Authentic Hookah Etiquette

[Ain Soph Aur]

Who still goes by these? It seems now that its so popular hookah etiquette has taken a back seat. One thing I've noticed is alot of people here smoke alone quite often. Doesnt this go against hookah etiguette? What about putting your hookahs on tables? I realize it's much easier and all but isnt the hookah supposed to be bellow you? What about taking at least 30 seconds between puffs? Not handing the hookah hose to a friend, instead put it down and let him take it?
Now I'm not saying I do none of these, I've probably done all of them at one point, I'm just asking cause I see a few people get mad when someome suggest putting anything other then shisha in their bowl. I've never done it myself but it just seems like a contradiction when someone goes off on the mere idea of it. I try and practise good hookah etiqutte as much as possible. Do you?

[Scalliwag]

Hell, I am from Texas and we cannot even speak proper english here, 99% of us anyways. It is in no way meaning to be disrespectful to anybody. I understand when people are of a culture and others appear to be disrespecting it but it is not like a religion to some of us and our ignorance is pretty bliss. Some middle eastern cultures treat women like likestock.... but so does a lot of white trash inbreds and others from other walks of life.
So just because someone from the middle east is rude to a woman I would keep in mind that a lot of people here are the same way.
Same with salad forks and the "proper" way to drink tea or eating with chop sticks at asian restaurants..... I am not trying to be disrespectful at any of those things, it's just a lot of formalities that don't fit my lifestyle.
 
I absolutely love to meet and watch people from different cultures and so many interesting things they do but I hope for a lot of tolerance because I am such a mess. I believe in having a lot of tolerance because it gives time to sort through things before you react.
We have a culture of cultures in America and a lot of other places now. We see certain aspects of certain cultures and mimic the parts we like and that we find fun and entertaining.
 
When my company flies me places I get to fly in first class. It is roomy and I like it and I get to drink for free They bring me a beer in can and then a little glass to drink it in and I always refuse the glass. I have caught more than a few looks because I am sitting there drinking a can of beer. Some of the people I am sure are thinking what the hell ever lowly thing they are thinking. I always figured it was just dumb to pour the beer in that little glass.
One flight I found that my way was a lot better because we went through a cloud that felt like we hit a wall. Quite a few people were wearing the drinks they had in their little glass by the time everything quit bouncing except for my hillbilly arse drinking out of a can and as anyone that knows me would expect I pointed out to those in the immediate area that they ought to drink from cans.... hehe!!!
 
Please don't take the response wrong. Some of us dance to a beat of a different drum and we don't hold it against anyone that don't play life by our rules. So just try an tolerate my dumbass  

[djnick]

There is no ettiquette per se. Its just like a eating out at a restraunt, your not expected to eat a certain way. I think since its become so modernized that its really up to the hookah bar you go to or what your friends think.

[Calcartman]

I've smoked alone; but I try not too for 2 reasons. 1, Its a good sign of addiction, and 2 part of the reason I enjoy hookah is the social gathering around it.I put the hookah on the table because thats where everything else that serves me goes; and its where I can watch it.I'm perfectly happy to lay the hose down, but If they're going to pick it right up, I'll hand it to them. I don't follow the ettiquete simply because to me they are rules, and like any other rules, I follow the ones that make sense; or are enforced.

[Lakemonster]

From an earlier question, I have found that religeon doesnt even come into play.
 
The "rules" seem to stem from the idea that using a hookah another way simply puts the hookah in danger....
 
Then theres the "dont point  the hose at other smokers rule". Us Westerners dont view it as a faux pas. It doenst carry the same meaning to us.
 
Perhaps a case of: "where you is, is wehre you at." type thing.
 
Texas.... w00t!
 

