magick777 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 So, I've been eyeing up the German-made Saphire range of bowls for a few weeks, and trying to figure out where to find the money to give them a try and how best to pay for them and get them into the UK, money being more than a bit tight at the moment. The answer lay in a pair of expensive but unwanted vintage Doc Marten boots, which recently sold on eBay to a Japanese buyer. Those are now winging their way to Japan, and the proceeds are winging their way to Germany in exchange for some of their finest ceramics. As Murphy's law would suggest, the retailers with the best websites in terms of customer friendliness, shipping & payment options had a lousy stock of Saphire bowls. After some e-mail enquiries, the winner turns out to be [url="http://www.smoking-shisha.de"]www.smoking-shisha.de[/url], who had at least half the Saphire range, were happy to ship to the UK and invited me to pay for the order by MF and just mention it in the comments box when ordering. Couldn't ask for a more helpful response. And, by what I'm sure is nothing more than happy coincidence, by the time I went back to order, they had added a couple of the items I'd expressed an interest in to their sale and knocked a genuine few euros off the (already decent) price they'd been asking when I enquired. Clever buggers. It worked, of course. The end result of all that is that I've just placed an order for: Two [url="http://www.smoking-shisha.de/de/Tabakkoepfe/Saphire/Saphire-Hot-Shot/"]Saphire Hot Shot[/url] bowls, in blue & black. This is the tobacco-saving bowl that claims to smoke for 30-45 mins on 5-6g of shisha. We'll see. Two [url="http://www.smoking-shisha.de/de/Tabakkoepfe/Saphire/Saphire-Power-Bowl/"]Saphire Power Bowls[/url], also in blue & black. This is what I'm really excited about. Somewhere between a Super Chief and a Phunnel. One [url="http://www.smoking-shisha.de/de/Tabakkoepfe/Einloch-Koepfe/Saphire-Funnel-Bowl-smoking-shisha-special-edition.html"]Saphire Funnel Bowl, smoking shisha special edition (red/yellow design)[/url] Big, wide, greedy phat phunnel clone in good high-density clay. One [url="http://www.smoking-shisha.de/de/Saphire-Power-Bowl-XXL-smoking-shisha-special-edition.html"]Saphire Power Bowl XXL, smoking shisha special edition (red/yellow design)[/url] Silly version of the Power Bowl. No, really. Good for shisha you wanted to use up. Fast. Two [url="http://www.smoking-shisha.de/de/WSV/Kaya-Mini-Phunnel-Bowl-blau-weiss-blau.html"]Kaya Mini Phunnel[/url] bowls - ceramic crap as far as I know, but for 1.50 euros each I'll try em. plus some grommets & foil. Am all excited... reviews will follow as and when. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaz1337 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Those look incredible!!! A genuine contender for the Tangier's Phunnel? Only time will tell. Smoking Pics and reviews up asap!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epoch Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I wonder if we'll be seeing those from US vendors any time... The Power Bowl is pretty nice looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Chaz1337: yup, I have every intention of reviewing 'em all in due course. Reviews may take a little while in coming, though, as I'll likely test each bowl 2-3 times with 2-3 different tobaccos before I reach a firm verdict. Epoch: I'd like to hope so, they seem to be receiving rave reviews in Germany and if they're half as well made as the Germans seem to think they are, they deserve to become a big international brand. The biggest potential problem I see with this is that they are manufactured in West Germany (think European labour rates, plus taxes), which means firstly that they are fundamentally expensive and secondly, that the euro/dollar conversion will make them look even more expensive in the USA. Speaking as a Brit, I've just got me a good deal. Imported Alien Phunnels here go for £18 or so, imported Power Bowls are £16-£20, imported Hot Shot bowls are £20, so paying 13 euros / £11 for the Power Bowls and 9 euros / £8 for the Hot Shots soon justifies shipping them from Germany. The above order came to 100 euros / £87 / $136 including shipping to the UK. Factor in shipping to the USA and it would have been 137 euros / $187 - ok, that's not utterly implausible at $30 a bowl, but stick a profit margin on it, and it soon would be. I think if the design turns out to be any good, you'll see US manufacturers produce their own versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Wow, some awesome looking bowls! No wonder you're excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzbizz Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Wow those are really some gorgeous bowls. I can't wait for the reviews! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoapplesplease Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 nice, I too have been eyenig those saphire power bowls..cant wait to hear how it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chreees Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Well aren't those some neat little bowls. Very interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaffaaf27 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 so german manufacturer, rather than chinese? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antouwan Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 ummm not to be rude but looks like scheiße. but then again, the pictures weren't all that stellar and i haven't heard anything about them. better quality/more detailed pictures would be best. i haven't heard anything, so it will be at least somewhat interesting to see how all of that goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcane Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 looks nice, but also looks like the chinese knockoffs... if/when you do get them, let us know what material they're made out of... