Super Old-School Tobaccos

[Hassouni]

I'm currently chilling in Beirut, and in addition to the usual selection of fruity Mu'assal, there are three additional types of tobacco available at most places: 'Ajami, Nakha (no, not Nakhla. Written in arabic [size=4]نكهة[/size][size=1], [/size][size=2]nak-ha), and Salloum. All I know is I've seen guys with the piled raw looking tobacco on the flat bowl with the coals placed right on top, but I have no idea which of the three that is. I'd be interested in trying them, but I'd like to know what's what. Thanks![/size]

[mushrat]

I have smoked and i currently serve Zaghoul, moussal saloum, and Ajamey. Ajamey is the most traditional, its just dried tobacco leaves that you soak, and wrap the bowl with several leaves, there is a video we made in the video section and the same one posted on youtube. The others are unflavoured tobaccos usually just mixed with molasses or sugar syrup and smoked with the coals directly on the tobacco. Hang onto your ass if you smoke them.

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='Hassouni' date='26 December 2009 - 03:22 PM' timestamp='1261866144' post='441891']
I'm currently chilling in Beirut, and in addition to the usual selection of fruity Mu'assal, there are three additional types of tobacco available at most places: 'Ajami, Nakha (no, not Nakhla. Written in arabic [size="4"]نكهة[/size][size="1"], [/size][size="2"]nak-ha), and Salloum. All I know is I've seen guys with the piled raw looking tobacco on the flat bowl with the coals placed right on top, but I have no idea which of the three that is. I'd be interested in trying them, but I'd like to know what's what. Thanks![/size]
[/quote]

I can offer a little help.

ajami is the type of tobacco that you saw us pile up and put our coals directly on it. there are pleanty of other words for it including tombek, tombeik, and jurak. the only problem here is it is spelled "Ajami". i belive the proper spelling of it is "Ajamy". but if you can find tombiek there are 2 kinds my friend. the first is the dry leaf. you break some off, rines it (or soak it if you want a lighter smoke), break it up and pack it. to pack it you put some bigger pieces at the bottom of the bow. then you put the shreaded stuff in. then you cover with a large leaf. drop your coals on, let it heat up and enjoy. just make sure to get a level pack.

there is also Pre-Made tombiek. the most popular being nakhlas zaghloul. with these you just pack it heavy, make a level top, and drop them coals on it. there quite nice.



Salloum is just a regular brand of shisha. its more tradional like nakhla, and overall its ok. very natural flavor IMO.

as for nakha, i have no idea what it is.

[ezxen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHiMrUeVQM

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='ezxen' date='27 December 2009 - 09:39 AM' timestamp='1261931964' post='441993']
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHiMrUeVQM"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7NHiMrUeVQM[/url]
[/quote]


never packed it like that. but that apears it will work much better than thr way im used to. normally a bowl of tombiek dose not last very long. i would imagine the one shown in the video would smoke for a very long time.

but it is not required that you prepare it this way.

[Sonthert]

Nobody mentioned Jurak, I noticed. More of a Persian thing.

[dizzbizz]

Hey mush, I saw that video on youtube. Any smoking vids too?

[Scrappydoo]

Hang onto your ass if you smoke them. [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]
[/quote]


YES! WITH BOTH HANDS! I tried it once, never again <<twitch, twitch!>>

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='Sonthert' date='29 December 2009 - 10:50 PM' timestamp='1262152235' post='442439']
Nobody mentioned Jurak, I noticed. More of a Persian thing.
[/quote]


jurak is fine cut (almost powderd) tobacco flavored with spices and moistend with honey/molases. you smoke it with coals directly on it. am i right?

well eithor way a while ago i made something like this with dry tombiek leave. it wasnt bad.

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='Scrappydoo' date='30 December 2009 - 12:08 AM' timestamp='1262156938' post='442452']
Hang onto your ass if you smoke them. [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]
[/quote]


YES! WITH BOTH HANDS! I tried it once, never again <<twitch, twitch!>>
[/quote]


if you smoke strong tobacco everyday it wont cause any problems. the only two brands that can give me a buzz are desi murli and nakhlas "tradional" line. and even then it ussually week. sometimes its not even there, and sometimes its quite strong .

yea tangiers dose nothing to me.

so the moral of my "semi"-worthless post is if your gonna smoke it, make sure you have high nicotiene tolerance,unless you love buzzes.

[inino]

[quote name='Jacob Shock' date='27 December 2009 - 10:35 AM' timestamp='1261935358' post='442002']
[quote name='ezxen' date='27 December 2009 - 09:39 AM' timestamp='1261931964' post='441993']
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHiMrUeVQM"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7NHiMrUeVQM[/url]
[/quote]


never packed it like that. but that apears it will work much better than thr way im used to. normally a bowl of tombiek dose not last very long. i would imagine the one shown in the video would smoke for a very long time.

but it is not required that you prepare it this way.
[/quote]

Thats just one way of packing it. Probably the least common way actually. I get the small white and blue boxes of tombek from Jordan. Its much more fine, and i rinse and pack it differently on a flat one hole bowl. If you pack like me, which I have a feeling you do, you can get it to last very long just by piling it higher and brushing it off as it gets black. I usually make about a 2" dome and it lasts for over an hour.

