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The Elmas Is Here!

Hassouni
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Hassouni Newbie

Hassouni

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At long last, it's here! My Elmas model 628, the İşlemeli Normal Pirinç nargile. In English, that's the engraved brass hookah. Teaser pic before the rest come:
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs757.ash1/164837_598862128701_37003198_34688078_8210894_n.jpg[/img]
(warning, this is a long post)

The box was delivered Monday to a friend's house (more on that in a second) and I picked it up tonight.

I ordered from nargilestore.com, a website only in Turkish, that at face value only lets you register/order if you're in Turkey. Back in October, around my birthday I figured OK, I'm in the UK for the time being, I should order while I'm here because shipping should be cheaper to Europe. So the first line of contact was sent via email to them, in English, but with the subject "I have a question if you speak English" written in Turkish.

The owner responded in sorta understandable English, and he created an account for me on the site, working around their "Turkey only" registration procedure, and then created an extra item in the site, my nargile without Turkish taxes, for overseas shipping. So I added it to my cart, clicked check out, entered my CC info, and ran into a problem - essentially, one needs a Turkish credit card too! So I emailed back he said oh my let me ask my bank, came bank and said our bank doesn't handle international credit cards - you can pay by bank transfer.

At this time I knew I was headed to Lebanon for a wedding soon and figured hell with this, I'll pick up a pipe in Lebanon, which you did and I've seen. But after a few weeks my Elmas desire came back and I said screw it, I'll make the bank transfer. By this time it was mid-late November. So I got all the details to make the transfer, the total amount and all, and sent it off. Days later, after the transfer cleared from my bank in the UK to theirs in Turkey, they said they didn't receive all the money, that €18 were missing. So I went to my bank, got a receipt which I scanned and sent them saying that my bank did indeed send them the total amount. After several back and forth emails I said look, I've fulfilled my obligation to pay what you asked for, you need to fulfill yours to send me the products. After a few days of investigation, it seems they found the missing money (sounds like it was held up by someone at their bank or within their own company), and they said OK, your order is shipping out today.

At this point, it was early December, and it seemed as if i would arrive here after I was due to return to the US, so I had them send it to my friend RJ Skillz, who's on the forum. As it turns out, it DID arrive after I was SCHEDULED to leave, but due to Heathrow being messed up by a TERRIFYING 3 inches of snow, I've been held in London until this Friday - so today I met up with RJ at a friend's lounge and got my package!

Here are the pics:

The whole pipe assembled at Jay's:
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1386.snc4/163867_598862133691_37003198_34688079_4925650_n.jpg[/img]

Setup and smoking AF Strawberry with RJ in the background:
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs002.snc6/165290_598862138681_37003198_34688080_8211740_n.jpg[/img]

Back home, all the components: 2 huge hoses, and extra hose mouthpiece (I didn't order this and apparently the mouthpieces are glued in so I dunno what that's for), the stem, the tray, windcover, glass, two bowls, and a bunch of mouth tips.
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs764.ash1/165508_598862143671_37003198_34688081_3070168_n.jpg[/img]

Details of the tray. 9" in diameter
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs473.ash2/74692_598862148661_37003198_34688082_4114705_n.jpg[/img]

The glass. A solid foot tall, bigger than a KM vase. Super sturdy, heavy glass
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs740.ash1/163213_598862153651_37003198_34688083_8342068_n.jpg[/img]

The two hoses. The handles are 28" long (!), the port ends are roughly a foot, and the whole hose is about 93"
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs791.snc4/67146_598862158641_37003198_34688084_7587023_n.jpg[/img]

Detail of the tray rest:
[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs738.snc4/65825_598862168621_37003198_34688085_7256810_n.jpg[/img]

(note I can only post a certain number of pics here so more in the next post)

Overall: this thing is HEAVY. The stem is way heavier than a KM Kamanja stem, and the hose is so sturdy it makes a KM hose feel like a straw. There's no purge but that doesn't bother me, it takes a bit of trial and error but I've learned how to pack and manage heat such that it never gets harsh enough that simply moving the coals/windcover around can't remedy it. The hose has a very narrow bore at the mouthtip, and it definitely takes some good inhaling to get clouds, but clouds it can definitely get. You really feel like you're smoking vs just sipping with a KM - which I like.