[DownZero]

I somewhat follow that etiquette.. I don't put my hookah on top of tables... but thats also just common sense - I don't want it to fall to it's doom and also have the coal fly 10 feet away and burn something. Plus it isn't convenient since my hookah is 34'... I do pass the hookah to the person, not place it on the table, to me it's kind of pointless. It just seems easier to just hand the hose off.  I only smoke shisha in my hookah.. actually, shisha is the only thing I smoke and i do prefer to smoke in groups, not that I have never smoked alone. It's just more enjoyable in a group. To Scalliwag... I'm also from Texas... and I don't think it's Texas with poor english, it's the country in general.. The language is being changed as time progresses, it's terrible... not to say I speak perfect english. heh

[MrGuy]

hmmm, i follow some etiquette, mainly because my first experience, we smoked with the owners of the bar for a bit who were iranian, so they stuck strong. it was things like not put the hookah on the table, not lighting cigs on the coals, not ashing in the tray (i don't smoke cigs but some people we were with do) one of my mates who i smoke with most (because he has a hokah) likes to stick to the etiquette, so i always end up passing him the hose with the butt end of the thing first, so its not pointing at him.The guys at Arya (the shisha bar) told us that handing the hose to a friend with it pointing at them effectvely mean "f*ck you" in persia (well, what was persia) so we occaisionally joke round with this.the second time i did it was a house party, and there were a load of emo/skater kids with us, and they found it really hard to grasp the concept of etiquette and respect. it didnt bother me but my friend (Who's hookah it was) was getting a bit pee'd off. But i also got pretty offended (don't know why) when they asked to put weed in it - jackasses.so ye, in generally, i follow the etiquette when with people i believe would take offence if i didn't. but amongst friends "no-one has any dignity when we're all naked" but clothed.EDIT: in resposne to cymptom, i was typing my post as you typed your so i didn't see it. but in response to the smoking other things in a hookah. i get sort of offended about it, not because of tradition, but as a person, i frown upon illegal substances. I mean it's a bit hypocritical as i can't remember the last weekend i had without at least a can of fosters and im 2 years under the local legal drinking age. i spose mainly because, for example weed. It taste's like poop. its horrible, ive never tried it but ive been round peolpe who are smoking it, and i don't know, it smlls horrrible. i don't see why anyone would endure inhaling that kind of hot, nasty tasting smoke just to get high and escape reality a bit. thats jsut my opinion though.And it's annoying being labelled with "druggie" (which i have about 4 times today, as a lot of people just found out about my hookah habbits) and i dont think letting people smoke things other than tobacco in a hookah, be it traditional or not, is going to improve the general connotation and social implications of hookah smoking

[Scalliwag]

[quote name='DownZero']To Scalliwag... I'm also from Texas... and I don't think it's Texas with poor english, it's the country in general.. The language is being changed as time progresses, it's terrible... not to say I speak perfect english. heh[/quote]
 
It is probably more the twang of our voices here and the South in general. I moved to the L.A. area for 5 years when I was a kid and really took a ribbing from the other kids. When we moved back here and we heard everybody talking I wondered how the hell everybody turned into such hicks in such a short time [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif[/img] Words like ya'll and all the southern slang along with the twang amuse the hell out of people in areas that don't talk or sound like us. [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif[/img]

[DizzyGuy]

[quote name='Scalliwag'][quote name='DownZero']To Scalliwag... I'm also from Texas... and I don't think it's Texas with poor english, it's the country in general.. The language is being changed as time progresses, it's terrible... not to say I speak perfect english. heh[/quote]
 
It is probably more the twang of our voices here and the South in general. I moved to the L.A. area for 5 years when I was a kid and really took a ribbing from the other kids. When we moved back here and we heard everybody talking I wondered how the hell everybody turned into such hicks in such a short time [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif[/img] Words like ya'll and all the southern slang along with the twang amuse the hell out of people in areas that don't talk or sound like us. [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/forum/smileys/smiley36.gif[/img][/quote]And the yankee accent is usually just annoying   Damn yankees.  BTW, I was born and raised in Texas and my dad still lives there... I'm currently living in Alabama, so I know ALLLL about the southern twang :DIt's not that I have anything against "proper etiquette"... it's just I don't think about it at the time and it's just not one of my habits... I have a 35" or something like that Hookah so it's usually sitting on the bottom of a flipped over end table thing on the ground... added support from the ground   But yeah, I LOVE bringing my hookah to social gatherings and the like, but I usually just smoke by myself.  I think it'd be sweet to pimp a room and make it basically into a middle eastern feeling place where to smoke and chill with company... oh well, that costs $$$ that I don't have