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 With the caveat that I have not been able to find a website for the manufacturer, and therefore that this is what I have gleaned from various (but multiple) retailers and reviews: 1) Yup, they're German-made, apparently the production facilities are in Germany. With apologies for the translatese, [size=2][i]"[/i][color=#222222][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][i]The head is manufactured by Sapphire in Germany and is made of real clay. Most heads were so far out of plaster-like infantil. The[/i][/font][/color][color=#222222][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][i] sound quality in earthenware which offers very good stability.[/i][i] [/i][i]Through the production location Germany the quality is consistently good."[/i] [/font][/color][/size] 2) Per the above, they're real clay. One [url="http://shisha-lamar.de/showthread.php/607-Testbericht-Saphire-Phunnel-vs.-Kaya-Phunnel-vs.-Shisha-King-Phunnel"]decidedly unbiased German review[/url] reports the Saphire Funnel as weighing 171g and confirms that it is well made. For comparison, I just weighed a 7cm Egyptian bowl (~160g) and a Vortex (~100g)... admittedly they're slightly smaller, but, the heft alone suggests that this is no Chinese toy bowl. I shall refrain from saying much more until I've got them; for all I know they might turn out to be useless - but I'm quietly optimistic. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmccoy90 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 I think the important thing to keep in mind is that all these bowls have an innovation in some way that we haven't come across in the states. They're a little different, and that alone makes them worth trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahl071 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 innovative in what way? they may be well made, but there's nothing really new about them. shape may have changed slightly, but all these exist in one form or another here in the states. I'm kinda interested in reviews, but honestly, I can't get them, so it's whatev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 [quote name='rahl071' timestamp='1295972659' post='495693'] innovative in what way? they may be well made, but there's nothing really new about them. shape may have changed slightly, but all these exist in one form or another here in the states. I'm kinda interested in reviews, but honestly, I can't get them, so it's whatev. [/quote] I'm inclined to agree, these are likely to be of more practical interest to those of us in Europe (where a Tangiers Phunnel is not easy or cheap to obtain) than to those of you in the US, where you can get something similar or possibly better. Most of them seem to be based on a hybrid of various US designs (though I haven't seen anything akin to the Hot Shot). For us, though, we're flooded with cheap-and-nasty Vortexes (should that be Vortices?) and not-so-cheap-but-still-nasty Phunnel clones, so these are pretty much at the top end of what's available in the European market. Which (hopefully) makes them interesting in their own right, but probably not in direct competition with what's manufactured in the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmccoy90 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 We certainly don't have anything like the hot shot here, nor an inexpensive alternative to the Tangiers phunnel (which I'm certain isn't worth nearly the value we give it; I think it's more a status symbol). If this company can do both of those well, I'm all for giving them a fair shot if it's practical for me to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcane Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 [quote name='kmccoy90' timestamp='1295994147' post='495715'] We certainly don't have anything like the hot shot here, nor an inexpensive alternative to the Tangiers phunnel (which I'm certain isn't worth nearly the value we give it; I think it's more a status symbol). If this company can do both of those well, I'm all for giving them a fair shot if it's practical for me to do so. [/quote] The Hot Shot is just a small/shallow egyptian. There's plenty of those around, even outside of the US. A Tangiers phunnel isn't that expensive either, less than $20 from the most expensive vendor. If you want something similar (and cheaper), then get the chinese for $10 or less. Like magick said, depending on the quality of the materials...it just gives the non-US based population cheaper alternative to Tangiers phunnels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well, it's all here and so far I'm VERY happy. It's all got here, present and correct, in less than a week. We're currently half an hour into smoking a Hot Shot bowl of Nak DA, with less than a [b]teaspoon[/b] of shisha in there, and three people are in agreement that it's the best smoke we've had this week. Photos and reviews to follow; I am still in disbelief that it smokes at all, let alone that it smokes THIS well for what it is. I want to go outside and ceremonially smash my Vortex with a big hammer. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a cliche affair Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I think any company will be hard pressed to produce a bowl that smokes as well as a tangiers phunnel, but these seem interesting. Looking forward to a full review with pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cheng Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Pics or I dont believe you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaffaaf27 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 LOL cheng! Yes please a review. Including video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magick777 Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 I'm working on it... am not used to doing video, and may hold off on issuing a firm review until I've used it a couple more times with different tobaccos, but pics & first impressions should hopefully be up later this evening... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abzy Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I am also intersted in these bowls. seeing as i live in the UK. let us know how they are pics and all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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