Have You Ever Thrown A Pipe In The Trash?

[magick777]

I've just picked up ~550g of Nak DA for £15 delivered, came as one lot with a crappy toy-sized Egyptian shisha pipe, about a foot high. Can't exactly complain, as the tobacco alone, in a carton of 50g packs, is worth two to three times what I paid and the pipe has effectively cost me nothing.

So I looked at the pipe and found the vase was heavier and better made than I imagined; it looked to be worth at least trying. Loaded up the microscopic Egyptian bowl (which I've since broken) with some Nak, fired it up, and... nothing. Heart of the pipe is leaking (purge isn't properly sealed) and, while it draws enough air through the stem/bowl to bubble, it's clear that the path of least resistance is through the broken purge; the stem, at least, is worthless and doesn't look like an easy fix. For some reason, I find myself annoyed by this and reluctant to consign the whole thing to the dustbin; I always want to make things work. So I start thinking maybe I should toss the stem and salvage the vase; who knows, I might come across a nice 12" stem one day. Why do I start thinking this? I know full well that as soon as I put a full size hose on, the pipe threatens to fall over under the weight of the hose; nice though it might be, that vase isn't stable enough to be worth a shit unless I buy a short, lightweight hose for the purpose. (update: I just put an Egyptian hose on it, and it did fall over, right into my lap. No burns, thankfully, but this thing is a liability. What I really need to do is to take the whole pipe - stem, vase, crappy hose, broken bowl, badly-fitting windcover, silly little case and all, and dump it ceremonially into the dustbin, thereby preventing it from harming or disappointing any would-be shisha smoker in the future. I don't like it, seems wasteful, but it would be kinder and more socially responsible to dump the pipe than to allow it to fall into the hands of anyone who might try to smoke it.

Why am I so resistant to doing exactly that? Does anyone else have this problem? I think perhaps I just resent wasting anything. What would you do? (taking into account that I bought it for the tobacco and have two perfectly decently working pipes)...

[vendetta_revived]

Wow that sounds like one crappy pipe! You should definitely throw it in the bin so that no other shisha smoker (a new one) comes across it and have a first hand bad experience. You already got what you wanted anyway, you can buy the pipe again just for the shisha....and see if that one is good, you should actually keep the vase for that matter if you want to.....I mean may be the next one will have a good enough stem and a crappy vase ?

I say to throw it away because even if you give it away to someone, you wouldn't be doing the person any good.

PS : I'm moving to UK for studies this september and I do NOT like the prices you're stating!

[Edit] May be you can contact them and ask for a replacement? [/Edit] Edited March 26, 2011 by vendetta_revived

[IainUM]

i hate throwing away anything i got for free, even if it sucks.

that being said, HS is shipping out some pretty shitty hookahs if you make orders over a certain amount. i avoided the problem of having to throw away a useless pipe by opting to get the coals and shit hose that they had for special instead.

[Arcane]

if the pipe actually looks like nice, i'd keep it just as a decorative piece. if it's hideous, i have no issues throwing stuff away.

[magick777]

This was an eBay job, I wouldn't buy from vendors who can afford to give me worthless "free gifts" - thankfully, it wasn't well described and the seller seemed to have no idea that 500g of Nak in sealed packets is worth a lot more than the pipe they listed. They got £15 out of me, less £1.50 in eBay fees, 70p to MF and £4.50 in postage, so I doubt they even made back what they would have paid in Egypt. Still, they've got two or three pints out of it, and I got a carton of Nak, so I'm happy.

The pipe is aesthetically attractive, but, I have enough crap lying around. My thinking at the moment is maybe I'll throw the stem and keep the vase just in case, but, if the vase is too unstable to be safe, I'm not sure that that's a smart idea. I really should toss it out, before I lose momentum and it piles up on the side with the other crap. But, it might wait until I see if I can do anything about it... almost wish I had a lathe, I'd turn a wooden stand/base for the vase...

