yashman19 Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Welcome everyone to my new thread reviewing all that is Stargate Rotator love! I bought this hookah about a month ago and was planning on writing a full review shortly after, but due to some school problems and slightly breaking my digi-cam, I was delayed... Anyways, on to the review.For all of you new people who weren’t around a ways back, I live in Northern California. My friend and I were browsing online looking for possible hookahs to buy and we stumbled upon Taqseem's ebay store, where his Stargate caught our eye. We then noticed that he was based out of Sacramento. We got in contact with Samir and asked if we could make a short drive to his location so we could inspect the hookah in person, and possibly avoid shipping costs, and he made arrangements. We chatted for a couple hours, smoked a few bowls in his lounge and had a great time. Bought the Stargate, and have been a loyal customer ever since. Great company to do business with.Ever since he told me of his plans of making a Stargate rotator, I asked if he would keep me posted, as I definitely loved the original. The day finally came when he got them produced and I had some time to check them out for myself. He explained to me all the different changes he had made to improve upon the original stargate, including a new method for attaching the stem to the base (some of you remember how my threads on my Stargate eventually wore down, which he replaced free of charge ). He now uses very heavy duty materials that don't wear/tear.Anyways, I opted for the bronze/burgundy base color combo rotator with the two hoses. I normally don't like multi-hose hookahs because of their tendency to constrict airflow, but he included a wooden plug for the hose port, so if I want to keep it one hose I can easily. Now I just take out the ball bearing on the auto seal hose I'm using and there is no problem with airflow. Great system.The hookah came with everything needed to smoke sans tobacco/coals. Two gorgeous matching bronze washable hoses with metal tips, a matching red/pinkish Chinese ceramic bowl and grommets. I couldn't get pictures of the glow in the dark stem, seeing as how it’s daytime, but if I smoke later tonight I'll be sure to snap a few pictures. But yeah, all of the Stargate Rotators come with the glow in the dark stem. Also worth mentioning, Samir hooked me up with a replacement glow in the dark stem for my regular Stargate, so I could have matching glowing hookahs, what a nice guy! That’s about all I can think of at the moment, so now, sit back and enjoy my pictures from a session I had just prior to typing this. If you have any picture requests, just let me know.[b]***Please excuse my crappy pictures[/b], like I said, my digi-cam is semi-broken... I had it in my backpack and I managed to crack the lcd screen, so I wasn't able to view my pictures when taking them, or use all the features of my camera...[b]***[/b]Firstly, lets take a look at the smoking location: Notice that while not currently living in my on-campus apt, my summer roomates don't let me smoke inside... Oh well, its been gorgeous outside lately![img]http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5072/img2482fj4.jpg[/img]The beautiful samsonite case all Stargate Rotators come with free of charge: Its heavy duty, and the locking mechanism is pretty nifty to have.[img]http://img336.imageshack.us/img336/2361/img2483ux4.jpg[/img]And whats inside?[img]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9739/img2484dn2.jpg[/img]Picture of the beast in question, along with a few of his brothers:[img]http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/9982/img2485lv3.jpg[/img][img]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/4629/img2487uy4.jpg[/img]A closeup picture of the hookah, so you can get a better idea of the color, and also the UV sensitive paint mentioned:[img]http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8240/img2497jj7.jpg[/img]A water level picture with ice. I just fill it to about the middle of the chamber, and I have no problem with water getting into the hose. Really designed well IMO.[img]http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3153/img2502tj6.jpg[/img]Supplies used: Pharoahs brand fizzy cola tobacco, and the easy light japanese silver coated coals. [img]http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/303/img2489jp8.jpg[/img]I really like the cut of Pharoah's brand tobacco. It's more sticky than gooey like Fakher. Fakher tends to leave a puddle of juice at the bottom of the tub, while pharoah's holds onto all of its ingredients. Here you can see how I basically pack my bowls. I sprinkle in the tobacco so its flush with the top of the bowl, then I gently tap the tobacco down so that it sits just below the top rim. By patting it down just a bit, it provides just enough room so that my coals don't bake it to a crisp.[img]http://img173.imageshack.us/img173/193/img2491ta1.jpg[/img]As for coal managing, these japanese silver coals come in a strip of four square blocks. I break each stick of four blocks into two pieces of 2 blocks, and light them like this.