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='inino' date='30 December 2009 - 12:42 PM' timestamp='1262202179' post='442569']
[quote name='Jacob Shock' date='27 December 2009 - 10:35 AM' timestamp='1261935358' post='442002']
[quote name='ezxen' date='27 December 2009 - 09:39 AM' timestamp='1261931964' post='441993']
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHiMrUeVQM"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=7NHiMrUeVQM[/url]
[/quote]


never packed it like that. but that apears it will work much better than thr way im used to. normally a bowl of tombiek dose not last very long. i would imagine the one shown in the video would smoke for a very long time.

but it is not required that you prepare it this way.
[/quote]

Thats just one way of packing it. Probably the least common way actually. I get the small white and blue boxes of tombek from Jordan. Its much more fine, and i rinse and pack it differently on a flat one hole bowl. If you pack like me, which I have a feeling you do, you can get it to last very long just by piling it higher and brushing it off as it gets black. I usually make about a 2" dome and it lasts for over an hour.
[/quote]


i hate making domes. domes are responsible for a very large section of charcoal burns on my carpet. once a coal burn my pinky. it landed right on the nail.

[Hassouni]

Update: I saw nakha (نكهة) translated on a menu in English as "flavored Ajami"....interesting, that would solve that then. But now I saw a new one: ta'bayeh (تعباية)...anyone heard of that?

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='Hassouni' date='31 December 2009 - 08:06 AM' timestamp='1262271967' post='442717']
Update: I saw nakha (نكهة) translated on a menu in English as "flavored Ajami"....interesting, that would solve that then. But now I saw a new one: ta'bayeh (تعباية)...anyone heard of that?
[/quote]


never heard of it.

if your curious just buy it. its fairly easy to tell how to smoke something by just looking at it.

[Hassouni]

I haven't seen them for sale, just as varieties of tobacco available to smoke--I would've ordered it but my cousin wanted to share and wanted mu'assal. I may buy some 'ajami and a 'ajami bowl to take home though...

[antouwan]

i had this prepared for me by a buddy of mine. he did it almost identically to the way it was prepared in mush's video. it isn't a coincidence that both the guy in mush's video and my buddy (and his dad who he learned it from) are all complete lebs. i almost hacked out my lungs. i like my narg just the way it is. however, if i do ever get around to going back to lebanon, i want to try this old school stuff the right way - i have a feeling that poor bastard completely botched it - even he sounded like he was about to hack up his lung.

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='antouwan' date='02 January 2010 - 03:21 AM' timestamp='1262427670' post='442940']
i had this prepared for me by a buddy of mine. he did it almost identically to the way it was prepared in mush's video. it isn't a coincidence that both the guy in mush's video and my buddy (and his dad who he learned it from) are all complete lebs. i almost hacked out my lungs. i like my narg just the way it is. however, if i do ever get around to going back to lebanon, i want to try this old school stuff the right way - i have a feeling that poor bastard completely botched it - even he sounded like he was about to hack up his lung.
[/quote]


you know you can get it in the united states.

hookahcompany sells the stuff. zaghoul and khan el khalili are simmilar to "ajami", there also alot easier to prepare. Edited January 3, 2010 by Jacob Shock

[Hassouni]

Update: nakha apparently just means flavor or taste. Methinks it's a foil-less flavored tobacco.

This leaves me wondering what salloum is, esp as I found a package of it among me and my roommate's communal mu'assal box pile. It looks like really black nakhla type tobacco....is zaghloul smoked with foil, and salloum without, or something like that?

By the way, I should mention I've seen two types of ajami (I think) in Lebanon: one that is wrapped like a cigar around a cylindrical, bowl-less head, and one that is more piled on a flat head. In both cases, the coals are placed right on top

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='Hassouni' date='05 January 2010 - 03:07 PM' timestamp='1262729239' post='443390']
Update: nakha apparently just means flavor or taste. Methinks it's a foil-less flavored tobacco.

This leaves me wondering what salloum is, esp as I found a package of it among me and my roommate's communal mu'assal box pile. It looks like really black nakhla type tobacco....is zaghloul smoked with foil, and salloum without, or something like that?

By the way, I should mention I've seen two types of ajami (I think) in Lebanon: one that is wrapped like a cigar around a cylindrical, bowl-less head, and one that is more piled on a flat head. In both cases, the coals are placed right on top
[/quote]


salloum is smoked WITH foil, at least the flavored versions are. i think unflavored salloum is smoked tombiek style

zaghoul is smoked without foil.

as for your 2 types of ajami, they are the same thing. all you are seeing is differnt methods of smoking them. same for the link to the video posted above.

[Hassouni]

[quote name='Jacob Shock' date='05 January 2010 - 09:34 PM' timestamp='1262745251' post='443426']

salloum is smoked WITH foil, at least the flavored versions are. i think unflavored salloum is smoked tombiek style

zaghoul is smoked without foil.

as for your 2 types of ajami, they are the same thing. all you are seeing is differnt methods of smoking them. same for the link to the video posted above.
[/quote]


What's the difference between zaghloul and unflavored salloum? by tombeik style you mean foil-less, right?

[Jacob Shock]

[quote name='Hassouni' date='05 January 2010 - 07:54 PM' timestamp='1262746469' post='443428']
[quote name='Jacob Shock' date='05 January 2010 - 09:34 PM' timestamp='1262745251' post='443426']
salloum is smoked WITH foil, at least the flavored versions are. i think unflavored salloum is smoked tombiek style

zaghoul is smoked without foil.

as for your 2 types of ajami, they are the same thing. all you are seeing is differnt methods of smoking them. same for the link to the video posted above.
[/quote]


What's the difference between zaghloul and unflavored salloum? by tombeik style you mean foil-less, right?


[/quote]
YEP! tombik style is foiless. ive seen salloum smoke tombiek style, i didnt hit though so i cant tell you exactly. but its suposed to be good.

cant compare zaghoul to salloum plain, but i can tell you zag is pretty darn good. a very strong dry dark tobacco.