@vendetta_revived: you can find Nakhla at £10 for 250g here if you know where to look; don't be surprised at £15 for AF. The prices I mention are based on local shops charging £4 for the 50g packs of Nak, and I've seen em go for £6 and more on eBay. We go short on choice (you get what people import), but by UK standards, the cost of shisha is not something you have to worry about. A pint of beer costs typically £3.50, a cup of coffee maybe £2.20, a 25g bowl of shisha works out at £1.00 - £2.00. Sure it's pricier than some countries, but, don't worry, relatively speaking, shisha is an affordable hobby. eBay is good, too, all told I just got 800g of Nak and the crappy pipe for £30 (two separate lots) including delivery, in flavours that are currently out of stock locally. Edited March 26, 2011 by magick777

[king_lunchb0x]

[quote name='magick777' timestamp='1301172277' post='503122']
This was an eBay job, I wouldn't buy from vendors who can afford to give me worthless "free gifts" - thankfully, it wasn't well described and the seller seemed to have no idea that 500g of Nak in sealed packets is worth a lot more than the pipe they listed. They got £15 out of me, less £1.50 in eBay fees, 70p to MF and £4.50 in postage, so I doubt they even made back what they would have paid in Egypt. Still, they've got two or three pints out of it, and I got a carton of Nak, so I'm happy.

The pipe is aesthetically attractive, but, I have enough crap lying around. [b]My thinking at the moment is maybe I'll throw the stem and keep the vase just in case[/b], but, if the vase is too unstable to be safe, I'm not sure that that's a smart idea. I really should toss it out, before I lose momentum and it piles up on the side with the other crap. But, it might wait until I see if I can do anything about it... almost wish I had a lathe, I'd turn a wooden stand/base for the vase...

@vendetta_revived: you can find Nakhla at £10 for 250g here if you know where to look; don't be surprised at £15 for AF. The prices I mention are based on local shops charging £4 for the 50g packs of Nak, and I've seen em go for £6 and more on eBay. We go short on choice (you get what people import), but by UK standards, the cost of shisha is not something you have to worry about. A pint of beer costs typically £3.50, a cup of coffee maybe £2.20, a 25g bowl of shisha works out at £1.00 - £2.00. Sure it's pricier than some countries, but, don't worry, relatively speaking, shisha is an affordable hobby. eBay is good, too, all told I just got 800g of Nak and the crappy pipe for £30 (two separate lots) including delivery, in flavours that are currently out of stock locally.
[/quote]

i say keep the vase maybe someone you know might get use out of it or maybe u can find a good short stout stem...it doesn't need fixing and you can always toss it later....just my [url="page__gopid__503130#"][/url] Edited March 26, 2011 by king_lunchb0x

[r1v3th3ad]

I still have the stem and vase from my first hookah, a shitty mitsuba...the stem is in multiple pieces and missing a hose port, I guess I just don't have the balls to trash it.

Keep the vase, could use it for flowers like I do with mine (unless its way too small for flowers)

[ilikemyusername]

fill the base with concrete and use it as a book end.

[thatonethere]

I ended up trashing my first hookah and keeping the bowl. The thing leaked like no other, plus it was kinda ugly (made out of aluminum as well). If it were me, I'd keep the base and toss the rest.

[Jesse]

I agree with Vendetta, Keep the Vase, get a better stem and bowl and you should be ok. I bet you could probably take a a small MYA or KM stem and fit it with some adaptation of the seal. Other then that, Just get a small pumpkin, or the one I have, which is made by Sapphire, has a big round base that's solid and sturdy, a hose that hits like a charm, and a stainless steel stem. It stands about 14" tall but the hose is easily 2' long. Modding will save you money though, and give you a unique hookah.

As for bowls, most people will hype one over another, but I'm fairly new to it all and love the wide and fairly shallow Egyptian bowl on mine.

[Coyote]

There are a lot of things you can do with the base. Decant wine, use it as a water/ice tea pitcher, put flowers in it, bookend, watering can, piggy bank, etc

I would keep that part. What does it look it?

[Chreees]

Like others have said, pitch the stem and keep the vase. If there's a special little lady in your life, use it for flowers. If not, throw your change from your pockets in it when you get home everyday. Then it builds up and it's off to Coinstar you go! (Or whatever they have in the UK)


Tapatalk'd via iPhone

[IainUM]

or you could make a custom home-made hookah and use this base with it? if you are into that kinda home-made do-it-yourself kinda stuff