Sonthert Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Well its here. Shazam!Kind of a mixed bag. Lots of disappointing crap. Some really nice stuff.The main three brands on the container:Thamesh (Thamseh) (Means aligator in arabic...if you see a KM-like tag with an aligator on, its a Thamseh) Egyptian gorp manufacturer. Mainly manufactures knockoffs of heavy KM Stuff.Khalil MaamonMagdey ZihdanThamesh: Some real high points in the shanks. Some really low points, too. The manufacturer is well, to make a long story short, full of shit. Some of the KM knockoffs look good, some are absolutely awful. The manufacturer obviously short-changed the whole deal, George supposedly paid for top quality stuff, cutting no corners and they gave him some like that and others are absolutely crap, obviously just what they had lying around. Many of the one piece hoses had obviously been dropped in the ocean and were severely damaged, partly by mold, partly by rust. Avoid at all costs. We sorted through them and ~80% were damaged. The other 20% were ostensibly OK, but not very good quality to begin with. Some of the shanks were obviously just thrown together with no regard for quality or the price George was paying. Egyptian shanks that are lightweight are often sold with or without sand. He requested all no-sand models, but sure enough, some had sand. Which just adds ammunition to the idea that they just threw in whatever they had laying around. Some of their KM knockoffs are fine, really good, actually, for the price. The lower quality ones have thin tubes, but large main tubes and downtubes. Most of the lower quality ones, with the thin tubes being partially crushed. Metal burrs on the ends of the main tubes and downtubes were common, and the folded bevel at the top of the taper were almost universally botched. Even the good ones had burrs and botched bevels on the tapers. George says he's going to have some people go over them and clean them up...I hope so. I think George would say, if he were here, he won't ever buy from anybody but KM or MZ again. The three piece Thamseh hoses are fine, including the leather ones, although the hose stems George paid for were the top quality ones, and got moldy bottom quality ones. Fortunately the hoses and the stems are separate. The price on the leather 3 piece hoses promises to be quite agreeable and they seem to be of reasonably good quality. The price on the three-piece deluxe pleather hoses will be even better and they look good, too...again hose stems being the problem. The jars are of consistent quality with KM's more recent jars...not great. The trays are reasonably good. He did get stiffed on ball bearings...of course. The final prices are yet to be determined, but ultimately if these heavy (and they are all quite heavy, as my back will attest to), some of the lower quality shanks might be quite reasonably priced, for a heavy Egyptian shank. The better ones will probably be quite the deal over a higher priced KM. Overall, most of the stuff were all POS. The pleasant surprise in the container were some gold-colored Thamseh heavy, solid machined shanks with brushed stainless downstems. Quite nice. I jacked two for myself, er one for me and one for MDL (user here on the Forum). Some of this stuff might be the nightmare of the century, some might be an awesome deal...lets see what George prices them at...before we start throwing moldy stem pieces at him. To make a long story short, I have never seen such a disappointing pile of crap as these Thamesh pipes. One out of 50 might be "pretty good" in terms of finishing. the other 49 range from so-so to...oh god, I'm going to be sick. I should add that all the of the Thamseh hose ports are quite heavy and nice. P.S. avoid the ice-chamber rotators from Thamseh...they are crap. Utter, worthless crap. It someone gives one to you for a gift, ask for your money back. MZ: Just what you'd expect from MZ, generic, slightly overpriced, slick and silvery, fairly light...although my achin' back can appreciate the lighter weight workmanship of them now. Some of the MZ jars are the pick of the jars in the entire shipment. Much better than the KM jars are right now. If I were going to buy a jar separately right now, it would be an MZ jar. The quality is all consistent with MZ, looks just like what you'd expect, above average quality. KM: Well, here's what you salivating Egyptian fans have been waiting for. I've been highly critical of KMs recently, mostly the jars and hoses, but some decreases in the quality of the shanks, too. Well, the streak is over. These KM shanks look consistent with their quality from 2-3 years ago. Excellent. George went for the more expensive three piece hoses in addition to the normal one piece hoses. Well, there is a wide and varied collection of different types of three piece leather hoses. Thread wrapped ones, naked plain-jane leather (including blue, red and green), all with acrylic stem and head pieces (as opposed to those scary, molded wooden POS ones for the Thamesh hoses), three-piece versions on the gold/silver braided ones. Criss-cross "leather" wrapped ones, all leather, leather, leather! Also a nice assortment of humdrum one piece hoses in pleather, mostly rainbow hoses (although George specified NO rainbow hoses). I am impressed and satisfied with the variety and quality of the hoses. I am willing to say that the crummy selection of KM hoses on the market is the buyers getting the containers arranged. As for the jars, I hoped to be impressed, but... nope. Same problems as KM jars have been having. Disappointing. Not the buyer's fault (presumably), the fault of the Cairo glass manufacturers. Ohhh, the shanks. The nice, crimped tray plates, the large tubes, beautiful multi-colored pears, one-color pears. 28", 34". The tri-metals! Wow! Wow! With the large vent covers, not the newer thinner ones. Beautiful. Two boxes of Alexandrias. Lots of one hose KMs, but also 2, 3 and 4 hose models, in plain KMs and trimetals (I must confess a certain wonderment and fascination with a 4-hose tri-metal as I longingly gazed upon them). I hate multi-hose hookahs, but I felt some mild attraction to these. A myriad of KM trays, not just he plain ones you see on everything, but different designs and large ones, smaller ones, HUGE ones. Multi-hose pears. Plain stainless ones, Wow! KM overload. The diversity. With these, I am satisfied with this part of the order. I just want to run amok and buy one of everything. I did jack a bunch (hoses come 10 per bunch, wrapped in cloth, or twine) of black thread wrapped leather KM hoses. Here's some big news. Perhaps you've been sitting around going "Gosh, I love phunnel heads, but I can't use them outside, because there are no wind covers for them." This is a big problem. I'm sure, but, no more. Tall wind covers for Tangiers phunnel heads have been invented...and they look...well like an Egyptian wind cover, but we tried a phunnel on a KM and it worked...very nicely. They come with wide handles, too, so you don't have to futz around with tongs to remove your windhood. They are perfect for what they were designed for. Obviously, I will examine all these items more closely and give you guys a more detailed evaluation of them (after the prices have been determined and let you know what I think. Some of the Thamesh might be a deal, for instance at $50, they might be awful at $90. Hopefully George will fall about 10% under market prices for MZ and KM stuff...wishful