Social Smoke Stem

[PK]

Those of you that have a SS, let me know if you have a similar problem.

The part of the stem that sits in the vase and in the water.... mine is starting to show some signs of..... well hard to explain it's not rust but looks like corrosion or at the least water damage. I've only tried removing it with sink soaps etc. but haven't put too much energy into it until I find out what's best to use. Anyone else have this problem?

I usually dump out the water after every session so I'm not sure why this is happening so quickly. It's only been 1 year. No pic available at this time as I'm working... maybe later.

[spoolinspoon]

I think I might know what your talking about. It almost looks like the silver has come off and is a brass color?

[PK]

Yes, and every day it seems to get worse. :-(

[ioannisds]

Yeah, my SS stems are the same, but I don't think it's any big deal. I take really good care of my stuff and it still happened. As far as I can tell, it is like you described: not rust, but some kind of corrosion on the finish. Maybe the Social Smoke guys can chime in and tell us what is up. As long as it is not a health/safety issue, I'm fine with it. You can't see that part of the stem anyways, and the rest of it is beautiful.

[PK]

I contacted Social Smoke and they claim that this piece is painted, what we're seeing is water marks in the paint. They claim it's a cosmetic weakness and doesn't influence performance or health. Oh well. They also mentioned that they are changing manufacturers for their Egyptians and that this piece in the future will be stainless as well. ETA on those is roughly 2 months or so. For those of you waiting for them to replenish their stock on Egyptians currently out of stock, Wednesday's shipment will be the older style that I have. New ones aren't due for a while.

[Social Smoke]

I similar discussion was had a few weeks ago. http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showtopic=7415&hl=

The downtube on the other hand, may or may not be Stainless Steel. We always order 100% stainless steel Egyptian hookahs, but the reality is that recently in Egypt the Stainless Steel tubes have been in short supply and sometimes they switch to using a brass down stem. Hopefully this will not be an issue within the next few months.

The downstem on some models are plated, not painted an Iman incorrectly said. However, the stem you have might still have an Stainless Downstem, because over time they will tarnish and become off colored. I know we have an all Stainless hookah in the office that is 3 years old and has been used heavily and the down stem is more of a grey color with alot of water marks, etc.

We recieved the plated down stems hookahs unknowingly it as we ordered and paid for fully stainless hookah stems. To make a long story short, we have changed manufacturers to enusre that all future orders have the stainless downstems.

[ninjalover187]

You know, I noticed the EXACT same thing on the downstem of my MYA... a chalky red tarnish inside