A highly unexpected massell review...

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Tonight, I am doing somthing rather different. I'm going to review a
flavor I got in the mail from Mr. Bubble about six to eight months ago.
Somehow, in all the clutter and distraction going on in my life at the time I never got around to reviewing it.

 
  The flavor that I am refering to is from Nakhla. Yes I know, to
the vast majority of people here Nakhla is old news (myself included).
But seeing as how Mr. Bubble was so generous in sending me all the
samples he did, I certainly must review it.

Tonights flavor is... Nakhla Cherry!


  The cut of this massell is a little nicer than most Nakhla
mixes. Theres not very many stems at all and its a bit wetter than the
average Nakhla product.


 The smell is that of a dark cherry flavored cough syrup. I find
that smell is pretty typical to the cherry flavors I have tried. So
nothing too remarkable there.


Now we come to the smoking aspect of it all. Once again, for reference,
I am using a Medium sized Egyptian hookah from Hookah-Shisha with a
Cobra hose. Also, I am using a steel screen instead of foil and a large
ammount of ice in the base. My preffered coal (which is the one I am
using) is a Three Kings quick light.


Now, on to the flavor...






The flavor of this massell really caught me off guard. I was expecting
a rather off tasting cherry flavor, it is from Nakhla after all.
Instead I was blasted with an intensely floral taste with
a fresh cherry untertone. Im usually pretty adept at describing
flavors, but this one is very difficult to describe.

  I hate to use this as a reference, as it derives from a time
long ago that I'm not too proud of, but... the floral taste is really
reminicent of opium. Yes, you heard me right. This massell reminds me
of a fresh cherry flavored opium.



As far as the buzz goes... I think I can once again use opium as a
reference. This stuff is STRONG! And I mean reeaaallly strong, even for
Nakhla! It very much reminds me of the buzz from Hookah Splash massell,
only without the feeling of sickness that acompanies it.
  It feels kind of like your brain is floating around
in a sea of helium infused Kool-Aid while your body sinks down like
sand running out of an hour glass.

Which leads me to ask... Mr.Bubble, what the hell did you put in this
stuff!? I mean really! This is a very different feeling than I have
ever gotten from a massell. The buzz is simply off the charts.


  The smoke itself has the kind of density you would expect from
Nakhla. Extremely thick and very milky up until the very end... so
theres deffinately no dissapointments there.



  On a side note, my partner comments that he has enjoyed this
massell more so than any he has ever smoked. He loved the strong
flavor, the intense buzz, and the sheer thickness of the smoke. Which
is a little suprising considering he has tried many flavors from
Al-Fakher, Romman, and Al-Amir. (Outside of the hookah, he is a
non-smoker BTW.) Ultimately I had to hand the hose over to him after
about 25 minutes when the buzz just got too strong for me to smoke it
anymore. It tasted so good I wanted to keep smoking, but my body just
wouldnt have it.






 All in all I am incredibly suprised by how much I like this
massell. I never thought I'd find a flavor from Nakhla outside of Apple
and Double Apple that I would really enjoy, but low and behold Mr.
Bubble has introduced me to one.

  Even though it doesnt taste like real cherries, I find the
flavor to be a work of art with great complexities and a lingering
aftertaste that keeps you coming back for more and more. The unique
floral/ripe cherry combination in a way reminds me of somthing
Al-Fakher might dream up. And the stoney feeling that comes from the
buzz is nothing less than remarkable.


 
  So now it comes time for me to say somthing I never thought I would say... are you ready? Here it comes...


  I will deffinately be buying a 250 gram box of this Nakhla massell as a permenant staple of my collection.


On the basis of it's wonderfully unique flavor and intensely narcotic
buzz I can give Nakhla Cherry no less than a 8.5 out of 10.

This has to be a sign of the apocolypse...

