When, How, Did You Start Smoking Hookah?

[spikeadams]

As my first post here on HF, I thought it would be kinda cool to see how everyone got started on hookah smoking...

as an intro to myself
I am currently deployed to Iraq.
At this point in time, I have not smoked anything...ever...

But after going to a hookah bar over here in baghdad with a few friends, I really dig it.
I had planned to get a few hookahs over here just as souvineers.
But I started doing research on it and got more and more excited once I found out they make herbal shisha.
I plan to try out all of the herbals to see if I like any of them( I wish they all had the single shots like BL).
Would love to try some of scalliwags herbal too.


So how did you become a hookah...er hookaist

[Charley]

5 years ago I moved to Detroit just a few minutes away from Dearborn I became friends with a lot of the middle easterners there and they turned me onto hookah then I moved back to Indiana after some really bad experiences there.
I have been smoking ever since -1 year that every hookah I bought got stolen. but I have 3 now and im back in full force smoking more than a frait train lol.

[gorillA]

Until I was 12, i always watched my family would always smoke hookah after family dinners and at gatherings/reunions, etc...Then when I turned 12, it was offered to me...they had said I was too young before then.

So my grandfather passed me a hose (after me incessantly begging to try), and that's how I got started. I tried blowing into it because I had NO IDEA what to do haha...


Needless to say, he corrected me, and since then, I've always been smoking

[evilded777]

Gonna make an assumption, real quick, and thank you for your service.

Then, on the my short story: First smoked the hookah at Cafe Cairo on Bermuda, thanks to my partner's family. It was a very special trip in so many ways, but the trip to Cafe Cairo and my first hookah was the real capper.

It wasn't long after returning home, that I was looking for a hookah of my own. While I enjoyed it, I somehow never really got the hang of consistently getting it smoking well. So I tapered off after maybe a year or so.

Earlier this year, something piqued my interest again. After a few mediocre smokes, I found this place and haven't looked back.

[dafunk5446]

The first time I smoked hookah was about 8-9 years ago, I was at my buddies house in Edmonton, AB. His neighbors were Saudi Arabian and they were smoking hookah on their front porch. We (being uneducated in hookah at the time) thought that they were smoking NHT. So we walked over to tell them that was not such a good idea to be smoking it on their front porch. They laughed at us and told us what they were smoking, and offered us to sit down and smoke with them. They were smoking some Zag with no foil. Needless to say it was very strong and kinda harsh. I was kinda turned off by it and didnt smoke hookah again till about a year ago now. My friends invited me to a lounge, and I said "uh...you guys like that shit?!?", needless to say its been a downward spiral since that night.

[ColibriDon]

Last year during the summer, I went to the Meridian loungue. I was a cig smoker at the time so I was completely open to the idea of smoking hookah.

I smoked it, fell in love from the first puff, loved the buzz (Cigs had stopped giving it to me), really loved everything about it. After sitting in that lounge until about 3-4 in the morning, I decided I should just buy one and learn how to set it up.

And now we have what I am now...an avid hookah smoker and ex-cig smoker. I own too many hookahs now but it all started with a little blue Mya QT and a pack of Fusion Irish Creme.

[freezerburn456]

My girlfriend of 3 years ago brought me up to the local hookah bar that didnt card (I was only 16 at the time). That was in the middle of the summer. I really fell in love with hookah that night. We went twice more that week, and by the end of the week I had bought my first hookah. Then 2 weeks later I had another hookah. I found out later that both of them were MZs, I guess I really lucked out. I became a regular at the lounge, but no one ever really carded me. I then had my 18th birthday up there, and everyone was asking me how old I was turning and I told them 18 (I looked alot older I guess.) Because of the ammount that I had smoked and the way that I was able to mix I got offered a job there a little over a month later. After a month of intense training I became a specialist there (mixer). Now Ive been working there off and on for a year (when I come back from college I always work doing something). Last summer, which is our busy season I made well over 15,000 heads, and smoked over 1,000 heads. In my life time I have made right around 22,000 heads and smoked close to 3,000. After that, my lungs have finally started to give out. Whatever people say, if you smoke 10-20 bowls a day hookah does affect your health. Now that I am in college, I only smoke 2 or 3 bowls a week.

I would really love to see what the stats are for Mush and other lounge owners...

