Part 2, The State Of Hookah Industry

[redjako]

I've ordered a lot of stuff from george ala Hookahcompany. All I got to say is if he ins't happy with KM's and dropping them, I know he isn't happy with Mya whats he gonna sell? Those cutrate skull hookahs and knock offs? well We'll have to see I suppose. Maybe its time a new manufacturer came in with high quality products.

I'm sitting here with Jonson right now! He says thats not true at all...he is waiting on a container mostly made up of KMs and Egyptian pipes from a supplier for KM. He's also hitting the wholesale street and buying other KM stuff from other vendors.

Luke: Any vendor will agree there are weaknesses in a particular line of hookahs. If the flaw is common to all hookahs, they tend to not mention it, since you can't really avoid it, like the quality of trays declining across the board pretty much. The question is is it worth the price the units are offered for? Certainly a retailer may try to sell products that have common or specific problems...fortunately there's a hookah forum people can log on to to find out what those problems are, independent of the possibility of the retailer's bias. Forum I won't necessarily agree that it universally exists, so I think we can agree to disagree.

Nice. And its another ... what are those? Blog?S? hehe.
Good update.

[Giant Ninja Robot]

Eric your reports really give some perspective and insight that's cool to see. It's one thing for a bunch of smokers and fans to guess and assume it's another to have solidly founded info put out there, so thanks dude.

It'd be cool to see some lounge owners, shop owners, and vendors put some of those Bloggy thingies up on the pages as well and contribute a tiny bit more actively. Here we are now entertain us!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to find a Perpetual River locally so I can see the quality of MZs for myself.

Quick Q (THREADJACK!) for Eric and whoever else may know as long as we're on the topic of quality "name brand" pipes: Why are there so few Nours on the market? I know I've seen some in depth posts on the state of the nour brand and that they used to be called like "hookah brothers" or something akin to that? It seems like they'll pop up in very limited numbers through vendors and then just disappear for months.

oh and any updates on those new syrians?

[Scoop]

mz used to make "hookah brothers" branded pipes. theyd make the pipes and brand them for hookah brothers.

[Bulldog_916]

Eric your reports really give some perspective and insight that's cool to see. It's one thing for a bunch of smokers and fans to guess and assume it's another to have solidly founded info put out there, so thanks dude.

It'd be cool to see some lounge owners, shop owners, and vendors put some of those Bloggy thingies up on the pages as well and contribute a tiny bit more actively. Here we are now entertain us!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to find a Perpetual River locally so I can see the quality of MZs for myself.

Quick Q (THREADJACK!) for Eric and whoever else may know as long as we're on the topic of quality "name brand" pipes: Why are there so few Nours on the market? I know I've seen some in depth posts on the state of the nour brand and that they used to be called like "hookah brothers" or something akin to that? It seems like they'll pop up in very limited numbers through vendors and then just disappear for months.

oh and any updates on those new syrians?

I believe that Nours are Syrian hookahs. Anything from Syria is difficult to find and more difficult to import from what I can recall. That's one of the reasons Syrian hookahs are more expensive than their Egyptian counterparts. It has a lot to do with the fact that we had an embargo of sorts on Syrian goods (a la they were more difficult to import) when they were supporting terrorists, harboring and what not. Now its more stable. So we should be seeing more Syrian hookahs in the near future.

[Arcane]

I believe that Nours are Syrian hookahs. Anything from Syria is difficult to find and more difficult to import from what I can recall. That's one of the reasons Syrian hookahs are more expensive than their Egyptian counterparts. It has a lot to do with the fact that we had an embargo of sorts on Syrian goods (a la they were more difficult to import) when they were supporting terrorists, harboring and what not. Now its more stable. So we should be seeing more Syrian hookahs in the near future.

good to know...aesthetically, i prefer Syrians over Egyptians and Chinese.

[Giant Ninja Robot]

In swoops Bulldog with an answer, welcome back to activity dude.

[Sonthert]

Nour is the brand-name associated with Karabetian imports. They bring in Chinese and Syrian pipes.

There has been little interruption in supply of Nours, but the manufacturer that Karabetian supposedly went out of business, or they stopped buying from them, either way. The newer Syrian stuff has crummier trays and are highly variable in quality.

Hookah Brothers pipes were made either by Magde Zidan or that Japanese sounding company (Shinohara is the only thing I can come up with...but thats not it).

There's been no problem with importing Syrian pipes as far as I know.

The Syrians are coming. Its official.

[Giant Ninja Robot]

The Syrians are coming the Syrians are coming!

Thanks for the response and the awesome news Eric.

For those unaware of the syrian pipes in question, study up on this shit and may your mind be blown:

http://www.hookahforum.com/?showtopic=26487

[Scoop]

Nour is the brand-name associated with Karabetian imports. They bring in Chinese and Syrian pipes.

There has been little interruption in supply of Nours, but the manufacturer that Karabetian supposedly went out of business, or they stopped buying from them, either way. The newer Syrian stuff has crummier trays and are highly variable in quality.

Hookah Brothers pipes were made either by Magde Zidan or that Japanese sounding company (Shinohara is the only thing I can come up with...but thats not it).

There's been no problem with importing Syrian pipes as far as I know.

The Syrians are coming. Its official.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOT. those syrians are dooope

[Voski]

Nour is the brand-name associated with Karabetian imports. They bring in Chinese and Syrian pipes.

There has been little interruption in supply of Nours, but the manufacturer that Karabetian supposedly went out of business, or they stopped buying from them, either way. The newer Syrian stuff has crummier trays and are highly variable in quality.

Hookah Brothers pipes were made either by Magde Zidan or that Japanese sounding company (Shinohara is the only thing I can come up with...but thats not it).

There's been no problem with importing Syrian pipes as far as I know.

The Syrians are coming. Its official.

How do these Syrians compare with the new AF hookahs?

[ColibriDon]

So excited about these new Syrians!

Saving ...NOW!

[Bulldog_916]

Nour is the brand-name associated with Karabetian imports. They bring in Chinese and Syrian pipes.

There has been little interruption in supply of Nours, but the manufacturer that Karabetian supposedly went out of business, or they stopped buying from them, either way. The newer Syrian stuff has crummier trays and are highly variable in quality.

Hookah Brothers pipes were made either by Magde Zidan or that Japanese sounding company (Shinohara is the only thing I can come up with...but thats not it).

There's been no problem with importing Syrian pipes as far as I know.

The Syrians are coming. Its official.

I wouldnt say the newer Syrian stuff generally is crummier or of less quality. I think it depends on what you get. You kind of have to assume the same risk as you would with any other hookah. Maybe mine is the exception, but when I got my Nour, it gave me more faith in Syrian hookahs than I had before. All I had before was more restrictive pull, hard purge and overall not-goodness. The Nour is the total opposite of all that.

[Sonthert]

To a degree, but a lot of the decline in Syrian quality is importers trying to reduce prices, buying cheaper trays, using thinner metal, etc. This is where the theory that the lower KM quality lately is because of the buyers in the Middle-East.