Am I the only one not a fan of AF?

[skiracerj1]

Seriously, everytime I've had it its just been sorta medium, nothin great, not terrible, but not the great king of shisha that everyone makes it out to be. I find it to be like a buzzless nahkla honestly, the flavor isnt that much better. Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just a few sandwiches short of a picnic?

[Alqoshnia]

no you're just a few fries short of a happy meal. I agree AF does not give any buzz whatsoever, but the taste is there indefinitely. Which flavors have you tried? Any Golden Seals at that?

[sheeshabum]

I happen to like a lot of their flavors, mainly because they are mild and smooth smokes, but yes, lots of their flavors are ambivelent. Some of the flavors, I can't tell what it is. My favorite taste is Melon, and the Al Fakher melon, to me is blandly nothing. Last week I bought 500 grams cheap of Nakhla melon which is distinctly tasty. My only reason for not smoking much more Nakhla which I buy locally for nothing in Israel is the strength of it when I inhale. Not harsh, but too strong for me to smoke it so often. Lots of Al Fakher  flavors do have good taste though. I just aquired all 18 Romman flavors in 50 gram  packs, and the Peach was great, all the rest were  either horrible to barely palateble. The big, high price of Romman seems to be a rip-off. Lots of times I read here in the forum "maybe you got a bad batch". No one write that about Fumari, Al Fakher, Tangiers,Nakhal, Al Waha, etc.  And not for $20 per250 grams. I got mine fresh, dated and from" the horses mouth".  Each person has his own taste buds and prefference. (Mine is Al Ouns Double Apple and Al Waha Bahareni).
 

[Lukasa]

The one flavor I tried was lame.  Mango.  But i have yet to try the other flavors.

[sheeshabum]

I'll rate the  15 Al Fakher flavors that I've smoked from 250. gram packs.   1-10, ten being super best of any compared  brand and under 6 being from bad to obnoxious or just plain noxious.
Mint 2 ,Pineapple  3     ,   Melon 3   , Lemon  3  ,   Mango  4
Apricot  4 ,   Coconut  4 ,   Banana  5 ,   Apple 6 , Strawberry  6
White (Regular) Grape  8 ,  Golden Black Grape  9  ,  Golden Bahareni  9.5
Cherry 10 / Yet 12 other flavors of theirs, that I can't judge, haven't tasted.

[sheeshabum]

[quote name='sheeshabum']I'll rate the  15 Al Fakher flavors that I've smoked from 250. gram packs.   1-10, ten being super best of any compared  brand and under 6 being from bad to obnoxious or just plain noxious.
Mint 2 ,Pineapple  3     ,   Melon 3   , Lemon  3  ,   Mango  4
Apricot  4 ,   Coconut  4 ,   Banana  5 ,   Apple 6 , Strawberry  6
White (Regular) Grape  8 ,  Golden Black Grape  9  ,  Double Apple  9  
Golden Bahareni  9.5  , Cherry  10   /    ;    ;    ;    ;    ;    
Yet 12 other flavors of theirs, that I can't judge, haven't tasted.[/quote]

[The Dude Abides]

I'm a fan. Part of the reason is because I really am not into nicotine poisoning.  Also, I prefer it to Al-Amir.

[skiracerj1]

Really? I find Al Amir's flavors to be much stronger and enjoyable, granted the only AF I've tried is apple and strawberry but neither one left me wanting to try any of their other flavors. The strawberry tasted to overly sweetened, and almost snet me into a diabetic coma from inhaling too much sugar, lol. If i'm in a buzzless mood I'll smoke Al amir or Fumari over AF anyday, and if I want a buzz, well nakhlas king of the roost there, although that tangiers I had made me place an order, so something tells me the nakhla is going be sitting around for a while

[MR Bubble]

Don't worry about your mental health. I don't get into AF either. I think part of the reason is it was quite a fad around here, and I'm not much into fads. Another reason (the biggest) is that it's like drowning in a vat of sweet goo. I have no smoking satisfaction from it. I'm not trying to find the "king of buzzes" but I don't want to spend 45 minutes smoking something, then turn around and want a cigarette right after I dump the coals off the bowl.
MR Bubble

[DrunkenWizard]

Sorry but I love AF.  I smoked some apricot and strawberry earlier and it was great.  I love their mint, but that is the only mint I have tried.