Oh, and I have around 18 hookahs, and well over 18 kilos of various tobaccos. Just one of the perks of working at a lounge. Edited April 1, 2009 by freezerburn456

[roshan]

wow freezer I'm jealous

Well i first smoked shisha when i was visiting my home country, Iran. My relo's often smoked after dinner or at restaurants. I was only 11 at the time so was only allowed to have a couple of puffs and told to run along. I forgot about it for a while until about a year ago i started frequenting a hookah lounge. Just moved out of parents house (im 19) and got my own apartment so been saving up to buy my first shisha. Should arrive in the next couple of days so needless to say im very excited! Ill be a regular on here from now on trying to get some tips on how to improve my sessions. Looking forward to getting to know everyone on here!

[BBKakes]

My wife's cousin married a Syrian Armenian. We were over one at thier place one night when they broke it out.
I think it was Nakhla DA that we smoked but it was great. I've been smoking hookah for over two years now and really enjoy it. Its also helped me quit cigarettes.

[SuburbanSmoker]

well thinking back on it, i was 14 yrs old at the time, had an older brother who went to a head shop in berkely and bought some cheapy, i think it was an inhale band little modern hookah with some tobacco. hes smoking hookah in the garage kind of hesitant of my parents, sits me down and decides that he will be in less trouble if i get caught doing it with him lol. so i sat down, started puffing away, dad comes out throws a mini fit (i had already smoked my first cigar wayyy before then). We calm him down pull up a chair and my dad really liked it. he liked it enough to go out and buy a really nice gyptian two hose and a kilo of tobacco, which at the time seemed like the motherload. That had to of been close to 7 years ago. jeez

[larken]

Actually, I started smoking because I was very very interested in this persian girl in school, so she took me to a cafe with her friends and I used my swimmer lungs to impress the women with the amount of smoke I could draw in haha.

[Imsomint]

"OKAY HOOKAH BAR" ended up being the last suggestion of things to do among my friends when we went out. So instead of going to a bar we just went to my house.

[Boricua]

First time I smoked was in some Moroccan cafe in NYC like 4 years ago. I was new to it and did the whole "take pics of me while I blow out smoke" thing ugh...

But I really became a hookah smoker when I was studying in Cairo, Egypt. There, it's the thing to do. You meet friends at cafes and drink tea and smoke hookah. Came back from Egypt with 2 hookahs and have been smoking ever since

I would say I've become a true hookah enthusiast in the last year though, as before that I only smoked El Baz and Nakhla because it's what I bought and later on was sent from Egypt.

[clumsygrace]

One of my friends bought a hookah and and brought it over to where I was hanging out with some people, including the guy I had a big fat crush on at the time. I was kind of nervous when I took my first hit. I didn't really know anything about hookahs at all. We smoked Cotton Candy and I remember it being so tasty. Soon after, I got my own hookah and tried to find that Cotton Candy shisha. I just recently found out what brand it was. Fantasia Cotton Candy, ftw!

[chinamon]

a few years ago, i was on a mediterranean cruise and one of the stops was tunisia. i was walking through one of the markets in tunis and saw places that sold hookahs. i decided to buy one for about $10usd. when i arrived back home in canada, i opened the package (it was wrapped in cellophane) and realized i was scammed. the vase was plastic and didnt even have space for water. just enough space drilled out for the stem to fit in. the stem was wood but not nice wood like iranian hookahs. the bowl was plastic. i still have it sitting here because i think its funny.

anyway, i was determined to get myself a real hookah. i still hadn't smoked hookah in my life but something about it intrigued me. i ended up finding this forum through google and spent a couple months doing research and ended up buying a 20" MZ from socialsmoke. it came with a few packs of havana.

and, well, here i am now.

[tinyj316]

My freshman year in college I had a roommate who was egyptian and the night we moved in, he packed up a head of Nakhla Apple and started to smoke it. I didn't know what it was at first, but after he offered it to me, I tried it, and fell in love with it ever since (8 years ago). I also have a couple other friends from Israel, India, and Bahrain, all of whom smoke on a regular basis

[Arcane]

it was sometime when I was 18...our group had already been to Fumari's in San Diego and we're going to head there again, so I decided to join them. The first time, it was just fun because it was just the guys hanging out and bullshitting...then second and third times, there was less people, so I got to experience and learn about the hookah a bit more. And from then on I just enjoyed smoking hookah with the 2-3 regulars for the next 2 years.