[img]http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9732/img2494dn8.jpg[/img]Be gentle... [img]smileys/smiley36.gif[/img] Here is a picture of me lighting my coals with my super cool Home Depot torch with super cool push button ignition [img]http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/8747/img2499id9.jpg[/img]I just get two of the three sticks glowing with the torch and arrange them on top of my bowl as follows: Don't ask me why I angle them like this at the start, because I don't know. If it ain't broke, don't fix it though right? The most important thing with these coals that I've found out though, is to not sit them in the middle of the bowl. Whenever they get too close to each other or sit in the middle, the two of them give off too much heat and burn the tobacco.. So I will just keep ashing them, and then putting them back onto the bowl spread apart from each other while rotating them every ash.[img]http://img345.imageshack.us/img345/1329/img2500ny4.jpg[/img]After I ash the two original coals a few times and they shrink in size, then I will place them on opposite ends from each other, and set the third fresh coal ontop of the first two. This is so I can have a fresh coal ready to go when the first two start getting too small.[img]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9215/img2506qt1.jpg[/img]And whats a thread without some actions shots eh? I promise to get some better action shots later tonight when the wind dies down.[img]http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/3271/img2503wo7.jpg[/img]This is pretty much what I do when smoking outside. Bring the good ol' laptop out and browse my forums and chat with friends.[img]http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/1158/img2504vr0.jpg[/img]And finally, my drink of choice (shamless advertising plug, wheres my money Coke?!)[img]http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8645/img2505ut6.jpg[/img]So thats it folks. If anyone has any questions regarding the Rotator, picture closeup requests or anything like that, feel free to ask them here. I am at your service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
web250 Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Nice review, great pictures of the beast.Interesting coal techniques. Can't say I've seen it done like that before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpimpitox Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 thats a nice rotator! i may have 2 invest on one in the future. ohh and interesting coal technique i may have to try it one day but i usually end up using 3 coals with those chinese mod bowls (i have one of em). i need a new digital camera dammit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashman19 Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 [quote name='web250']Nice review, great pictures of the beast. Interesting coal techniques. Can't say I've seen it done like that before[/quote] Yeah it’s definitely odd, no doubt... I don't leave them angled and touching each other like that in the first picture, just in the beginning. After I ash them the first time, then I put them back on parallel to each other on opposite ends of the bowl.I guess I sort of do it because the coals are pretty big to start, and because of the way the screen is designed it sort of forces the coals to roll into the middle of the bowl with each other, which burns my tobacco. So to start, I angle them like that so they stay on the perimeter. Once they shrink in size, then I can keep them on the outside parallel to each other.I'm an odd one [b]Edit:[/b] Forgot to mention, this hookah weighs a TON. Definitely a heavy duty hookah, so no worries of it tipping easily or chipping.A lot of the rotators I've seen in person in the past looked like metal, but where in fact a plastic-type material that was silver, making it look big and heavy. They were really light weight pieces of poo.I like my hookahs heavy and sturdy. Makes me feel safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glottis Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I was waiting for this thread. Looks nice, I see you chose red the second time around. I like the hookah a lot. Was your other tall hookah always colored like that? Mine is just the brass color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claytron Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Thanks for the photos. Help's alot. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashman19 Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 [quote name='Glottis'] Was your other tall hookah always colored like that? Mine is just the brass color.[/quote] Ahh, they come in these two options, solid brass color or the combo of silver, brass and browns. Still exactly the same though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonimus Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 What part of Nor Cal do you live in? I'm near Santa Rosa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djnick Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 if anyones interested i posted an extensive review with pics of the glow in the dark too. you can see it at [url="http://www.hookahforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4202&KW="]http://www.hookahforum.com/forum/forum_pos...sp?TID=4202&KW=[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashman19 Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 [quote name='shonimus']What part of Nor Cal do you live in? I'm near Santa Rosa.