[wyteboy]

Surprised to hear you say your coal of choice is 3 kings...I have heard they give off a bad taste to the maessal and odor too...plus the quicklites have to have a TON of chemicals in em that the natural wood doesn't right?
I just bought a bag of lemon wood coals off of social smoke's ebay store...hoping they work well for me.
Thanks for all the knowledge, I hope my nakhla strawberry is that good...didn't realize nakhla is famous for big time buzzes...I just hope it tastes real good

[wyteboy]

which I've been told it doesn't and won't, LOL!

[hookaman]

hey mr bubble did u add anything to taht cherry? lol all i have now is nakhla cherry too but i dont get such an intense buzz as described above, exce[t for the last time i did it wow wat a nice buzz lol. maybe its cuz i use foil and not a steel screen and i use natural wood finger coals.

[MR Bubble]

Looks like I visited at the right time here! The answer to your question is: No. I did not do anything to the Nakhla cherry I sent ZooJohnny. The massel is kinda old and has probably entered and exited many extreme conditions do to his travels (cold/hot/light/darkness/wet/dry.. you get the flick) and Nakhla does tend to become "off" more than usual after some age.
His take on the floral taste and the buzz intensity took me by surpise also. That really has something to do with the age because MRS Bubble doesn't have anything to do with a floral shisha, and the cherry is her favorite.
See ya. Oh nice review ZJ!
MR Bubble

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Hey guys (and gals)!

  Wyteboy, first off let me talk about about my coals for a
minute. I have tried Natural coals, Lemon Wood coals, Golden quick
light coals, and Three Kings quick light coals.
  I think the flavor the coal does or doesnt add to your smoke might vary a bit depending on the person.
  I tried Natural coals and found that they seem to add a very
strange charcoal type flavor to my smoke and often get to hot, causing
the massell to burn.
  When it comes to the Lemon Wood ones I found that they add this
very strange lemon cleaner chemical flavor to my smoke so I shy away
from them as well.

  Golden coals work well, last long, and don't add much of any
flavor to my smoke. The only problem with them is that I have had at
least 5 or 6 explode during the course of smoking. They just completely
blew up and sent shards of burning coal everywhere, causing massive
damage to the carpet and chairs nearby. On one ocassion one even landed
on the top of my hand, giving me a nasty burn scar that I bear to this
day.
  Because of all this I no longer use the Golden "firecracker" coals.


  I find Three Kings to work very well for me. They light fast,
don't add any strange flavor to my smoke, and I've never had one blow
up either. They don't last quite as long as other coals, but I still
get about 45 minutes to an hour of smoking time out of them. And thats
usually about the length of time a massell's flavor lasts for anyway.


The thing with quicklite coals is that they do contain
chemicals. However, when you light them they begin sparking furiously
for about 30 seconds until the entire coal is glowing red hot. From
what I understand, almost all of the chemicals are burned out of them
during the sparking process. So once they get done sparking they become
chemically inert and are completely safe to place ontop of your
foil/screen and begin smoking.

  Perhaps people that complain about the coal giving the smoke a
strange flavor are people who put the coal on the bowl while its still
sparking and releasing all the chemicals contained in it. You really
must wait until it finishes lighting to place it on the bowl. After
that it should add no flavor whatsoever to your smoking experiance.

So thats my take on coals for ya.






Hey again Mr. Bubble! Its good to see your still around and posting
here. I hadnt seen you in a while and its good to see your still around


You could be right about the conditions it has been
through affecting it's flavor. This massell has been all across the
country with me in almost every weather condition imaginable. However
it has remained completely sealed in the original bag up until last
night without ever being opened before.

In any case I will deffinately have to buy a box of Nakhla
Cherry and compare my experiances with a fresh batch to my experiance
with the sample you sent me. If they do turn out to be greatly
different...well... I'll just have to put it through every weather
condition imaginable and wait 8 months to smoke it


  That was a really incredible experiance that makes me very glad
to still have 2 more bowls of it on hand. So thanks again Mr. Bubble!
Your the man

[wyteboy]

Thanks zoo a ton for that coal review!! interesting...I guess it makes sense once all the sparking is done that all the bad chemicals ahve been released...anyone else hear of this as well or know it to be true?
I thought most ppl said lemon wood were fantastic coals...that's why I just bought em .  Do others get that lemon cleaner taste in their tobacco as well??
Thanks again!!  I do have a 10 pack of 3kings so I will try those as well....same process, place directly on electric stove and rotate til all the coal is red?