Then I joined the military and smoked at the hookah bars whenever I came across one. Fast forward to September 2009 and I'm in S.Korea. Just outside the gate, is a very popular hookah bar that my group frequents. Eventually though, the group dwindled down to me and my fiancee - that is when I started obsessing. Trying to get the most flavor out of the bowl, watching how they packed it, messing with flavor combinations, etc.

Then I found HF and I've never looked back since...great times on these forums and a wealth of knowledge.

[JDHarding]

A friend had me over to try it out on his. He wasn't heavily knowledgable in it, and had a shitty old bronze hookah that reminded me of a lamp or something. It was good, but made me sick every time I smoked it from that day on. Later, I decided to get my own setup, but never got it to smoke good, so I gave up on it. Only in the last 2 months did I get back into it again. He gave away all of his hookah stuff, and is now kicking himself for doing so. He's addicted to cigarettes and is having all kinds of health issues. Dumbass. To go from hookah to cigs is retarded.

[chinamon]

Then I joined the military and smoked at the hookah bars whenever I came across one. Fast forward to September 2009 and I'm in S.Korea. Just outside the gate, is a very popular hookah bar that my group frequents. Eventually though, the group dwindled down to me and my fiancee - that is when I started obsessing. Trying to get the most flavor out of the bowl, watching how they packed it, messing with flavor combinations, etc.

Then I found HF and I've never looked back since...great times on these forums and a wealth of knowledge.

dude, where can i buy a time machine like yours? mine never works.

[Rani]

I've been fascinated by hookahs since I saw the catapillar with one in Alice in Wonderland. They just seemed so attractive to me. I'm an artist in my "real life" and very bohemian in personality. Someone here on the forum called me a "typical hippie do-gooder". And the personality description really sort of fits me. Guess my "type" have always been drawn to things like hookahs. The first pipe I smoked was the first one I bought. I was cruising the internet, found an online store and ordered a 19" Sahara. I read the directions twice on setting it up, and then just dug in. I loved it so much when the coal died, I packed the whole thing up and headed over to one of my girlfriend's house to show it off. We set it up and smoked it and within an hour she was online ordering her own. Since then I've collected a dozen pipes and haven't lost any of the fascination. That very first Sahara I passed on to a co-worker who was hooked the very first night. Said she fell asleep with the hose in her mouth and the whole family was out buying tobacco and coals the next day. People say it's a fad for the young, but I think it's more a fulfillment of the part of us that longs to dump the stress of civilization and get back to relaxation and socializing.

'Rani

[srawas89]

About 2-3 years ago I actually started smoking hookah on a semi-regular basis. I have smoked before than but it was always a couple hits than my mom would say "no more your dad is coming back" lol. At first I would go to hookah bars, than I bought my own ager hookah for $40 (not bad). At first I let my friends pack it then I learned and than I found this place and now I am getting my friends amazed at the new shit I get such as coals bowls and hoses lol.

[Arcane]

Then I joined the military and smoked at the hookah bars whenever I came across one. Fast forward to September 2009 and I'm in S.Korea. Just outside the gate, is a very popular hookah bar that my group frequents. Eventually though, the group dwindled down to me and my fiancee - that is when I started obsessing. Trying to get the most flavor out of the bowl, watching how they packed it, messing with flavor combinations, etc.

Then I found HF and I've never looked back since...great times on these forums and a wealth of knowledge.

dude, where can i buy a time machine like yours? mine never works.

ahaha...whooops..i meant, 2008!

[taylor413]

When I was 17 my buddy brought one back from his trip to Israel. For my 18th birthday my girlfriend bought me my own. It's been downhill ever since.

[redjako]

Three years ago I think...new friends with a weekly poker game, broke out a hookah at a new years party. Became a weekly thing. Got a cheap egyptian from a traveling sibling over in the middle east, and was hooked

[evilded777]

Actually, I started smoking because I was very very interested in this persian girl in school, so she took me to a cafe with her friends and I used my swimmer lungs to impress the women with the amount of smoke I could draw in haha.

Swimmer lungs... I know about those, though mine are not what they used to be.