Thoughts On My First Km

[Codename067]

As I have mentioned in the past, a true hookah smoker will not care about things like that.

It sure is a lot nicer when your hookah is in perfect condition on the outside like those ones that are made by machines, but hey, performance is way higher when you put your time and soul into something [hand made].

[mattarios2]

yah ive had km's with bad bad welds meaning they looked horrible, and i've had km's with perfect welds ... its a risk you take, but as stated, i like the marks, for two reasons, one - when mine gets marks on it I don't care, because it was already not perfect, and two it is unique and it adds to the look overall in my eyes.

[joytron]

You guys are crazy if im going to drop $100 on a pipe id prefer it not be made by blind retarded children in the dark. You can say well it still smokes well but id like my pipes to look kickass and still smoke well.

[digitalbass]

Dont worry I know how you feel. My first KM was a relatively simple stem so hardly any weld marks but my current hookah has a very intricate stem. In some spots it does look like some retard was handed a welder and was asked "wanna try this out?". Weld marks 4" away from joint going nowere and deep scratch in my hose port but not deep enough to go through. At first it was depressed. Then i loaded a bowl up started smoking and said [email="F@k%20it"]F@k it[/email]. Smokes so good you forget about it haha.

[Arcane]

my OG Tri-Metal has a 1in crack in the copper piece....doesn't affect how it smokes...and it looks pretty dope...

[spectrum055]

That is a nice hookah even with that chip and that weird weld ... it's a keeper to my super untrained eye of a still I would consider hookah Newb... : p

[foibled again]

the second picture isnt even a joint it looks like someone had a grinder and over shot and hit the pear. as for the joints im pretty sure they are welds since solder offers almost no structural support unless its silver solder which it isnt and still offer litter support. and i got it from john, should i email him about it when i get a working computer?

It's where the forming machine made contact with the pear section. How do you think they make them?

And no, they are not welds. Anybody who is familiar with metal working can tell you that. Not a single hookah I've ever seen has been welded, and I've seen a lot. They are all soldered, soft soldered to be more specific with the exception being the gold solder because I do not know of any yellow soft solder in production. There is a way to color solder using chemical baths but that would be just as expensive as purchasing gold silver solders. Edited December 4, 2009 by foibled again

[Rani]

When you order anything online you're taking a risk it's going to be less than perfect. If it's imported, especially from those nations where functionality is much more highly desired than esthetics, that risk goes up. Dramatically. If that's a risk that a buyer can't handle, then they need to buy at a shop where they can personally inspect and cherry pick their merchandise. Just the way it is. You make the choice to purchase in whatever way works for you.

If things like welds are esthetically impoortant to you, and you're forced by location or whatever into ordering online, then I would suggest going the extra step and place the order by telephone explaining that the looks are very important to you. If the vendor is a good one with good customer service, they'll take the extra few minutes to look over their stock and not just grab one out of the bin. When we order KMs it's expected that we know the risk we take on the welds, etc. because it's well known it's handmade overseas by people who likely aren't paid more than 1% of the final purchase price. So unless you work with your vendor, they have no reason to look for the best looking stem for you. It's all about respect, conversation and cooperation. If I were ordering a KM as say a gift, then I'd call up John, explain the gift factor, and ask him to look for whichever stem is the cleanest. I have zero doubt he'd accomodate me.

'Rani