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

No problem Wyteboy!

 As far as lighting the Three Kings goes all you really need is a
lighter and your tongs. Just hold the coal between the tips of the
tongs and run the flame of the lighter along the bottom (the round flat
side) of the coal until the coal starts sparking all the way around the
bottom edge.

  After that just wait about 30 seconds or until the coal stops
producing sparks. Then take your now red hot glowing coal and place it
with the flat side down ontop of your foil or steel screen and begin
smoking.

Hope that helps!

[wyteboy]

Great thanks!  I do hope though that my natural Lemon Wood coals work really well.  I heard a ton of positive things about them, purchased them, then read your review about getting a lemony cleaner taste in your massel...I am hoping I don't get that but at least I can always fall back on the 3 kings if need be before I decide what I like best for myself!

[NERV]

i like nakhla cherry, ive found that the buzz i get form nakhla is
pretty random, sometimes it's groin grabbingly strong, other times it
non existent, usually moderately storng tho, and i dont care what
others say, i love nakhla, being the leading tobacco company around
they gotta be doing something right. as for golden, ive got a few
golden scars myself, worst one is when i took the coal out of the
lighting chamber a side of it blew off in the pincers and it fell right
on my bare foot, i didnt actually get a burn from it but the area it
landed it now permanently discolored, its like splotchy brown. i still
perfer the taste of goldens tho

[wyteboy]

wow NERV first person I've met on here that not only LIKES Nakhla but loves it!  I will post reviews of my first self-owned hookah bowls once it friggin arrives!   first will be nahkla strawberry, then either alwaha apricot or 5-star, can't decide which
 
this forum rocks!

[NERV]

i love nakhla because it is the best all around tobacco IMO, the
premium brands MAY taste better, not always, but in any case ive never
had a premium flavor that was stronger than nakhla, not necessarily the
buzz but also strong smoke im talking the times when it so strong you
cant even take a long pull but you force yourself to, hold back the
coughs cuz you know if you cough even once youll start a coughing fit,
hold it, and carefully exhale, beautiful

[hookaman]

You guys, could it be that maybe the coal taste thing is the consistincy of production of coals. That might not make sense but what i mean is like this: for example sometimes as u guys have said, hookah hookah apple might taste delicious and sometimes it might have no taste at all. I know coal isnt anything or made like tobacco or other products, but maybe some coals turn out to be better then others. Like some have more then necessary sparking agent added, and for three kings, maybe some have so much coal or w/e in it that it gives it more of a coal taste lol i kno it doesnt make sense but can anyone try to understand waht im saying?

[NERV]

oh they do vary, back original star coals were the best ones in my
book, before they changed there formula, there was 1 batch of coal
where almost every single one exploded, and when i say exploded i dont
mean a spray of embers, a piece flying off, i mean exploded like
someone jammed a firecracker in the middle, those were dangerous times,
luckily i had already started using my coal lighitng chamber, and the
remainsing chunks after the explosion were still useable

[mushrat]

Well...found a local place with nakhla lemon and melon yesterday. We tried the lemon and it was quite nice, a little rough starting but smooth sailing after that and the flavor lasted quite a long time.
And nerv had a point I've been thinking as well...if nakhla is the leading brand in the middle east where Hookah smoking has been part of the culture for centuries, there must be SOMETHING to it...
 
Wonder how many of the "premium" brands have been made purely to sell to westerners as a way to cash in on our general need for something "special"? Having said this I will point out I have only tried the one "premium" strawberry which was very nice, but have no other strawberry to compare it to.
$.02
 

[ashan]

Nerv, In regards to mushrats quote of you saying nahkla is the most popular brand in the middle east, most popular in which way? Used or sold? Theres a difference between what people sell and what people use for themselves.