[/quote] Going to school in Stockton, CA, but my hometown is Roseville, which is like 15 minutes from Sac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostofdavid Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Excellent review, Yash. The pictures speak quite loudly, even without your text. I have the original Stargate and love it. Taqseem seems to know what he is doing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I bought an espresso for a special order two days ago. They are, of course, identical with the Taqseem stargate. I think these may be the cheap, Chinese rip-offs he's stuck dealing with. I have to do something, of course the jar is leaking. Edit: I have never really believed that those Easy-Lites are Japanese...too much sulfur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunsboy Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 I bought the same hookah, I only one of the two stem extensions, easier to manage and more balance. I am disappointed with several things:- The bowl was broken and yet to recieve my replacement one.- The hookah does not rotate anymore. The rotation part rusted very quickly, it is a humid place here, but I did not think it would rust this quick. some internal parts rusted too.- The ball bearing gets stuck right off the bat. The first time I bought it it used to do this, and I had to fill it with little pieces of foil to push the ball down without block the openings.Do not get me wrong it is one the best hookahs I have used but I would not advice my friends of buying this. I would advice them of buying the original stargate.I wanna try the Mya QT. That will be my next hookah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lantern Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 [quote name='gunsboy']I bought the same hookah, I only one of the two stem extensions, easier to manage and more balance. I am disappointed with several things:- The bowl was broken and yet to recieve my replacement one.- The hookah does not rotate anymore. The rotation part rusted very quickly, it is a humid place here, but I did not think it would rust this quick. some internal parts rusted too.- The ball bearing gets stuck right off the bat. The first time I bought it it used to do this, and I had to fill it with little pieces of foil to push the ball down without block the openings. Do not get me wrong it is one the best hookahs I have used but I would not advice my friends of buying this. I would advice them of buying the original stargate. I wanna try the Mya QT. That will be my next hookah.[/quote] How long have you had that rotator? Isn't the stargate rotator a relatively new item? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunsboy Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I recieved it July, 2006. It is a new one .. thats why I am a little confused to why it rusted so quickly. It has good airflow but it looks like a high maintenence one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unleashtheclown Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 that seriously sucks, I'd complain everyday until I got a new one if it broke that fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donkeema Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 nice review of the rotator yash, and im loving the pictures aswell...cool coal technique with the bridge,ill have to try that next time, see how well it lights up, anyway keep it up man... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unleashtheclown Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 I think the glow stem makes it look cheap imo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashman19 Posted August 23, 2006 Author Share Posted August 23, 2006 [quote name='Donkeema']nice review of the rotator yash, and im loving the pictures aswell...cool coal technique with the bridge,ill have to try that next time, see how well it lights up, anyway keep it up man... [/quote] Thanks duder. Good to see you around more. Hopefully we can get you to stay :)As for the coals, yeah. I've been using that technique for years as a way to prep the third coal, so when my original coals start to get a bit small, I have a third ready to go. It takes a couple times to get the hang of the timing, but its pretty useful.I'm the type of smoker who likes his smoke thick and flavorful at all times, so I need to have enough heat to provide those things.A few of my buddies from school will light the original coals, and then pretty much let them fizzle out and call the session quits. Not me [quote name='unleashtheclown']I think the glow stem makes it look cheap imo[/quote] Well poo on you...Just playin homie Whatever floats your boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheyfast Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Yashman.... Where are you going to school in Stockton that is my old stomping grounds !!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the warm weather. The weather in The otown sucks!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashman19 Posted August 23, 2006 Author Share Posted August 23, 2006 UOP. Otown? Refresh my memory. I'm originally from the Sac/Roseville area, so I'm not too familiar with all the zainy names Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheyfast Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Oakland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Is it true that the ribbed shank rusts?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunsboy Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Crummy! I'll have to warn my friend, customer and sidekick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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