thinking? Perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColibriDon Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Very excited to see these new KMs. I might wait until I place my next big order for shisha in April until these new KMs are up to see if I want to throw one in. ...Also, off-topic but 3.5 hour Lucid Peach session=sex. Thanks Eric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcane Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 nothing new on their site yet....once it becomes available, i'm placing an order!! hahaha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuburbanSmoker Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 well nice that people wont be second guessing kms ne more. /sigh looks like my utilities money might have to go for a new hookah lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted March 28, 2009 Author Share Posted March 28, 2009 I just helped in the first part of unloading the 40' truck today...it'll be the whole weekend before George finishes unloading and inventory-ing everything. As a side point, with the Thamseh hoses that were molded and rusted...my comment was "We'll need an exorcist to remove some of these hoses, they're so evil." I need an old hose and a young hose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcane Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 QUOTE (Sonthert @ Mar 28 2009, 05:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I just helped in the first part of unloading the 40' truck today...it'll be the whole weekend before George finishes unloading and inventory-ing everything.perfect!! just in time for payday!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchard Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 I can't wait to see what the batch of KMs will bring.Any news on those Syrians and when George will be getting them in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indian_villager Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 QUOTE (mitchard @ Mar 28 2009, 05:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I can't wait to see what the batch of KMs will bring.Any news on those Syrians and when George will be getting them in?God I hate being broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inino Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 awesome, cant wait to see them on the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giant Ninja Robot Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 NICE! Eric I know your back hurts, but man you're lucky to unload that shipment. That sounds like so much fun and well worth a bottle or two of Ibuprofin. Beats unloading groceries and wine at any rate Can't wait to see the new KMs, it's only been a couple months since all the new trimetal designs came out and I'm already itching to see more.Tell George that if he needs a ninja assasin for any reason, ohhhh say dispatching shady hookah wholesalers....ANYway, thanks for the story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilikemyusername Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 i can't believe the utter dis on MZ, golly.no personal attack man... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 MZ hookahs are greater that or equal to the quality of km's. the only acception bieng trimetal km's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuie Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Excited about the new windcovers!!!Can't wait to see what these new hookahs look like.And it's a great comfort to here KM is as good as they have always been! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vin13 Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 And just when I thought I was done buying after my 3rd hookah... Can't wait to see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechAnt Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Windcovers!!!!Glad to hear all these updates. We will see soon enough. I'm very happy with my Tri-metal and its good to hear everything is good to go. MZ, always consistent and good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1v3th3ad Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 I'm excited about a lil bit of everything.I'm an MZ fanboy, so I'm looking forward to seeing new models, maybe a new vase for me...I always can appreciate the beauty of KMs and if there is a nice enough trimetal, then another hookah might be in order for me.Thamesh: Even if it isn't quality, I still like to see something new floating around, hopefully differing in styles to than our common ones floating around.Hoses...I could use a few more.Windcover: Mine works sitting on the phunnel, but it'd be nice to have one that fits properly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codename067 Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Well, definitely a bunch of good news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 The Thamseh's aren't all that bad, really. George's price seems to be eminently fair...I think he mentioned $60 for the heavy tri-metal types and $50 for the lighter ones. I'll play with them some more...let you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchard Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Hey Eric. Any other KMs that aren't on the site yet or is that it? I am debating between a couple of those and some pipes from elsewhere, and dont want to make an order i'll regret if they throw something else awesome up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippo_Master Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Well we all know KM's get more expensive with each shipment that comes in... yet it's the same models over and over. We need Syrian rigs Eric! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 QUOTE (Hippo_Master @ Apr 7 2009, 08:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well we all know KM's get more expensive with each shipment that comes in... yet it's the same models over and over. We need Syrian rigs Eric!NOUR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippo_Master Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 QUOTE (Fluffy @ Apr 7 2009, 10:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>QUOTE (Hippo_Master @ Apr 7 2009, 08:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well we all know KM's get more expensive with each shipment that comes in... yet it's the same models over and over. We need Syrian rigs Eric!NOUR Hopefully not the ones I have been seeing lately. Yuck. The AF rigs are the best right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MechAnt Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 More pipes posted on HC's site.This includes multihose Ma'shal!I wanna know how this sexy beast smokes...http://www.hookahcompany.com/fareed_syrian...h_3744_prd1.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoop Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 QUOTE (MechAnt @ Apr 7 2009, 09:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>More pipes posted on HC's site.This includes multihose Ma'shal!I wanna know how this sexy beast smokes...http://www.hookahcompany.com/fareed_syrian...h_3744_prd1.htmtheres a whole other thread dedicated to what HC has put up since this post lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremyk Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Man that sounds amazing phunnel wind covers and I really want a km tri-metal double hose can't wait to see all of it! Thanks Eric for the update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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