[mushrat]

Ashan,
  Well, I look at it this way...There are 4 middle eastern markets I've managed to locate here in Raleigh (3 more listed in the yellow pages) . These are places run by middle-easterners which clearly market to other middle-easterners. They all carry what appear to be very specific items, both food and merchandise, some of which seem to be highly specialized and fairly expensive. Yet every one of them carry Nakhla exclusivly. I'd also mention that 3 of these 4 are in the area around the big local mosque and community center.
I don't think, looking at what some other delicasies (sp?) cost,  that the higher price of some of the premium brands is a factor. I thinks they carry what their customers want and are used to. We have a LARGE middle-eastern population here coming from all social groups, and I'd have to say if they are smoking ma'asell, they are ALL smoking Nakhla. 
Then we look at where folks are finding their premium ma'asell. They are finding them in places non-middle-easterners are likely to shop. Specialty hookah shops, head shops, and in my case where i found the one box of Afzal, local tobacconists (and he had NO idea what he was ordering, but is getting more for me :-) ). And if there are no specialty shops, its the internet or Nakhla from a middle-eastern market. Wyteboy, you have said all you can find is Nakhla, where did you find it?
And as far as used versus sold, I can't see these market owners using Golden AF at home and selling Nakhla to everyone else in their community. If they were bringing in the good stuff to smoke, they'd be selling it as well.
$.02
 

[wyteboy]

I was in NYC and went to 3 diff smoke shops and only found nahkla or alwaha....
STILLLLLLLLLL waiting for the hookah LOL

[NERV]

like mush said, the middleeastern sotres are th eones that sell the
nakhla to the middleastern community, there a 3 stores near me
1, a turkish store in the mall, they sell most rugs, purses, knicks and
such, but they sell turkish style hookahs, nakhla tobacco, and original
star coals, theyr overpriced but everything there is overpriced cuz its
an import store

2, a cigar shop in town, they have what appear to be hookah bros
hookahs on display, i havent aske dif theyre for sale but if they are i
bet they are markup to an insane degree, and the only stuff they have
is 50g packs of al waha and rolls of golden coal, and they have never
had more than 1 box in at a time, also overpriced i tihnk they want $5
r $6 for a 50g of al waha and $3.50 for 1 roll of golden

3, a middleastern butcher shop that also has a small section of hookah
stuff, they have what appear to be sultan brand hookahs with the hard
case for $40, they have an assortment of hoses none of which i have
seen online, and a nice big hookah that im sure they want about $180
for. and they sell only nakhla for like $4 for the 250g boxes and some
mediocre coals for $1 a roll, they used to carry 3 kings but then
switched to these other ones, im waiting till their stock runs out to
see if they get more 3 kings in, they have about 2 boxes left

[ashan]

K, in response to those post I say this.1. I respect all youre opinions and believe that if nahkla makes you happy, then perfect, thats what hookah is about, finding what works best for you. However during my travels in the Middle East many nargileh vendors all had nahkla, but when I smoked their pipe it tasted good(un nahkla like). After the fourth person I finally asked the store owner why his tasted different. He explained to me that while he gets tobacco from Jordan he sells nahkla because its dirt cheap to buy from the manufacturer and most of his customers dont know difference so they buy it from him. After asking other store owners about their preference they all had similar answers. That said and done, my point is not that nahkla is bad(even though I puke everytime I even smell it) but that just because you can find it EVERYWHERE in the Middle East doesnt neccesarily mean its premuim stuff. Happy Smoking to All!

[mushrat]

Heh,
  Now never said it was premium, just said it there had to be something more to it than many folks here seem to give it credit for.
While i was wondering if what I saw here was the case elsewhere, this has been more of an intellectual exercise than anything else. (can take the boy out of anthropology/archaeology but you can't always take the anthropology out of the boy.)
But you are right, It's all about finding what you like. I do look foreward to getting in some of the other brands for comparison.
Happy smoking...
 

