LuxOR541 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 After deciding there must be sources for hookah in the Northwest other than sketchy head shops and overpriced mall tobacco stores, I set out to turn over a few rocks and uncover some new hookah related businesses in Oregon and the rest of the pacific northwest. I loaded up a bunch of metal tunes in my bright blue 4gb iPod Nano, filled a cooler with bottled water, planned my route on map quest, and packed my laptop. I woke up the next morning at the crack of noon and prepared to hit the road. It was St. Patrick's Day, so I threw the Glock 23 in the trunk just in case I ran across any deranged rabid leprechauns (j/k.... I don't really believe in leprechauns. But I did pack my tinfoil hat) I had some info on where to find hookahs in Portland from months of Googling. I threw a couple of franklins in my wallet just in case I found a few things I couldn't live without. My expectations were low, based on my experiences finding hookah gear in my hometown of Eugene, but those expectations were soon to be exceeded. I parked myself in the Civic and aimed for the interstate. After gassing up and cranking some In Flames on the iPod, I set the cruise control and pretty much took a nap on the straight stretch to Portland. An hour and 50 minutes later I am parking in front of International Food Supply. Located right next to Ya Hala Lebanese restaurant at 8005 SE Stark, IFS is a well stocked Lebanese and Mediterranean grocery store, with everything from fresh pita to Middle Eastern spices, to Lebanese and Moroccan wine. Displayed proudly above the freezer and produce cases were about two dozen hookah pipes. Most of them were of the standard Egyptian design. There were a couple of MYA bohemians in the mix. After wandering around the shop for a while and picking out some pita bread, baba ghanouj and some tahini for the following nights dinner, I began checking out the water pipe selection. Their selection wasn't quite as varied as some might like, with most of the stems being the same basic design and size. The bases however were varied and the hookahs all looked to be of very high quality. I was immediately drawn to a 26 or so inch Egyptian model with a clear/peach colored vase. All of the pipes they stocked were single hose models, which I tend to prefer. The store was staffed by an older woman who was very courteous and outgoing. I waited for her to finish a conversation in Arabic with a regular, then asked about the hookah pipes. She seemed impressed that I knew anything at all about them. We talked a little about the different brands of tobacco that I was used to smoking and she reccomended I try some Nakhla tropicana if I had the chance. She told me the price of the pipe I was looking at and to my surprise it was only $59.95! After she showed me where to look for the sticker, I browsed through all of the pipes and found that the most expensive ones were the MYA pipes, at around $130.00. Most were $49.00-$89.00. I noticed they carried some Nakhla tobacco, as well as Abu Haitham. I decided to purchase the peach colored Egyptian pipe and brought the rest of my order to the counter. The woman had one of her employees get a stepladder and retrieve the hookah from the top of the case, and to my amazement it came with a case, brushes, tongs, base protector, and screen for that price! I am used to seeing packages like that online, but most local retailers sell everything ala cart. All in all I would highly recommend visiting this store to anyone with an interest in Hookahs, or middle eastern/Mediterranean cooking. The customer service was outstanding, and everything including the groceries was priced not as specialty items, but as staples that are used everyday. Fresh pita bread at $0.79 for a pack of 6 and high quality traditional hookahs for $59.00 go to show that it pays to shop where something is a part of the owners culture. I will definitely go back to International food supply, and will certainly investigate the attached restaurant Ya Hala in the near future. I was not quite so impressed with the state of things at my next stop… To be Continued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewM Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 bad ass, if i ever find myself 3288 miles across the country ill have to stop in there. all we have here is sketchy head shops with minimal selection chinese hookahs and stuff, not thing great. gotta go online to get anything worth getting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldonb1 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 yeah we just have head shops and the mall tobacco leafs around us... although i do shop a bit at the tobacco leaf, they are a bit over priced .... i paid 140 for my mya bohemian... not bad i guess, came w/ a case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
web250 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 Not a bad deal at all. It always pays off to look around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookah hippie Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 NIce looking piece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewM Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 when do we get the rest of the adventure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuxOR541 Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 Should be posting more on this tomorrow. For the next two stops on my trip I have to take some time to do a couple tobacco reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glottis Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Reminds me a lot of the market that I used to frequent (Yashman still frequents it, as far as I know). It's nice to get stuff in-store. Good music choice as well, let me know if you need any further recommendations, heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramses Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) dude if you know of any nice places in seattle let me know, there's a preponderance of hookah bars but the hookah supply stores are fairly limited. the best i've found is sam's smokes on university in seattle, but it's really only good for its solid af/nakhla/layalina/pharaoh's selection. a small place in redmond used to have starbuzz but that's the only time i've heard of anyone carrying it out here.btw i love eugene, even though it may have a terrible selection of hookah shops... burrito boy is king. Edited March 22, 2007 by ramses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuxOR541 Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 hey ramses,Check out lost treasures downtown near Pikes. I think it's 1st and pine. Or maybe 2nd, but anyway the owner Ahmed is a super nice guy. He's got great pipes at really good prices, and mostly specializes in bellydance gear. Lots of middle eastern music.If you haven't been yet you should go to a restaurant called Mamounia in Capitol Hill. No hookah, but great morroccan food and live bellydancing on the i believe thursday thru sunday. It's like $18 per person for a 5 course moroccan meal and the food is awesome. Yeah burrito boy rules. Chorizo breakfast burrito with extra green sauce.Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allia22 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Hmm, my sister used to live in Eugene with her future ex husband. Then she moved off to Portland. Trying to get her into hookah, but she's broke right now, even more broke than me.BTW, Redmond = Nintendo's US headquarters. GAH! O_O I wanna see the magic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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