The total I paid including shipping, minus bank fees was €95, or $124. The products themselves were 55 and the shipping 40. Definitely worth it.

As for my review of Nargilestore, it's as follows: The guy's English was sometimes clear, but sometimes it sounds like he stuck words in a blender and out came sentences that made no sense. However, he was pretty quick to respond to emails and def made an effort to help me out, what with registering me on his site, and accepting my proof that I paid him the full €95 Euros. Although the whole process took a lot of time, total time shipped from Turkey to the UK was not more than about 8 working days, which isn't bad.

I would recommend using them on the condition that you INSIST on using Western Union. The bank transfer was just too messy. He implied he would take WU but for whatever reason I decided to go for bank transfer, which was a mistake on my part. As I said his English is hit or miss, so what I suggest for ordering is, decide specifically what items you want, write him an email saying I want these items (and you can specify color, etc), shipped to this address, please tell me how much the total will be shipped, and I will pay by Western Union. If you do that, I don't foresee any issues. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the German site - for the identical order I saved close to $60.

Anyway, that's that! Hope you enjoyed the pics!
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Hassouni Newbie

Hassouni

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The rest of the pics:

Details of the stem: overall it's 21" or so long
[IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs617.ash2/156910_598862178601_37003198_34688086_4368669_n.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1385.snc4/163759_598862188581_37003198_34688087_2398433_n.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs618.ash2/157084_598862198561_37003198_34688088_7848576_n.jpg[/IMG]

Assembled with bowl, about 24", without, 21". The hose handle is taller!!
[IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs300.ash2/58024_598862208541_37003198_34688090_1412173_n.jpg[/IMG]

The windcover brings it up to 30"
[IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs033.snc6/166315_598862213531_37003198_34688091_841047_n.jpg[/IMG]

And complete:
[IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs763.ash1/165397_598862218521_37003198_34688092_552940_n.jpg[/IMG]
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mustafabey Newbie

mustafabey

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A thing of great beauty!!! I am in awe This must be the Rolls Royce of all nargile
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Hassouni Newbie

Hassouni

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[quote name='mustafabey' timestamp='1293069630' post='492134']
A thing of great beauty!!! I am in awe This must be the Rolls Royce of all nargile
[/quote]

Well, that's probably one of the more expensive Elmas models like the Lüks Kafesli ones...those run about $300....
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Hassouni Newbie

Hassouni

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Well I said up top, but it was €95 to the UK. I checked shipping rates and its only a bit more to the US - so you'd be looking at $140 or so if you want an extra hose, maybe $125 with 1 hose
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IainUM Newbie

IainUM

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[quote name='INCUBUSRATM' timestamp='1293073872' post='492151']
I don't see why people pay that much or more for a KM from one of the US online vendors here when they can just get one of these badboys...
[/quote]

fanboyism. i bought my km for like 50ish bucks. solid deal. 150? never
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king_lunchb0x Newbie

king_lunchb0x

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hot damn that thing is purty!! great etching on the stem looks solid built, Hass you have a very nice taste in pipes.. you've turned me on to companies and styles ive never heard of in smoking for 3 years

and i cant agree ith Iian more...only reason i own a km was i got it for 60$..150$ i would get This elmas or some nice nawra
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Hassouni Newbie

Hassouni

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Yeah I see no reason to pay more than about $50-60 for a nargile before shipping. That one without shipping and fees was about $50, and the quality is FAR superior to anything else I've seen. I'd wager a Temsaah is pretty close, but KMs? Forget it.
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