“Dannah Hosford of the Vista Community Clinic said smoking a hookah pipe for 20 minutes was equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes, and she also said the use of communal pipes could spread herpes, tuberculosis or other diseases.”

Ok Dannah, and how did you come to that conclusion? First off, the amount of tobacco in my hookah bowl is no where near the amount in 100 cigarettes. How can my bowl, which would have less tobacco than 100 cigarettes, possibly be the same as smoking 100 cigarettes. Do not forget the chemistry differences between smoking from a hookah and smoking a cigarette. A cigarette BURNS tobacco, and a hookah BAKES tobacco. Apparently Dannah is ignorant and thinks that smoking tobacco in a hookah is the same as cigarettes. Lets not forget that garbage chemicals are put into cigarettes, and in hookah tobacco, you have sugar and artificial flavor added. Smoking hookah spreads Herpes? Are you serious? First of all, you use a plastic mouth piece on the hookah hose. I haven’t even heard of a story where someone got herpes from smoking a hookah at a hookah lounge.

Apparently there were a number of people who wanted to open a hookah lounge in Escondido. I feel your pain guys. If anyone who hates the idea of people smoking hookah is reading this, can you answer my question? Why do you care if people open a hookah lounge? Why don’t you get irate and yell at the jackass who is smoking a cigarette 3 feet away from the hospital door? You don’t see people who smoke hookahs bothering you, do you? Spare some time to actually see what the difference is between smoking a hookah pipe and smoking a cigarette. The tobacco is no where near the same, and it does not produce tar because of the low temperature a hookah bakes the tobacco at.

It upsets me when I hear of town counsels knocking down hookah lounges.

/Rant

btw you can read the article where I was reading the news from here: NCTimes

Update:

After trying the Tangiers Schnozzberry the first time and experiencing harsh smoke, I took all of the shisha out of the plastic tub and spread it out on plastic wrap. I let it air out for over 14 hours. After airing it out for 14 hours, the smoke is perfect. I also packed it slightly different than I do with other tobaccos. If you are having problems getting Tangiers to smoke well, spread the shisha on something like foil, plastic wrap, or wax paper. Then let it air out for 12-24 hours so it can get adjusted to the climate you live in. Also think about adjusting the way you pack it. You can see how I pack my Tangiers phunnel bowl. Keep in mind that is not how I packed this tangiers tobacco. It is close to it, but not quite.
If you want to try out Tangiers Schnozzberry or any other flavors get them here: Tangiers Tobacco

A single hose hookah pipe should have a purge valve attached on the stem. The purge valve is used to blow the smoke that is lingering in the base. This comes in very useful when the smoke is getting bad. After you fix the coals on the bowl to correct it, you can just purge the harsh smoke out without having to inhale it. With a multiple hose hookah, you do not necessarily need a purge valve.

A big question you need to answer is whether or not you are going to take this hookah to different places. If you are going to take it around to friend’s places, you might want to get a hookah that is more portable. Two good choices would be to either get a small sized hookah or to get a hookah with a stem that disassembles into smaller pieces.

Another thing that you can get for hookah pipes, but not required, is an ice chamber. The ice chamber will sit below the ash tray on the stem. It will look like an upside down funnel. An ice chamber will help by keeping the stem cool. When you are using your hookah pipe, the stem will get hot from the heat transferring from the coals, to the hookah bowl, and then to the stem. To have a cooler smoke you can get a hookah pipe with an ice chamber.

I got a Razan hose after I had a problem with a Khalil Mamoon hose that I have. Not knowing that the KM hose was not washable, I was washing it out to get rid of a taste that was in the hose. After time went by, I noticed that orange stuff had started to come out of the KM hose. This is when the hookah hose begins to ‘rust’, and it is not good. It is basically trash because you do not want to be inhaling that junk. So I looked around and found a washable hookah hose, and I like it. It is a durable hose, and I will see how long this hose can last. It has been around 2 months since I have had the hose, and it still feels like it is brand new.

The hoses can cost around 22 dollars per hose, or at least that is how much I paid for mine. The razan hose has a very good draw, and I seriously recommend it for anyone. There is also a washable Nammor Hookah hose, which by the looks of it looks exactly like my Razan hose. It is washable too.

Get a soap mixture and put it in a bowl that is large enough to place whatever you use to blow the bubbles with. I have used dish soap, and it could take you a few tries to get the right water and soap mixture right.

Get something like a cardboard toilet roll, or you could use a plastic soda bottle. Just cut the bottom of the soda bottle off to make a nice circle to blow the bubbles with.

