Rootsman Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 I just came back from a 10 day trip to Cairo and thought I would share some of my shisha-experiences with you. A smoke in a cafe costs 20p (about 35 cents) [all prices GBP]!! Only flavours available are zaghloul and the nakhla 2 apples. It was the first time I had smoked the zaghlol - didn't like it due to the harsh taste (I dont smoke cigs anyway). The 2 apples was very sweet and smooth indeed and provided the "background smell" to my whole trip. Buying a shisha was a pretty easy experience, providing where to go (the Rough Guide has pretty good directions). A regular sized shisha with all parts and bag costs about 5-6pounds and I paid 12 for mine due to getting a super heavy stainless steel stem and some better quality parts. Other costs are: A good quality leather hose is 1.50pounds A glass base 2pounds An excellent quality tongs 1pound Ceramic bowls about 10p-20p or so Only brands of ma'assell available were Nakhla, El Baz, Prince and Hennawy. Nakhla sells for 35p for 250g! I brought back 14 packets of that and 1 of Prince Bahreini Apple which was 50p (seemingly a premium brand). I did think my smokes over there were fresher and smoother to what I had experienced previously (mainly due to fresher ma'assell?). But since I rigged up my own pipe I have been enjoying some very fine smokes indeed, very smooth and thick smoke. Hope you find it useful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Very cool! Great post..I hate you already... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashman19 Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Ahh man..if I ever got the opportunity to travel over there, I would spend a fortune on shipping costs sending back all the hookahs I buy... Very cool to hear about your experience, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ioannisds Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Awesome! Great post. I am so flippin' jealous... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PipeSmokeMcGee Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 yeah man, thats really cool. i envy you as well. i have a friend who is jordanian and is going back to visit family this spring. i made it quite clear to him to pick me up a hookah. he said it is not uncommon to find quite a decent argileh for less than 10 dollars. anyway, i really envy you, RootsMan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rootsman Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 Thanks for the feedback. Some may remember that before my trip I asked for some infos about Cairo, so I am happy to share these and hope that they help anyone else who is taking a trip out to the homeland of shisha! I'm off to marrakesh in March and hope to get a Moroccan pipe and some Moroccan ma'assell so I will report back after that Cheers Rootsman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Ah, the local cafe here is owned by guys from Marrakesh. I'll ask them good places to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavlakos_politakos Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 extremely hot.jealousy has overcome all my logic and you just might be assassinated before you go to marakesh.just expect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 [quote name='Rootsman']Thanks for the feedback. Some may remember that before my trip I asked for some infos about Cairo, so I am happy to share these and hope that they help anyone else who is taking a trip out to the homeland of shisha! I'm off to marrakesh in March and hope to get a Moroccan pipe and some Moroccan ma'assell so I will report back after that Cheers Rootsman[/quote]I have a Lebanese friend who insists that they don;t smoke hookah in Morocco. He used to give me crap about the name of the company, you see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR Bubble Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 What part of Cairo did you buy your hookah in? I remember the Khan El Kalil being rather high (for Egyptian standards). I guess that's the problem with tourist areas. But, awesome report. I've been telling folks that the Egyptian "shisha boys" pack an awesome smoke! They make Nakhla taste wonderful. MR Bubble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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