Texas Hookah Newbie

[Thunt]

I'm from San Antonio, Texas and have been into smoking Hookah for a few years now. First few years, I'd just go to various Hookah Bars/Lounges and just hang with friends now really getting into the technical side to smoking and just kicking back, sucking on the pipe. About 8 months ago, my brother in law bought us a Hookah as a wedding gift. He got it from an EarthBound store in the mall, and it shows. It's an Inhale Brand and seems to be pretty cheap (rubber o-rings cracking, paint chipping off, etc). We picked up some generic tobacco and coals and we were on our way. Little did I know we were doing a ton of things wrong, from using room temperature water, lighting the coal, placing it in the middle until it's out, etc. Long story short, I want to start from scratch, buy a really nice Hookah, and really get into this.

The Beginners FAQ has been very helpful. I feel that I can get started very easily with all the info provided. Although, I still have some questions:

1) What would you recommend as a very good Hookah? I don't want a starter (kinda already have one). I would like to spend $100-$200 in a nice Hookah I can take care of for a long time. Also will be needed a funnel bowl, since I'm assuming those are commonly used now. Buying online would probably best suit me, correct? Is there a good place to buy Hookahs online? Any modifications I should be aware of? Special pipes? Bowls? I would like to purchase a new Hookah as soon as possible, so links would be very helpful, as were you got your Hookah, etc.

2) For tabacoo, I'm going to start with Tangiers and probably stick with that. Everyone here seems to be pretty much set on this. Is there a good site to buy tabacoo from as well?

3) Any good Hookah shops in San Antonio/Austin? I can find plenty of bars, but no shops. Can't seem to find any info online.

I think that's about it for right now. I'm sure I'll have other questions. This site/forum has been most helpful so far, and reading all the past threads have further my knowledge in the Hookah World.

Thank you for your time.

[Hobbs]

Welcome to the forums first of all. Here's my shot at your questions.

1) If you prefer hand made items with a genuine feel, Khalil Mamoon is widely considered the best Egyptian hookah manufacturer around. If you want something from an assembly line, Mya hookahs are your best bet, but the price jumps drastically as you move into the larger hookahs. I own a bit of both, and you can't go wrong with either although I prefer KM. A phunnel bowl is a great addition although not entirely necessary but if you have a spare $14, buy a small as they last a lot longer than regular bowls. Some of my favorite vendors are www.hookahjohn.com and www.hookahcompany.com although there are many other good ones. Those 2 vendors also give discounts to HF members and that can be found in their thread in the Vendors section, or you can just PM me and I'll shoot it your way. As far as special pipes/bowls and all that go, it's gimmicky .. I'll take my phunnel over a 3 head bowl any time, in fact I would never even use a 3 head bowl.

2) Tangiers is likely going to give you a rough learning curve, so don't go overboard and buy $500 at once, because you may not even like it. Tangiers Lucid is the washed line of Tangiers and is easier to learn, I would try a bit of both. Other brands of note are Nakhla, Al Fakher, Fusion and bunches of others, but it's all mainly trial and error as to what you yourself prefer. The same vendors I already noted sell Tobacco/Coals/Pipes so you can get everything at 1 place.

3) I haven't the slightest, as I don't live in the area. Someone else will have to chime in on this one.

Hopefully I didn't bombard you with too much information, good luck and let us know what pipe(s) you're interested in.

[evilded777]

Well... you're doing research which is always good.

Around here the 3 top brands of hookah you are likely to be recommended, in no specific order, are: Khalil Mamoon, Magdy Zidan and Maya Sayran (sp?); with the second round being: Al Fakher and Nour. Personally, I decided on KM and Maya (haven't smoked my new KM's yet, and the Maya purchase could be 6 months away, so my opinions on the brands are null and void).

As far as tobacco, you may NOT want to start with Tangiers. People have various degrees of luck with the brand, and it seems to either work for you or it doesn't. Personally, I love it... but it is not my sole brand.

You may want to try some of the more forgiving brands, like Al Fakher or Nakhla; and maybe some of the fashionable brands (if you can deal with the price tag), like: Starbuzz, Fusion or Romman. I like AF and Nakhla, round out my big 3 with Tangiers. I enjoy Romman, but dislike the price... I feel too much of my money goes for the mediocre, but high-end packaging.

If you want a good phunnel bowl, be sure to get a genuine Tangiers phunnel. The chinese imitations are decent, but do NOT smoke like a real phunnel.

As far as Internet retailers, check the Vendor Area here... you will find reputable vendors there; and everyone has there favorites as well, so you will certainly get plenty of recommendations... there are a LOT of them.

The only shop I know of is Texas Hookah, and they are in Houston. I don't know Texas (other than the best guitar sounds in the world come from Texas: SRV, Explosions In The Sky, Course of Empire, Flickerstick), so I don't know if that's near you or not. But they have a website, and they are awesome to deal with. They also have a page of links you might want to check out.

Good luck to you!

[likespaceships]

hookah-shisha is based out of austin but they don't have a store you can go to. As for local stores I'm not really sure. I know the head shops carry fantasia but that's not really my thing. I avoid buying from the lounges in my area because they usually charge a lot from what I remember. I haven't been to one in over a year so I don't know if they changed prices or not.

[Zinite]

Check out hookahcompany.com. they just got in some sexy Khalil Mamoon hookahs. That's definitely what I would do.

[*HOT&SMOKING*]

Welcome to the forum!!

I can not help you, more than what people have already said...

I would just like to add, that you should please have a good read through the rules if you haven't yet, as that will ensure that everything goes well..

If you look in my signature, you will find a link to the forums wiki, where there is a lot of information that will no doubt help you as well.

-H&S

[r1v3th3ad]

Welcome to the forum community, glad to have you here.

