

GAH! It wasn't me that quoted my own post.

im diggin that chair, the knife and the tray

+1000 for derogatory

The knife is a cheapy by Smith and Wesson. It's badass for opening packages or cutting flowers and stuff like that. http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/eCommerc...amp;SKU=SWCK32C I usually get my cheap knives there. It'd be nicer if it didn't have that silly camo finish, I'm always afraid people will think I'm a mall ninja when I whip that thing out to snip something, lol. They have another one too that I used to have but I lost it somewhere: http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/eCommerc...amp;SKU=SWCK33C I like the camo one better, it's lighter and has more curve to the blade though.

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As promised a few pics from last night, they didn't turn out too well. Poor lighting and shitty camera+camera work on my part = hazy unflattering pics, lol.

Here's my cute wife, she looked so good that night I wish her looks would have translated into this pic, she doesn't even have lips in this pic, lol, too grainy, bad angle but the mood was captured and the lamp I made looks sweet in this picture.


Bad quality pics, the ladies are stunning IRL. We had a hell of a fun night. Decorative hookah hose in the background, I forget where I got it but I don't plan on smoking out of it much since it isn't washable. It's just for show as far as I'm concerened.

[HookahGuru]

Nice Hookah, I like the way it stays so clean and nice, most people are messy and get ash everywhere and I can invite them to smoke inside

and the base is very nice

[Jeff_T]

GAH! It wasn't me that quoted my own post.

I know, should have specified.
The only strong IPA i've tried while smoking shisha was Dog Fish Head 90 Minute IPA (9%). It was good, but if you're on the fence with IPA this would def. be to strong for you. I think I had it with tangiers clove and it wasn't bad. I love dark/strong beers, so yeah...

[ilikemyusername]

[quote name='derogatory' date='May 29 2008, 04:35 AM' post='257127']
I thought before ordering it that it was glass but I'm pretty sure it's acrylic like you say. I haven't been brave enough to disassemble the whole thing or try scratching a part of it with something that wouldn't scratch glass. I have tossed around the idea of ordering cut glass beads the same size to replace it. The fact that the whole thing unscrews makes that completely possible.

sounds like a rad idea, but i wouldn't worry about it unless/until theyre scratched all to hell.