stems?!

[D15L]

today i went to the hookah lounge i went to, looking for help on my hookah. The owner told me that the problem with my hookah not getting as much flavor is because it is a female stem. He said male stems are much better and give you much more flavor. Can anybody pls give me some advice or info on this?

[yashman19]

I'll the be first to call bullsh*t I suppose.

There is no difference between a syrian style or egptian style stem
flavor-wise. Only difference is that a egyptian bowl will fit over the
stem and all the goo will flow outside the pipe, while on a typical
syrian, the goo will flow into the stem.

One thing I don't like about syrian bowls however is that they are hard
to find in larger sizes. You of course can get adapters at
hookahcompany.com which will allow your syrian to accept egyptian bowls.

Other than that, no reason why a syrian shouldn't smoke just as well as
any other style. Infact, a lot of people love their syrians more than
the others, mainly due to the quality, but still...

Got to be another reason. Keep experimenting.

[D15L]

hmm thanks yashman, so do you think the owner is trying to bullsh*t me into buying another stem? because he said he has one coming in tomorrow, but he also said that we could even try it out before i decide to buy it. The only thing i am thinking is if he is packing it differently and using the stem that he wants me to buy to make it seem like there would be more flavor? he said that the female stem i have is probably 40% of why i am getting weaker flavor,

[Catalyst Paintball]

Well, you should think about it for a minute.What makes up a stem?Its basically a metal pipe with valve system. Egyptian and Syrian (Male and Female) stems are almost identical except for the way you attach the bowl to it.And even then, they are pretty much the same size. If you want to compare sizes, compare a Egyptian STEM to a Syrian BOWL.

[D15L]

so there wouldn't be much of a flavor difference because they are both essentially the same? Honestly, haha i hope the owner is not bullsh*ting me, he told me he never uses the female stems at his shop because they don't smoke good like the male stems

[Catalyst Paintball]

There are SO many other variables out there that can effect flavor.I know you said everything is clean in your other thread, so concentrate on other things before buying a stem.Go back to your hookah cafe and ask to buy 2 bowls worth of shisha. Dont smoke it there, bring it home and try.

[Macho555]

I guess maybe he just called into somebody elses bullsh*t? I never ever
heard anything like that before. Then again, I've only smoked egyptian
styles before, so...

[Sonthert]

Yeah, there's alot of rumor in the hookah world...its a characteristic of a nomadic, trading Middle Eastern culture. One guy says one thing to someone else and they tell someone else...that how information disseminated. Some of its superstition, the "raindance" syndrome, as I like to call it. Fact is, most people don't know jack-squat about hookahs...especially the guys running the hookah lounges. Some of the things people have tried to tell me...like I'm an idiot, to begin with.

[mushrat]

I have both types of hookahs with both types of stems/bowls. He's full o'caca.

[D15L]

haha yeah i fell for it when he was telling me about it, but after lots of advice from you guys, i am pretty sure myself that he is just trying to get money from me. The thing is, he told me he'd let me try it at his shop before i decide to buy it, i really don't know if i should even bother going there to try it, but thanks alot for everyone's help

[Glottis]

I wouldn't assume right away that he's just trying to take your money. I mean, he may very well be doing that, but it's possible that he's had trouble with the syrian style heads for whatever reason, maybe the one's he has used were lame anyway. He could be giving an honest recommendation. Just sayin'.But yeah, that's probably not why.

[Sonthert]

Yeah, I agree, I think its a bit of folklore, like Fords are more reliable than Chevrolets or BP gasoline makes my car run better. Sometimes ignorant people are just ignorant...not crooked too.

[gunsboy]

I have tried both kinds, truly there is no difference.  The Diameter/length of the stem and the type of hose and the size of bowl and the even the size of vase made a difference.  But Female/Male stems made no difference.
I have went to a couple of hookah lounges where the service was so poor that when I asked for a replacement bowl they brought me the wrong bowl for the hookah.  I was told by a guy that worked in another place that they only have one big bucket of shisha and i their menu they have listed that they have several available flavours but they only use the same shisha for any customer that orders any flavor.  So Apple, strawberry, Fruit mix is all the same in that place, .  I asked "what if the customer complains?" He raised his eye brows and said "If you tell the customer that he is wrong and this is what he/she ordered with some confidence they will shrug it and live with it, and if they are still no satisfied then they could leave."
The moral of the story is that there are so many crooks out there.  To them it is an accomplishment to screw their customers instead of spending a little bit extra time to try to keep their customers happy.