Hommade Hookah

[Bane]

Hey! I'm pretty new to the Hookah community, and havn't purchased one
of my own yet.  So yesterday, I decided to see if I could make a
working hookah, just for kicks. 

The base consists of a medim-size glass jar, with a canning lid (the
kind of lid with two parts, a disc that covers the jar mouth, and a
ring that screws on over it).  The stem is made from various
copper pipe fittings, and the bowl is one of those realllly small terra
cotta flower pots.  For the hose I just used clear tubing that I
picked up for a few bucks.  Needless to say, this hookah looks
pretty hilarous.

But....it works! And works pretty good, too.  The only thing it's
missing is the one-way valve, but it doesn't seem to function any worse
for it.  I fired it up with some shisha from the local head shop,
and it smokes pretty well.

I just thought it was kind of cool that I got it to work, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

I plan on buying my own hookah pretty soon...as soon as I get my new
card from the bank, actually.  Hookah-shisha seems to have a lot
of good stuff...I'm either going to order from there, or socialsmoke.

[cypress]

I am curious as to how this actually looks. If you can post a picture of that. 

[Bane]

Ok, I'll try to get a picture up soon.  I left the hookah at my
girlfriends place, so I will have to post pics a little later. 
Tomorrow, or Sat most likely.

[Mathazar]

Yeah pics would be good 

[Stew]

Good job bane, I've always been a fan of homebuilt smoking devices.
I've built 4 of my own but none are hookahs or intended for tobacco use
.

Can't wait to see a pic.

[NERV]

one time my friend was borrowing my hookah so i had to make one out of
alot of aluminum foil, a hollow stone elephant, a lava lamp, an extra
hookah stem, and a hose form a marble maze, but that now my normal hose
cuz it smokes so much better and is a breeze to clean

[Bane]

Wow Nerv, I bet that was a sight!  Sounds very creative.  I'm
trying to imagine in my head the way all the pieces you mentioned would
fit together....a hollow stone elephant! lol!

[NERV]

the elephant wrapped up in aluminum foil was the bowl

[cypress]

It seems like our most resourcefull time in our life is our college
days.  Hell we drank everything from cheap beer to smokeing cheep
cigs.

[NERV]

Said elephant:



makes more sense of how i used it as a bowl, lol

[Bane]

Here's the pic, as requested.  Feast your eyes on the ghettoness!



My hat goes off to you, Nerv, for using an elephant as a bowl

BTW, I have my REAL hookah now.  I got my friend to stop by a
store near his school, and he picked me up a really nice starter
set.  It came with pretty much everything, including extra
grommets.  I was impressed.

We christen it tonight!

[mushrat]

Very impressive...think we should have a contest...
 
Good luck with your new Hookah!

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Woah! LOL!  That is really clever Bane!

 I would have never thought of using one of those mini terra cotta pots as a bowl! If I had a hat I would tip it to you.

Good to hear that you have a legit hookah now though. Smoke on Bane, smoke on

[MR Bubble]

You ought to sell those at flea-markets!
MR Bubble

[Bane]

Lol, thanks guys

I'm taking my brand new sultan hookah to my friend's place later today
to fire it up for the first time!  Lookin' forward to it I'll let you guys know how it smokes compared to my "ghetto special" 

[Mathazar]

You're a genius,  Bane 

Btw,  I'm smoking a Sultan right now and it smokes just
fine.  But I'm gettin damn sick of this Nakhla Lemon & Double
Apple.  Can't order any more maassel until more money comes
in.  I'm dyin here

[NERV]

so, how is the hose and stem secured to the lid?

[Bane]

Haha, thanks Math

Nerv - I tried to solder the copper stem to the jar lid, but I just
couldn't get the solder to flow to the copper. It would stick to the
lid, but not the copper pipe, even with flux.  Oh well....Anyway,
in the end I just hot-glued the damn thing in place

The hose connector is also hot glued.  It's one of those brass
fittings thats made to connect two hoses together.  Worked out
pretty well

I smoked my new sultan last night for the first time, tried out some
bananna.  As to how it smokes compared to my ghetto special, I'd
actually say it's about the same!  Who would have thought...

[Mathazar]

Banana what?  I've got Nakhla Banana and it SUCKS!!!

I've yet to taste a decent Banana.  Romman is okay,  but it's
a little too candy-like, it just doesn't taste real enough.

[NERV]

dawn, how the hell did i forget about about hot glue? i was gonna make a hookah but cudnt think of how to attach everything

[mushrat]

Actually, the fact that it smoke the same doesn't come as much of a suprise...
Mechanicaly, a hookah is a water pipe, Draws smoke through water and into hose. Look slike you used a clay/terra cotta bowl like a "real" hookah so the ma'asell would burn the same....
The only real difference i can see between that and a $100 store bought is the aesthetics and the "extras" like autoseals, rotating parts, coal trays, and the like.
Should start a "Hookah for the masses" page...sell em for 20-25 bucks :-)

[cypress]

Thats a great poor mans version of a hookah. Now all you need to do is
paint the jar, spray in bed liner (use this for a vase protector or in
this case a jar) and heat the soldier and copper with a torch and it
should stick and you should be set. Cool. I do agree with the idea for
us to have a hookah making contest Maybe an entry fee is 10 bucks and
have a forum poll and leave it open for a week. The winner takes the
cash. Maybe Adrock can set up a paypal account for the entry fee. We
also should have it as a sticky.  

[Bane]

Yeah Math, the bananna wasn't that great.  I'm going for melon next, I think. 
Cypress - Yeah, I have a pencil torch that uses butane, but it was empty when I needed to use it for soldering the stem.  I need to get more butane for it, and then I'll try it again.
As for a hookah-making contest, I'd be down with that!  I'm an art major

[Cold493]

I was thinking about building my own Hookah as well but actually trying to make it aesthetically pleasing.  I was thinking that you could use a real hose as well as a real bowl/make your own bowl and fire it.  I was thinking the stem could be a simple stainless steel pipe (which are hard to find most are copper) and then you could wrap string down the pipe in a colorful pattern to cover the metal up or just buy a few chunks of wood and use a laith and just make it so they slide over the metal.  The real problem I got is the part where the glass base and stem meet.  The simple solution is to do what Bane did but that is pretty far from pleasing.  I was thinking that you could drill out a solid metal paper weight with holes for the hoses and attach a grommet on the bottom.  The base is a simple trip to the chemistry department and some paint, spray on a base layer of a color and then stencil over that for some nice looks.  it wouldnt be see through cause chemistry bases have crap on them.  I need a better way to link up the glass base and the stem though.  Let's brainstorm on that.

[Stew]

I've had an idea for a while of building a "toolbox" hookah. My theory is to use a 1" ratchet head for the bowl.