[cymptom]

[quote name='MrGuy']EDIT: in resposne to cymptom, i was typing my post as you typed your so i didn't see it. but in response to the smoking other things in a hookah. i get sort of offended about it, not because of tradition, but as a person, i frown upon illegal substances. I mean it's a bit hypocritical as i can't remember the last weekend i had without at least a can of fosters and im 2 years under the local legal drinking age. i spose mainly because, for example weed. It taste's like poop. its horrible, ive never tried it but ive been round peolpe who are smoking it, and i don't know, it smlls horrrible. i don't see why anyone would endure inhaling that kind of hot, nasty tasting smoke just to get high and escape reality a bit. thats jsut my opinion though.And it's annoying being labelled with "druggie" (which i have about 4 times today, as a lot of people just found out about my hookah habbits) and i dont think letting people smoke things other than tobacco in a hookah, be it traditional or not, is going to improve the general connotation and social implications of hookah smoking[/quote] Well, for one thing, if you're gonna talk about the smoke itself, comparing hookah marijuana use to non-hookah marijuana use (smelly, hot nasty smoke) is like comparing shisha to cigarettes. There are people who find in drugs a mere escape of reality, and then there are people who find in drugs an opportunity to observe a different sort of reality. A lot of people will tell you that beer tastes like piss, and that the effects of alcohol are more restricted to an "escape of reality" type of experience.... fratboys throwing couches down stairs, getting girls pregnant... you know the story. This could get into a whole other debate which doesn't really belong here, but my point is that you should be cautious with the labeling and generalization if you don't want to offend someone yourself. The problem is not so much that we have a few stoners here and there trying to figure out how to use the hookah for drug use -- the problem is that hookah smoking is relatively new in Western culture, and waterpipes still hold a strong association with drugs. It's going to take a bit of time to go away, but I think that as long as the younger generations of today know that the hookah isn't primarily for drug use, which I think they do for the most part, down the road people won't jump to calling hookah smokers druggies any more than we call cigarette smokers potheads. Most people, especially the people who are most enthusiastic about hookah, don't use it for drugs... and these are the people who are going to have the most effect on the machine's future reputation.But to clear up my previous post... when I was talking about putting anything other than tobacco in the hookah, I didn't mean to restrict that topic to marijuana use...

[htdsngup]

I think observing "triditions" is fun. Unfortunantly, we dont really kno them but we do have our own sort of ritual. Me n my boys always take off our shoes and sit in a circle never handing but just laying the hose on the table for the next person. I mean im pretty sure im doing a few things wrong, like ashing my cigarettes in the tray (you have to clean it anyways, might as well not have to clean an ash tray too) but i mean its all about time to relax, not having to follow or remembering a set of rules. Not to disrepect anyone.

[MrGuy]

cymptom: in response, i didn't mean any offence, but in my opinion, smoking cigarette's (which i have tried in the past) isn't really a pleasurable experience, in taste or sensation, so i find it pointless. But young people of today (certainly here in UK) don't know that hookah is meant for tobacco. as mentioned, this week, i've lost a lot of respect from good friends of mine. it's not a pleasent experience having people you've been friends with for 10+ years turn round and say they think you're a druggie and they thought you were going to go far in life but now you're not because you smoke hookah, just because their misinformed or they're letting stereotyping take over. But thats another story for another thread (which im going to fire up in seirous discussions) I just think that smoking anything other than tobacco, be it marijuana or tea leaves, if it isn't shisha, i think it's going to give people the wrong impression and isn't going to do any favours in the war of proving hookah smoking isnt just for "druggie's" and that the hookah now is intended to be used to smoke shishaDISCLAIMER: all of the above is my own opinion, no offence is intended.Back on topic. Certain parts of etiqutte and sticking to tradition just feel right. Like when i go to Arya, they have an atmosphere, and they play like eastern music. i can't imagine that atmosphere with some heavy thrash-metal playing in the background (i wouldn't be complaining) but it wouldn't sound right.And the thing about not putting it on the table is just practical. Arya has like huge 30"+ beasts which, even when sat on quite high chairs, its still practical to put on the floor and putting them on a table is asking for trouble. However, when i get my QT, it would probably be impractal to put it on the floor unless im sat on the floor too.