Once you have your soap mixture in a bowl, take a hit from your hookah and dip the bottle or toilet roll into the soap bowl. Then exhale the smoke into the bottle, but do not do it hard.

This hookah trick is really easy to do. The only ‘hard’ part is getting your soap and water mixture right so the bubbles hold strong. I have had a couple bubbles actually bounce off of my floor! This is a pretty fun and entertaining hookah trick to do when you are smoking with other friends. It is definitely a crowd favorite.

The only thing that does not excite me about this shisha is the flavor. I used some no name quick light hookah coals, my khalil mamoon ice hookah pipe, and my tangiers phunnel bowl. The smoke that comes from it is great. I do not want to say anything good or bad about the lack of a buzz from the shisha because not many hookah tobaccos give me a buzz anyway. The one thing that will stop me from buying any other Al Amir shisha is the lack of flavor and the fact that the orange does not taste great. Orange is my favorite flavor hands down. So far I have tried 5 brands of orange including Al Amir, and they got the gold star for missing the mark.

If I am going to have a smoking session with other people, this is not going to be one flavor and brand I will not be sharing with my friends. Maybe I bought two bad batches of Al Amir hookah tobacco. Either way, I really did not like Orange or Kiwi from Al Amir.

Here is what the phunnel bowl looks like:

Tangiers Phunnel Bowl

Start placing the shisha in the bowl. When you are putting it in, you want the tobacco to stack a little bit above the top like so:

Packed Tangiers Phunnel Bowl

After you have the shisha in the bowl, slap on some foil shiny side down. You are going to take your hand and pack the shisha down into the bowl.

When you are done packing the tangiers phunnel bowl, there should be an indent where a quarter will fit. Basically, when you hold the bowl level with your eyes, you should not see the quarter.

Then, take your hand and pull the foil downwards tightly. I use two hands, but I only had two hands to give you an example and take a picture.

Start to poke holes into the foil. A toothpick works. Other people have used other things like forks…When you are poking holes with a toothpick, push it all the way down until you hit the bottom of the bowl.

After you go around the foil punching holes, it should look like this:

I poke a few holes in the center where the hole in the bowl is. You might have to change how hard you pack the shisha with different brands. Your packing technique will vary to get the best out of each different shisha brand.

With this hookah pipe, I use the Razan washable hose. I do recommend that you get a washable hose with any hookah. As of now, I am unaware whether or not KM has a washable hose version out. I do know that if you try to wash the inside of your KM hookah hose it will ‘rot out’ and you will be left with nasty stuff that you do not want to inhale.

When you get a KM hookah pipe, you will most likely get the traditional Egyptian clay bowl. Now, do not expect these to be pretty, because they are not. I do not know if they have larger bowls on their multiple hose hookah pipes, but for the single hose versions, they have bowls that hold around 20 grams of shisha. For some people, that would be enough. For people like me, I needed to upgrade to a better bowl. To make the Khalil Mamoon that much better, you should get a Tangiers Phunnel Bowl. There are a few different sizes that you can get for this kind of bowl. It is very hard to describe how this bowl looks without a picture, so I will have to post a picture later. It is different from a traditional bowl and it makes your smoking sessions last much longer and taste more definite.

If you are looking for a hookah pipe that you will use for yourself, then I would say getting the KM 35″ Ice hookah will not disappoint you. I have used it for small smoking sessions with 2 or 3 people including myself, and it does not take away from the smoking experience that much. If you plan on smoking shisha with one or two other people every blue moon, this is all you need. If you are looking for something to share with a friend or two more often, then you might want to get a 2 or 3 hosed hookah pipe.

These hookah coals are all natural, and you can get a quick light version which is still very good. You would think that quick light coals cannot compete with all natural coals, but these do. They are great because you can light them without having to sit there at the gas stove pummeling them with heat just to get them red hot. Just stick these on the ash tray and light them with anything and they will take care of themselves literally. After smoking different hookah coals, it is obvious to me that all natural coals are going to be my first pick. The best coals that I use are Exotica coals and these Chronic Hookah Coals. The other brand of hookah coals that I will try is Coco Nara. Just like the Chronic Hookah Coals, these come in pre-made square shapes. This is perfect. I know of other people who say they love them, and I am sure that I will too. They are also made of coconut shells. That means that no trees are cut down for these coals.

If you are going to be getting coals soon, do not go for the first ones you can get your hands on, and get the ones like I noted earlier.