I ain’t dead yet!!!

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Long time no see everyone! As you all may remember I had moved to New York a while back. Well, to make a long story short things went to hell with the relationship I was having there and after a very messy break up I ended up escaping with all my fingers and other bodily organs intact Unfortunately, since then I was stuck using a comutor that wasnt compatible with the Hookah Forum's login system. So needless to say I havnt been able to post in a long time. Far too long if you ask me, as I have very much missed this forum and seen several topics I wanted to post on. But as you can see, I am once again able to post here. The reason behind that is I am now living in Minnisota with access to a computor that is compatible with the Forum's login process So I return... but not empty handed! As many of you may remember there are a few brands of massell that I am absolutely fanatical about. The main two of those brands are Al-Fakher and Al-Amir. I love everything I have ever tried from these two companies and am a diehard fan of both. So I was at a local middle eastern shop the other day and I found that they carry the full line of Al-Amir products along with many varaties of Al-Fakher. And in the jumble of 20 or 30 different flavors of Al-Amir I happened to notice that they stock the complete line of new Al-Amir flavors that have been released in my absence from the forum!Oooh damn... I mean oooh DAMN was I excited!! So after spending 5 minutes jumping around like an 8 year old Catholic school girl high on crack cocaine I finally came to my senses and decided that despite my lack of finances I had to try two of these new flavors. After a lengthy deliberation I settled on Sour Apple and Watermelon as the two new objects of my affection and anticipation.Now for a trip down memory lane.... every flavor I have ever tried from Al-Amir has stood out as hands down my favorite version of that flavor I have ever came across. Double Apple, Grape, Strawberry, and Peach were those flavors. Even after trying Al-Fakher's versions of the first three I still prefer Al-Amir's. And Romman's Peach comes close but doesnt equal the flavor of Al-Amir's in my oppinion. So needless to say... I was so excited I couldve passed out in the car on the way home. I wondered if the Sour Apple could top Al-Fakher's GS Eskandaraini Apple and if the Watermelon could live up to my expectations as well. When I finally got home and smelled them both I was a little underwhelmed, but still excited never the less. The Sour Apple smelled a little chalky, but deffinately had a green apple candy scent to it. And oddly enough, was bright (and I mean neon bright) lime green in color. Looking at the bag green massell seemed almost like looking at a wet bag of an illicit substance. But I shrugged and went on to smell the Watermelon. Mmmm... now this smelled good... a nice reddish color and a smell that reminded me of the red Hawaiian Punch. Yes, thats it, Hawaiian Punch all the way. And now the sadness sets in.... Al-Amir has dropped the ball! After smoking both of these flavors I have came to the conclusion that Al-Amir must have released the new line of flavors simply to boost sales without putting a whole lot of time into the quality control. The way the massell smells does transfer over to the flavor, but in an extremely light way. These new varities do not seem to carry that heavy flavor impact that I have come to expect from my beloved Al-Amir! They are nice and relaxing, with a small ammount of flavor, but not that same type of flavor burst I found from the Double Apple, Grape, Strawberry, and Peach. Needless to say I am very dissapointed in Al-Amir right now. I have come to expect so much more from them... and this... well... its just not acceptable. I will be providing full reviews of both flavors within the next few days here, but for now I'm sure this brief summary will tide you over.Anyway, its good to be back. And if you have sat here reading this extremely long winded post, I thank you for your patience.Take care and happy smoking everyone! Johnny is back!

[NERV]

welcome back to the forums zjz, sorry about the breakup, and yes he new
al amirs are quite weak in flavor, btw try shrinking ur avatar a bit,
like maybe 100x100?

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Good to see you again NERV! 

Its been quite a while, that it has. And thanks for the advice about
shrinking the avatar. I didn't notice the rule about avatar size until
you pointed it out.

[NERV]

i wasnt concerned about the rule so much as a large avatar just takes
up more space than it needs, lol, btw i tried the al amir watermelon, i
tihnkt he flavor is awesome just so weak, it would be a kikass flavor
if it was stronger

[King Mo]

never really chatted to you, but i remember a few of your posts. Always good to have enthusiastic smokers around. welcome back

[Mathazar]

Welcome back ZooJohnny 

I know the pain from a break-up can be severe,  hope you're not dwelling in pain over it.

I know the disappointment you speak of about Al-Amir,  as it was a
real bummer to receive several of their new flavors including
Pomagranite only to find-out that they were ALL completely flavorless

If you're looking for something new to try,  head on over to
www.Hookah-Hookah.com and order these flavors: Margarita, Pineapple,
Melon, Grape, and Apple.  Speaking of Quality Control, 
sometimes in the past the Apple wasn't very full-flavored,  but
the company is virtually brand spankin new and they've been going thru
some MAJOR changes.  They have since reformulated the Apple flavor
and are now packaging all flavors in heat-sealed bags inside of
airtight jars.  I find that when I mix Hookah-Hookah Margarita
with Romman Lemon,  I come out with a SUPERB Lemon/Lime
flavor.  And with 2 Golden Coals, they smoke quite well together.