[The Dude Abides]

[quote name='skiracerj1']Really? I find Al Amir's flavors to be much stronger and enjoyable, granted the only AF I've tried is apple and strawberry but neither one left me wanting to try any of their other flavors. The strawberry tasted to overly sweetened, and almost snet me into a diabetic coma from inhaling too much sugar, lol. If i'm in a buzzless mood I'll smoke Al amir or Fumari over AF anyday, and if I want a buzz, well nakhlas king of the roost there, although that tangiers I had made me place an order, so something tells me the nakhla is going be sitting around for a while[/quote]
Don't get me wrong, I do like Al-Amir.  I just happen to prefer AF to it.  To be honest, AA's finely minced tobacco and overflowing unidentified liquid tend to weird me out a bit, even though smoke isn't bad at all.  Grinding something into pieces that tiny kind of strikes me as a cheap factory tactic that may be used to get away with chopping up low quality tobacco along with the better leaves.  Kind of the same principal behind processed meats.  The customer can only guess as to what the product looked like before it was pulverized.  And I've always thought AA's taste is a bit sickly-fake, although it is better than many brands'. But sure, the flavors can still be enjoyable even if they are overkill at times.  And since I only like a small buzz, I definitely like having some AA sitting in the fridge.  I just think AF's flavors are lighter and the smoke is smoother on me throat, so if I have a choice between the two I'll usually pick AF. 
I've only tried Fumari once, and I wasn't really impressed. 

[ioannisds]

The only AF flavor I really enjoy is Golden Esk Apple. One of my favorites. None of their other flavors have really stood out to me as anything special though.

[Rachael]

i've tried al fakher: jasmine, plum, cappuccino, orange, rose, banana, lemon, mango, grape(white as i recall), and golden al fakher escandarani apple and rose. out of those i really only loved the banana and the jasmine.
i like the banana not because it actually tasted like a banana too much, but because it was creamy somehow--  somewhat like one that is just ripe enough to eat, sliced into vanilla ice cream. there isn't a bite, the whole bowl tastes the same from start to finish. reminds me of a comfort food, they usually consist of something plain on the palate and not too complex, consistently the same taste we crave, and dense and filling or satisfying. like mac and cheese or dominoes pepperoni pizza, meat pie and gravy, carne asada burritos, macdonalds cheeseburgers, fish and chips. banana was that for me. 
the jasmine is rich and unusual, pungent and invasive. i got slapped by it a few times...i think i liked it though
golden al fakher(does anyone else hate the name al fakher? can't keep my 13 year old boy from laughing his ass off everytime he reads it out loud with GREAT emphasis). tried the escandarani apple, and the photo isn't in yet, has a fair amount of positive and negative points in it for me. phemoninal mixer though, keeps it's taste with almost anything. has a not so tolerable peel bite to it that doesn't go away thru the bowl. something keeps me playing with it though, and i have given up hope for the plum(yikes), orange(loved the first 5 minutes, but it disappears too quickly), lemon, cappuccino(stewed camp coffee), mango(acquired taste maybe), and grape(liked it, but i have other brands that taste great). gaf rose(am still playing with that too) is good, but i've never considered smoking a rose before, kinda weird. 
 

[aronparsons]

I've only had their strawberry, orange, and mint.  The strawberry and orange I do not care for.  The smoke is thick, lots of flavor, no buzz (not a big deal), but I just don't care for their interpretation of the flavors.  Their mint is very good, but I now have Tangiers mint and it blows it away.  It's far superior to Al Waha and Nakhla, but once you get into Starbuzz and Tangiers, it just doesn't cut it.

[surfpico]

I just had AF yesterday at a hookah bar in Fairfax, VA - Merrifield Kabobs and Hookah Lounge. It was pretty tastey.

[web250]

I really like AF. I think the buzz is minimal, which is good for me, I dont need a huge buzz (Nakhla gives me headache/chills/nauseous).The flavor I find pretty good.  

[gunsboy]

I love mixing AF Bahrani with Lemon Mint StartBuzz, You get oerfect taste and buzz.