[cymptom]

No worries MrGuy, I wasn't trying to imply that I was offended. I wasn't really saying that cigarette smoking is good... I'm not much of a cigarette smoker myself, I just enjoy a fine hand-rolled tobacco from time to time, especially with a bourbon on ice But yeah... I don't think that smoking boxed cigarettes for the most part is supposed to be an actively enjoyed experience. I was merely pointing out that the hot nasty marijuana smoke you referred to comes from the herb burning, so unless people are dropping coals directly on top of the herb, that's not how it's going to be when it's used in the hookah. It's really besides the point though.If your friends are leaving you after 10 years without even giving you so much as the benefit of the doubt, need I tell you that they're some pretty crappy friends? My younger brother's best friend is hardcore straight-edge, the kind of guy who would never even consider trying anything that involved bringing any kind of foreign substance into your body, including drinking alcohol. When he first saw me and my brother smoking hookah he was kinda pissed and probably felt a little betrayed, like your friends probably felt. For the first few times he wouldn't even sit in the same room as us while we smoked. But what kind of friend would think that, because suddenly you've decided to smoke hookah, you're now a different person from the one he's known, one who's headed nowhere? It would be foolish to make the judgment even if you WERE doing drugs. My brother's friend came to understand that we weren't getting high and now it's become a positive experience -- he doesn't smoke, of course... but he's still one more person to help demystify the hookah.As I was saying before, hookah gets associated with drugs because drug culture has completely dominated waterpipe smoking in the West up until the past 5 years or so. It's not going to hurt if we've got a few people here and there trying to use it to smoke weed -- if someone buys a hookah with the sole intention of using it for drugs they're likely to realize they'd have been better off buying a bong anyway. If you really want to help demystify the machine, take it outside every time you smoke. Let all the people walking down the street see you and wonder "Can that guy [i]really[/i] be smoking drugs right out here in the open?" A few times last semester I got a group of people together to smoke hookah out in front of the campus museum. Had a drum circle going too... it was pretty neat. Really caught a lot of people's attention though -- campus safety threw a glance our way but never said anything, professors came over interested in what we were doing. Of course I had to go through the whole hookah explanation a few times and that gets tiring after a while, but hey that's how people learn. We even got a few people to try the smoke, and of course they were shocked as to how pleasant it was. One of the secretaries from an academic building came over and was talking for us for a little while when finally she asked "Hey... what else do you guys smoke in that thing? Cause you know.... I'm from the 60s " Of course we assured her that it's primarily for smoking flavored tobacco. Ahhh... all in a days work Anyway, getting closer to the topic again -- yea hookah smoking music should be rather chill. Again though, I don't need tradition to tell me not to listen to metal while I'm smoking. It's interesting though -- I only really enjoy traditional Eastern music while I smoke if I'm out in a hookah lounge that maintains that kind of atmosphere. It's important for the music to harmonize with the environment in which your smoking. When I smoke at home I tend to listen to jazzy drum & bass, ambient lounge type stuff. Check out the album "Numero Deux" by The Dining Rooms... it's great stuff.

[MrGuy]

ye, i think you got it in one with the "you're now a different person from the one he's known" they all think i'm a different person. hard to convince them im still same old me. I said to them that they're stupid for judging me on something i do that doesn't interfere with them, it's not liek i'm going to ditch them to go smoke. i mean i have made a few new friends through it, but they're decent people so meh. I'm going to start a topic in serious discussions in a moment.back on topic - I actually like listening to a bit of black metal music. not the really heavy deathmetal side of it. but if you've ever heard of dog fashion disco, they're a dark/black metal band, but some of their songs are more jazzy/psycadelic scary sort of. It sounds good. it's regularly descibed as "stoner music" but it sets a good atmosphere for smoking.