Glad to have you back and will look forward to reading your posts in the future

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

King Mo and Mathazar, thanks for such a warm welcome! 

  And no need to worry Mathazar, I'm not dwelling on anything. Its
all water under the bridge now and my life is going just fine in my new
home.  And to make things better, my room mate smokes the hookah
with me every night as well.

  Its damn nice to not have to smoke alone anymore. It makes the process even more fun!


 
 I have seen a lot of talk going on lately about this Hookah
Hookah brand and it does intrigue me.  It seems as if, being such
a new product and all, that they are in a constant state of revising
and reworking their recipes based on customer feedback.

That alone says a lot for the company as a whole. When a
company will take customer feedback into consideration and completely
rework their recipes based on it I think they are deffinately worth a
try in my book.

 The Apple, Grape, and Margarita sound the most interesting to me.
However I would deffinately try the Strawberry as well because I'm a
huge fan of Strawberry massell in general.
Im still firm in my belief that Al-Amir makes the best and
most realistic Strawberry around, but I am quite open to trying and
comparing new brands.



 My only real concern with this company is the Virgina tobacco
they use and the  nicotine content of the massell
itself. My experiance with Virgina tobacco in massell has
not always been the most positive of ones.

  I remember trying Hookah Splash's Lemon Lime way back when and
almost throwing up after 10 minutes or so of smoking. It really made me
sick to my stomach.
  My experiance with the Sultan line of massell from
the same company has been rather favorable though. Despite the fact
that Sultan massell lacks much of any flavor they do pack quite a punch
that is really head spinning without being nauseating.


  So hopefully Hookah Hookah will have Sultan's "just right"
nicotine blast without being overly strong like Hookah Splash. 
Combine that with delightful flavors and I would say this company could
be a real winner!


  Within the next month I'll see what I can do about ordering some to review.

[Mathazar]

I thought Hookah-Hookah's Strawberry, though very smooth,  was a
bit subtle in flavor.  But,  cypress loved it, as he stated
in his review giving it a score of  9.5 

Both cypress & MR Bubble also commented on H-H's Virginia tobacco
stating that they could taste it and it turned them off. 
Personally,  I smoke this stuff all day long, and the tobacco
doesn't bother me at all, infact I don't even taste it.

Yes, the company IS going thru some major changes,  and it will be
interesting to see what they come out with in the next couple
months.  I'm staying faithful to them because they've got a few
flavors I love and their Customer Service is awesome

I think the 20 new flavors coming out will really get the ball rolling
with this company and many of the skeptics will shift gears and start
buying from H-H in the future.

By the way,  you can call the company and reccommend flavors to
them. I reccommended Butterscotch and that flavor will be one of the
new 20 coming out very soon.  They said they're going to release
these flavors 2 at a time rather than all at once.  Personally, I
think that's a mistake, but I guess they probably want to take the time
to test each new flavor on the public and leave the door open for
reformulating those flavors if need be.  So,  maybe it is a
wise decision.  Butterscotch is gonna ROCK!!!  I can't wait

[alen]

Welcome back johnny

[Kofod]

WB JZJ
Nice to have you back and good to hear life goes on.
Noticed the "Silvester" is available from Taqseem on ebay under the the name stargate.
We both liked that model.
Mine is in Arnhem transit hub right now - hoping to get it real soon

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Hey Alen! Good to see you too!


And Kofod! Long time no see!

  I have been looking at the less expensive Silvester model at
[url="http://www.tobaccoimportusa.com/tobaccoshop/index.php/ac"]http://www.tobaccoimportusa.com/tobaccosho...op/index.php/ac[/url] tion/item/id/117/prevaction/category/previd/6/prevstart/0/
  lately.  It seems that the Sultan/Splash company has
finally succeeded in creating a quality reproduction of Fumari's $1,000
model.


  Its deffinately somthing I'm curious about purchasing once I get a little more money coming in.

 
  However I've yet to find work in Minnesota so making
massell/hookah purchases is a little out of the question at the
moment.  But when money starts coming in I plan to try several
flavors from HookaH HookaH and buy 1 or 2 new hookahs while I'm at it.


Take care and happy smokings everyone!

[cypress]

ZJZ, I know you probably dont know me but welcome back. I hope to see
more of you posts. Oh and keep your head up and move on. 

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Heyas Cypress!

  Thank you for the welcome! I'm just keepin on keepin on.
Its a been a long while but I do remember your posts from way back
when. You were a really good poster back then and I'm sure you've
learned a lot since then too. I look forward to reading your new posts.
 


Hmmm... I'm really starting to wonder where Mr. Bubble has ran off to though.
 I havn't seen him around since I've been back.

[Mathazar]

He posts a couple of times every week or two.  He took a LONG
break and has been posting now & then.  You'll probably see
him around in the next week or so