[King Mo]

[quote name='mushrat']Well...found a local place with nakhla
lemon and melon yesterday. We tried the lemon and it was quite
nice, a little rough starting but smooth sailing after that and the
flavor lasted quite a long time.  
And nerv had a point I've been thinking as well...if nakhla is the
leading brand in the middle east where Hookah smoking has been part of
the culture for centuries, there must be SOMETHING to it...
 
Wonder how many of the "premium" brands have been made purely to
sell to westerners as a way to cash in on our general need for
something "special"? Having said this I will point out I have only
tried the one "premium" strawberry which was very nice, but have no
other strawberry to compare it to.
$.02
 [/quote]

with all due respect, that is ridiculous.

Do you think Mcdonalds is so popular because it is better than 'normal' food?

do you think bicycles are better than ferraris?

what do you think is more popular? even in your country (home of mcdonalds), or Italy (home of ferrari)

Nakhla can make some ok flavours. Of which cherry is actually something I didn't mind smoking at all.

Fakher is usually much better though, and you get what you pay for in
this case. I believe people are overly critical of nakhla, but it's
unjustified, because it is a budget option and for people who aren't
too experienced with the premium brands, there is little difference.

There was a time when I used to go places to make sure they had nakhla before I smoked their shishas

If you are an experienced shisha
smoker, then there is no question you will notice the quality of the
premium brands, especially fakher, which is the most 'known' premium
flavour in the middle east. Also, in emirates esp. dubai, most cafes
etc will do only fakher, as it is dirt cheap over there. (probably
around 5 dollars a box, and in bulk is even cheaper)

in my reviews (see sig) I gave nakhla apple a 7, and it is one of the
few non-premium flavours that is very smokable. Their are a few that
will range around 6 I'd say in rating (relative to my opinion of
course), and one or two that are very low. Most premium flavours got
between 7-10, with very very few below that (except fumari crap of
which only a few flavours can be considered 'premium'.

in the mean time, I can assure you that Fakher was not made to sell to
westerners and rip them off, as I was smoking it before anyone in the
west had even heard of the company. Fakher to people from Dubai, is
like Nakhla to you. Nothing special lol. It's just cos nakhla so
popular away from the Gulf, esp north africa, that fakher becomes more
appreciated.

The same cannot be said of romman or fumari, of which Are designed to
rip off westerners. Romman is better than fumari (except watermelon
which beats any romman) and fakher is better than them both.

Fakher also happens to be the cheapest!!

what's the difference? fumari and Romman are both designed for the
westerners, and don't exist in middle east (which is why you never get
arabic writing on them)

hope this helps

[King Mo]

hookah-shisha is a decent company for service though, and I wont fault that, and the tobacco is usually accurate to the flavour.

However, the price they charge is still too high (perhaps a price 10-15
a little better) and the fact that they put their tobacco as 'premium'
and fakher as 'regular' is pretty comical.

(btw, please ignore spelling mistakes etc, I am tired, and cannot edit posts. Spotted a few when I was reading it again )

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Hmmm! Great replies everyone. After all these years of smoking I never
really stopped to consider why exactly it is that you will find Nakhla
in almost every middle eastern grocery store you visit.

  It seems reasonable to assume that it is due to the fact that
Nakhla is the cheapest to buy and that there is a high profit margin in
the selling of it. A massell that is very easy to come by and pretty
much the stanard for low budget hookah smoking.


 And King Mo, your input was very interesting as well. You make a
very good point in differentiating between American premium massell and
the higher quality (in general) Middle Eastern premium massell.

 As I have stated before there are many Nakhla flavors I like.
Apple, Double Apple, Mint, and now Cherry. However (aside from Double
Apple) I have yet to try any of Al-Fakher's versions of these flavors.

  Although I suspect that Fakher's would be a totally unique
creation the likes of which would be very difficult to equal. Comapring
Nakhla's Strawberry to Al-Fakher's Strawberry gives me a pretty good
idea of how the comparison would go.  Much like comparing a $5
bill to a $20. Which would you prefer to have?



But in any case, great imput everyone. Good to see a little massell debating going on