[cymptom]

I like a lot of metal too actually... just not while I'm smoking hookah. Funny you should mention Dog Fashion Disco, I was just about to check them out because they're playing a show in August right near my house. I know my friend played some of their music for me before... I think I remember liking it but can't remember what it sounds like. So yeah I'm going to check that out...Ehm... sorry for the off topic post I'm done now!

[MrGuy]

awwww what DAM YOU!!! i hate you! i wanna go see them:( they play a mix of music, some is really like heavy almost deathmetally, and some is like spoof jazzy sorta stuff. i love their latest album (adultery, some great songs on there)Ye im done with my off topic post now.

[mellamobunny]

 i've always thought the rules of etiqette were cultural beliefs about common sense. keeping the hookah low to the ground has been discussed before; it just makes sense. placing the hose down, signaling your turn is done, stops your buddy next to you, anxiously awaiting his turn, from eyeballing you every thirty to four seconds. i've never heard the thirty second thing, but i  guess it stands to reason.i don't like following someone who sucks on the hose like it's a straw and the hookah is a giant milkshake, leaving you the heavenly taste of burnt tobacco and coal. 

[pauldavis]

my old egyptian 4 hose is now left in my friends garage for parties and such, and we tend to enjoy a lot of bud...but i did not want to use my hookah for it. but now that i have my QT i guess i sorta "retired" my old one from shisha and finally let my friends smoke bud out of it...i guess what i am trying to say is that it should be a personal thing for each hookah smoker to decide (think of people who use tin foil to make bowls...is there ettiquette for that?) sorry, this is late in the thread, but i still wanted to say itp.s. my friends said they had never been so high before they smoked up out of my hookah

[xpimpitox]

Well I usually smoke alone because no one else in my household smokes hookah and I smoke late at night when my friends are too lazy to come by lol. But puttin the hookah on the floor is something i do practice since i got my new one. its tall so its perfectly level for me 2 play with the coals as i smoke. when i smoke alone I either read or have music going...mostly my mexican rancheras but once in a while i put on some arabic cd's my friend burned for me...the beats of the tabla or dumbek(sp?) are so soothing while your smoking it really enhances the mood especially with a group of my buddies

[c4r80n]

There was once a proper way to do everything. even battle.things change, cultures merge. you can still do it proper, but it shouldn't be required.

[Sonthert]

I was taught by several Arabic people that the proper way to share was to turn the hose around pointing the tip towards yourself and grabbing the hose to make a U shape and hand it to someone, again the tip pointing towards yourself. I always received compliments about how polite I was in my etiquette.As Scalliwag implied, its like a salad fork or rolling up your sleeves or not putting your elbows on the table. These are rules that are observed out of politeness by smokers from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Emirates, and Saudi Arabia (the people I know that I have smoked with). Some people drink beer out of a can, they have no idea that some people think its rude (me, for one). Here are the rules I am familiar with:1. Don't place your hookah on the table. Hookahs and tobacco are Haram (sp?), dirty. A table is a place for food, for cleanliness. Halal states that no dirty thing shall contaminate clean places, or it is dirty forever. Halal butchers observe this closely, throwing away things that were touched by pig or other meat not slaughtered by a person of the three right religions (Christianity, Judiasm and Islam). A person putting a hookah on a table in some countries is an invitation to fight.2. Pass your hose bottom first, with the tip pointing towards yourself, like scissors. Putting it down on the table is fine, but passing it directly to the next person is considered more polite, serving them, helping them in a manner. 3. Hookahs are not cigarette accessories, ashing a cigarette or worse, putting a cigarette butt out in the tray is considered by many to be quite rude. There's a really great guy who owns a hookah lounge here in San Diego who will absolutely freak if he sees you putting a cigarette out in a tray.4. Lighting cigarettes on a coal from someone's hookah is also thought to be quite rude.

[MrGuy]

yup, i've been taught pretty much the same as tangiers by our local lounge owner.