Another Thread Of Not Much Importance

[Balthazar]

So I recently made an order from Hookah John. For the last three years I've made no more than four orders in total (could be three or five, its not like I went through my whole inbox trying to confirm, but I'm pretty sure four is the number). Seeing how shipping to Norway is pretty expensive I've tried to make the orders just about the right size to fulfill my hookah needs for one year. Seeing how I only smoke once a week (sometimes twice, but very rarely) this doesn't require massive orders, but there's always a couple og KGs. A noticeable pattern in these purchases is how I'm constantly going for a more narrow range of different flavors, and even more so brands. I used to order some Nakhla, Tangiers, AF, and in my earlier days I would usually include whatever seemed to be getting a lot of love around here. Starbuzz, Fusion, Fumari enoyed a short period of inclusion in my stash.

But as the years went by I sort of got sick of trying new flavors, often getting disappointed, knowing the next order would be far ahead. Starbuzz, Fusion, Fumari and a lot of other brands were only orderes once. Never found any flavor woth spending money on (although I should add that I tried no more than 3-4 different ones from each of these brands). I stopped ordering Tangiers (with the exception of K-Peach and K-Cherry) after I no longer had any success acclimating these. And after the controversion period of "bad batches" of grape I stopped ordering AF as well, with the exception of Cardemomme (for mixing). My most recent order was all Nakhla, plus a 250g of AF Melon (which I remember liking very much). There's a good chance this pattern will be repeated over the next couple of years.

Like a lot of other members I really think Nakhla is as good as it gets. I mainly stick to Double Apple, Sweet Melon, Mandarin, Mint and a couple of Mizo's (grape and guava is my favorites). With Nakhla I'm never let down, the flavor is stong and lasts long, the heat management is ridiculously easy, and it packs just the right buzz for me to be able to enjoy it both when I'm relaxing and listening to music, and when I'm studying. But what I'm starting to notice is that even withing the Nakhla family I'm narrowing down the flavors. These days all I really want to smoke is Double Apple or Sweet Melon + Mint. And so that's what I've been doing. I even dedicated a leather hose to DA alone (I've never dedicated a hose to a single flavor before, since I only have three hoses (although I did buy two awesome leather hoses in Istanbul this winter, but they're at my family's house waiting to be picked up around easter)). Today I had what might have been my best session ever, just enjoying the delicious DA (the flavor so strong it tasted what I imagine licking the molasses would) while listening to [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy3quQ6JtqM"]DDay One[/url] (check it out, I'm sure members such as Giant Ninja Robot will love it), and later while getting some reading done. I've always loved the DA, but I'm starting to enjoy it more than ever before.

I'm not sure what this thread is about, just felt like scribbleing this down. I think it might be about me finally settleing on a handful of flavors and calling the game of "trying new things" quit. Might not be permanent, but right now it feels like it'll last for a while. How about you guys, do you have a lot of flavors from different brands you smoke frequently, or do you mostly stick to the same ones?

[agunn1231]

i tend to try different tangiers flavors, but one flavor i always have is Nak DA...i've found it mixes well with Nak sweet mellon, but i love just straight DA.

[king_lunchb0x]

i must say nakhla is like a staple..... its been alway consistent and easy to manage. i fall back on it after a few bad experiences with new flavors

[peaceman27]

my saudi arabian foreign exchange student just gave me 250g of nak DA. he said its what him and all his friends have donated all of their hookahs towards. I'll admit its pretty good, but I'm always coming back to Al Fakher's mint and pomegranate.

I've had some bad experiences with different hookah brands... but the guy at the local tobacco mart told me to try jewels and i think i found some new favorites (apricot and wild berry (it could be triple berry?))

[magick777]

I dunno, I think one develops general preferences, but if you lose the enjoyment of trying new stuff, for me that would detract in a big way from the whole enjoyment of hookah. I guess it all depends how much you've tried, and what is available to you. I also smoke a lot of Nak, partly by free choice and partly because it's far and away the easiest and cheapest thing to get in the UK. But, in 5 years plus of occasional smoking, I haven't tried everything Nak produces yet.

So, for me, there's still a lot of excitement in trying other brands; I've had one batch of Tang Lucid and was so impressed by the sheer longevity of the stuff that I also plan to give Noir a good run. Other than that one exception, I have a general bias against American shisha on the grounds of cost / value for money / availability in Europe relative to the Middle Eastern stuff - which is no reflection on the products or my likely enjoyment of them if I could obtain them cheaply.

And in the middle of all that, when I don't know what I want to smoke, Nak works well, it's a good fallback, but I plan to keep pitting it against any other half decent unwashed tobaccos I can find...

[Chaz1337]

Im with you man. I had a solid year of sprinting through trying new flavors and building a nice full library flavors. Now that Ive tried so many and been let down a handful of times I've settled down with a nice collection of go-to smokes. Granted whenever I place an prder I will usually throw in one or two flavors I havent tried but for the most part I stick to my guns (in one holster Tangiers and the other Nakhla).

This includes...

Nakhla: Mint, Mizo Anything (still havent had grape or gum ), Earl Grey, Cardamom, Mandarin, and Sweet Melon

Tangiers (assorted Noir and Lucid): Static Starlight, Kashmir Cherry, Maraschino Cherry, Horchata, Mimon, Orange Soda and Blue Gum Ball.

Never been a huge fan of DA but I've only had Romman and AF (Original DA and #2)

So yea I totally know what you mean.