New Hookah And Shisa (my Semi-first)

[JamminJonah]

Greetings Hooahites-

So I just ordered a hookah and what should be some sweet sheesh. I ordered from separate vendors as I found HookahCompany.com on these forums but ordered my hookah before I found this valuable resource. Here are my impressions on the ordering process and everything up until now. I’ll post reviews once I receive the product (Tuesday is the day slated to get my new Hook J and I’ll get my shisha before that.)

My Personal Hookah History: I owned a hookah in college that I bought from the owner of a hookah bar we used to frequent. It was your classic 18 inch single hose with no mods no special bowls or anything and we pretty much smoked double apple exclusively as that’s what the place carried. 3 kings coals. It was great and we certainly got our use out of it before the fated night in which it was ruined. We had been smoking a fantastic frosty bowl – it was summer and I’m a huge fan of the ice water smoke – this being mostly ice and enough water to cover the stem about 1 in. That way you’ve got ice to melt and it raises the water level but also makes the smoke just freezing which is nice. It was summer and we were, as good residents of the south would be, chillin’ on the front porch in rocking chairs passing the hook. The bowl smoked pretty quick as it wasn’t deep and I’m not sure how high quality our shisha was in the first place. I went in to rinse it as I do almost religiously. The bathtub was the only place big enough to fit the vase and it was tricky to find the temperature as this was an old house and the dials were all worn off. So long story short, I flipped on the water to what I thought was cold, went to rinse the hookah and to my dismay the water came out cold at first and then super hot. So the glass couldn’t take it and the bottom blew out. This was about 2 years ago.



So now I’ve ordered my new hookah and a bunch of shisha to see what I was missing out on. Here are my impressions.



BuildaHookah.com:

Ordered from www.buildahookah.com. I found this vendor and placed my order before I found these forums and haven’t heard much so I figured I could contribute a review once business has concluded. The site is well designed and the build – a – hookah feature was huge to me. Looks to be most parts made in China but I could be wrong on that.



What I ordered:

Double Exotic, 20 inches, 2 hose, with the “miracle valve system” which I’m guessing is a simple ball bearing configuration that prevents the other smoker from having to plug their hose every time you wanna smoke. The hookah is red vase with design, red stem, and black bowl and hoses. It really looks pretty neat based on the computer generated image. I’m probably going to name it Red Dragon so I hope I can make thick smoke. Reasoning behind this is I usually hang out with about 6 people or so all of whom smoke hookah and we like to play FIFA World Cup or NHL 2K (or Hitz) on the Xbox and pass the hookah. This is getting hard to do with only one hose. So I figure I’ll get good use out of two and plus I can always just plug one up to smoke alone right? Looks like it comes with a pretty standard bowl but I can’t tell what it’s made out of. I’m guessing that an upgrade to a smiley bowl will be inevitable as soon as I find a new job.



First Impressions:

Site is well designed, limited shisha selection as they carry exclusively Fantasia which I’ve read some good things about. I didn’t order any though. Processing time is long, it said 8-10 days to PROCESS the order let alone ship – thankfully though they were fast and I’ve already got my tracking number. I ordered Sunday 2/18 and should have it in my hands 2/27 according to the projected delivery. I chose free shipping as I’m currently between jobs. So far things have gone smooth as silk and I’ll post an official review when I receive the merch.



HookahCompany.com:

Very nice site, easy to navigate and reasonably clean HUGE shisha selection. The selection combined with all the nice things I’ve read about them on this site are why I ordered all of my shisha from here. I got two sampler packs as I’m new to all of these flavors. I ordred:

Layalina 12 sampler pack which (in the photo) includes:

50g Peach (or nectarine?)

50g Grape

50g Fruit Mix

50g Apple

50g Orange

50g Kiwi

50g Rose

50g Blueberry

50g Watermelon

50g Double Apple

50g Mint

50g Vanilla



I’m guessing this is what I’ll get based on the photo, but I think you get whatever they ship so I’ll let you know if this lineup is different. I was hoping for some raspberry so maybe that will show up!



And the Al Fakhir 7 sampler pack which includes:

50g Grape

50g Strawberry

50g Rose (nervous about this one but I love those Violets candies you can buy)

50g Apple

50g Two Apple

50g Mint

50g Orange



And I totally neglected to enter the code from the forums. Oh well, I’m pretty sure there will be a next time as I really like the set up of the site and the selection. The prices are great too. My only complaint: I want to try Pharaoh really bad and they don’t carry it (but they do carry Sultan? I’ve only heard bad things about that stuff). Plus they threw in a free sample of Al Amir – I chose Banana Split as I’ve never tried any banana flavors and these sample packs sort of overlap on most flavors. Again, I’ll post review as I smoke.



As far as shipping it’s lightning people! It’ll be here before my hookah and I ordered the shisha 2 days later. Shisha should be here this Saturday.



So as it stands I’m quite pleased with both of my selections but I’ll probably be ordering another smaller, more travel ready hookah once I get a new job. Something geared more for solo smoking. That one I’ll probably buy from Smiley just because I dig his style and involvement in the forums plus his bowls look really cool and I love the smiley logo. Reviews on the $15 were huge to me as well. Shisha I’ll probably keep getting from HookahCompany unless this order gets messed or something (I don’t expect that it will) the selection and price is spot on.



So what should I upgrade? I’m guessing a smiley all glass hookah bowl with glass cover will be first, I think the hoses are fine they look like washable ones from the photo. Anyway just wanted to share some thoughts and see what anyone had to say about either place.



Thanks, this place is full of cool people, good crowd here. If you live in Chicago area (I’m out in the burbs but not far) and want to share a bowl I’m totally game.



- Jonah

[Allia22]

Hola, welcome to the forums Midwest Hookah meeting coming up, that thread should be resurrected at some point...