What Kind Of Hookah To Buy For A Hookah Lounge

[lgl84]

Hi all,

Im in process of opening a hookah lounge. Im at the early stages and would like to ask you hookah loves what kinds of hookahs do u usually see in hookah lounges in USA and canada and what would you like to see. I would also like to know of few distributors of hookahs and shisha - preferably canadian

Thanks for taking the time to read the post.

[TheyCallMeDave]

I typically see Khalil Mamoons, Magdy Zidan and Mya hookahs.

For shisha, I typically see Al Fakher brand shisha, and some kind of "Specialty shisha" Tangiers, Starbuzz, Fantasia.

[mushrat]

I went with a different approach with Hookah Bliss. I used Mya QT's. They were inexpensive, sturdy, hard to tip over, and I could have 5 or 6 on a table and there was still room to drink and you could see the person accross from you. I had the occasional skeptic who wanted a bigger pipe, but I told them to try smokeing from one of these first and then decide. Never heard a complaint out of them after that.
I also sold a shit load of them because people would ask "how much do hookahs cost?" and i'd point and say "that one you are using is $45 and includes a roll of charcoal and a box of tobacco." Made a lot of sales that way I'll tell ya.

My lounge wasn't set up as a Traditional Middle Eastern lounge so I could get away with modern hookahs.

I also served SB, Tangiers, Al Amir, Layalina, Al Fakher, Nakhla, and in the end Social Smoke.

Getting this stuff in Canada is gonna cost you though.

[Cp44]

90% of the time I see KM's in the lounges the other 10% its the Mya Acryllic.

[Chreees]

I'd do as Mush says. What I plan on doing if I ever open my own place. Just makes sense business-wise.

[Hassouni]

Get Temsahs, they're rock solid and cheaper than KMs. Mya acrylics are too, but aren't very traditional

[Yasseah]

I always thought MYA Divas would be a good little hookah for a lounge.

[img]http://www.hookah-shisha.com/store/pc/catalog/Diva-1-Smoke-M.jpg[/img]

[lgl84]

Hey guys ... really appreciate all the feed back... this guy told me to look into Egypt Hookah... ???? also hows Red Royal Tobacco.. I'm looking for the herbal ones and 3 kings for coal ..

Again thanks a lot for taking the time

[r1v3th3ad]

I never heard of that tobacco.

By Egypt hookah, he means traditionals, brands such as Magdy Zidan, Khalil Mamoon, and Temsah


If you want good business, stay away from 3 Kings for your charcoal...they leave a funky taste. Go with naturals...there are many many to choose from. Off the top of my head, my favorites are Starlight, Al Fakher, Coconaru, and CH(pm me if you want the full name, part of the name of them is a banned word) for coconut coals...and then I also like Exoticas finger coals(just got a box and they are perfect heat)

[joytron]

if I had a lounge I would just use bulk coals (i.e. lemonwood)

[Hassouni]

[quote name='joytron' timestamp='1298650544' post='499449']
if I had a lounge I would just use bulk coals (i.e. lemonwood)
[/quote]

Precisely! It will also carve a niche for your place as a specialty hookah place because using wood coals demands a lot more attention. When you get served real coals, some guy comes by every 5-10 mins to take care of the coals. That's quality right there.

[lgl84]

Hey guys ,

I understand its hard to import shisha tobacco to Canada from the US. However i was thinking if i only need ti import herbal tobacco which doesn't have nicotine will i face the same issues.

Thanks

[ilikemyusername]

[quote name='lgl84' timestamp='1299359335' post='500385']
Hey guys ,

I understand its hard to import shisha tobacco to Canada from the US. However i was thinking if i only need ti import herbal tobacco which doesn't have nicotine will i face the same issues.

Thanks
[/quote]

i wouldn't imagine so.

[Chreees]

I've heard that in some places the government treats herbal the same as regular shisha. Not sure that applies to Canada, though.

[bigasif]

I see you're in Toronto too and thinking of opening it somewhere here. Which part of Toronto are you thinking about. I don't know, but I feel that herbal shisha tastes horrible, and if a place only has herbal shisha, I stay away. In terms of tobacco, many canadians still order from across the border online and most of the time don't run into customs issues. If you just order in reasonable size orders, you should be fine. If you do it continuously, you might get dinged with customs eventually, but even then, factoring it into your price shouldn't be too bad.

Lounges in Toronto charge anywhere from $10-$18 a pipe, and each head barely has much tobacco. And at that, the only tobacco lounges anywhere in Toronto use is either Nakhla or AF, 2 of the cheapest brands you can order.

Aladdins in Mississauga apparently now only uses herbal shisha, and I visited once about 10 months ago, and the shisha wasn't too bad, so you might get away with it - plus no need for a tobacco license really, as far as I know.

Most pipes I see in lounges here are Egyptian pipes or other cheap ones. I've seen some KM's but nothing much and I've been to most shisha lounges in Toronto, since there aren't TOO many of them. I think you can get away with cheap Egyptian ones...but if you want to make a mark, use quality pipes - KM, Mya, MZ. People will come to your lounge and will get quality and this will make them return.

Serving premium shisha such as Tangiers and Starbuzz for some, would also be smart since I haven't seen a single lounge here that does that. To them, AF is high quality, while Nak is the cheaper one. Only one lounge I know of sells shisha for $10 a pipe, and the rest are minimum 12, but usually about 15. So you could definitely get some good business if you get the place going well.

Also, having natural coals, like everyone said, would be a good difference between you and the rest. They all use quicklites here, except one place I've been to used to use Naturals, now they use QL's too. The taste is bad, so avoid them if you can, though 90% of the hookah smokers in Toronto don't even know what naturals are

Good luck!

[lgl84]

Hey Bigasif,
Really appreciate you feed back. ... We legally only let herbal shisha to be smoked inside... that prop why you see it all over toronto. I know if sux but tough luck... I wouldnt go cheap on the Hookahs, i was thinking of buying Khalil Mamoon.. what do u think. Also for coal was thinking of buying excotica ..What do u think ? they are natual coals rite ?? lol .... as for herbal shisha i have only seen two brands....

any idea guys ...
again thanks for all the feed back

[antouwan]

hookahs:
[b]temsaah shamadan/candelstick style[/b] - those pipes are solid, will last you the longest, and have great gauges in the pipes = better air flow = better clouds

coals:
[b]natural lemon wood[/b] - cheap and authentic. keep your guys around servicing them every 15 minutes and you'll be golden.

tobacco (substitute)
salaam, hydro, (maybe nakhla?)

it isn't too hard to get some 50g samples of the stuff and try out the herbals to see which one you like.

i suggest offering both - herbal and tobacco, with different pricing schemes. if customers can get real tobacco from other neighboring lounges, why should they skip you up and go there? they want the product, so sell it to them; you just be passing along the taxes charged by the gvt to them - so it won't be costing you anything extra.