There are varying degrees of good pipes to pick from. As stated from above you have Khalil Mamoon(KM) and Magdy Zidan(MZ) which are Egyptian, Mya Saray(Mya) which is Chinese made but high quality, Syrians, and Al Fakher(AF). Don't be discouraged on the no-name Egyptian pipes, they too are of great quality, I own one and one of my friends owns one, they smoke like champs and are beautiful.
Most people on here will point you to KMs and Myas. I feel that it is all a personal choice. All of the above listed pipes will treat you very well and last a long time. Personally, I'm a MZ fanboy.
Avoid at all costs the non-Mya Chinese hookahs...they WILL fall apart in no time on you, I've owned one...and it sounds like what you have is Chinese made.
Some great places to check out these pipes are www.hookah-shisha.com www.hookahcompany.com www.mnhookah.com www.thehookah.com www.hookahjohn.com to name a few.

For shisha, Tangiers is a great smoke, but takes a lot of patience to get it down right. I've been smoking it for a year now and still have my moments with it. I hear that their Lucid line is hassle-free, so maybe give that a try for starting out with Tangiers.
For beginners, I highly recommend Nakhla. It is a traditional shisha that is hard to mess up. It provides excellent clouds and flavor as well as providing decent length sessions.
Al Fakher is another great brand, just takes a little bit more work with it...I still have not perfected the stuff, but then again, I don't frequently buy it.
Starbuzz and Fantasia are orgasmic, just the prices will make you need Viagra...they are very easy to work with as a beginner.
These are the brands I found most deserving of mentioning...there are plenty of other fish in the sea, and a lot of them are good as well...these are the ones you will see brought up the most.

As for phunnel bowls....I can't live without one. They do eat up more shisha, but they provide nice long sessions with a great flavor balance throughout the session, whereas you have short sessions with a reg bowl that may not be consistant. Many websites have them, but if you want a really unique one, check out www.mnhookah.com ...they have glass ones and mini sized glass ones. Its gonna cost a bit more for the glass, but they are beautiful(not necessary, a ceramic one works just fine)


I hope you find this useful!

[antouwan]

welcome! it's very refreshing to see some one who admits his mistakes and isn't lazy and really wants to do this the right way; even in this place, which feels like an oasis from the ever bastardized world of arguileh that the majority of smokers proliferate (even some lounge owners are to blame). it's one thing to smoke hookah, it's a completely different game to be an enthusiast - congrats on making the right choice...

3) hookah-shisha.com is located in Austin, i don't know if they have a shop you can visit, but i'm sure if you call them up and tell them of your predicament they will let you pick stuff up.

1) i would definitely recommend Khalil Mamoon over Mya Saray; yeah it's personal preference, but KMs are better than myas because they're easier to clean and have a much better purge (and draw - for me at least). I have 2 Kms and pretty much only smoke out of them. I had a mya saray that my cousin gave me, but i actually sold it because it wasn't being used. just my 2 cents, but it's your money and your call, i'm just trying to help you make an informed decision. ALSO: the KM hoses are alright, but i would definitely recommend a Nammor or Razan (Hookah-shisha.com carries the Nammors, since it's closer and local i would go with them, personally).

2) I'm not sure if i would invest so much money in tangiers right off the bat; i've been smoking for almost 5 years now, and i still don't have a reliable mode of preparation for tangiers, it's still quite hit-or-miss. i know a lot of people like to talk trash about Al Fakher but if you look at a recent poll on the forum, it was voted 2nd best tobacco; second to tangiers by only 5 votes - http://www.hookahforum.com/?showtopic=12893.

i would personally go with Al Fakher as a first tobacco because it is extremely forgiving, and isn't very 'finnickey,' it will smoke reasonably well under almost any condition, and will smoke fantastically if you have your heat management and bowl preparation down reasonably well. Nakhla is a good brand as well that i enjoy, but it smokes quite differently than Al Fakher and takes much more heat to get the volume of smoke most desire, and if you're used to smoking AF or Tangiers, the amount of heat is kind of baffling (i use 4 cocos on my small phunnel for nakhla as opposed to 3 for AF and Tangiers Lucid).

If you're really all about the tangiers, start out with lucid, it's much more forgiving than noir or f-line and the taste and flavor are still top-notch. (i LOVE the horchata). a phunnel isn't a MUST, but it's pretty damn close, i bought two smalls and a medium and refuse to smoke out of anything else now; the 15 plus bowls i have sitting around have been rather unused since i've re-embraced the phunnel. you SHOULD get a SMALL phunnel but also a couple of discount egyptians in case some tragedy besets you.

good luck and don't hesitate to post back with any more questions

[Thunt]

Wow! You guys are amazing. What a great community. You guy's seem to be very passionate about this, which I love.

I'm going to take in all of this and do some more research tonight. Thank you for all the information and the links. I'll keep you all updated and I'll be sure to be back here with any questions I might (will) have. You all have been most helpful. Thank you!

[evilded777]

Wow! You guys are amazing. What a great community. You guy's seem to be very passionate about this, which I love.

I'm going to take in all of this and do some more research tonight. Thank you for all the information and the links. I'll keep you all updated and I'll be sure to be back here with any questions I might (will) have. You all have been most helpful. Thank you!

You are so welcome, I've only been here for 2 months or so... and it really is, by far, one of the most friendly forums I've ever been a part of. I really just started smoking again after a couple of years... I have no idea why I didn't turn to the 'net for research when I started and wasn't doing so well. But after 60 days here, I am MOST happy with my hookah! Edited April 13, 2009 by evilded777

[Scalliwag]

Welcome aboard Thunt. I can't really add anything to what the rest of the crew said. But I can tell you that you're at the right place. I'm up in DFW (Cowtown)
THere are several local members where you're at so watch for togethers