Anyone smoke tobacco from a hookah pipe? My wife was looking at one. Thought about picking it up for her birthday. She likes the flavored tobaccos, and we were just wondering how a hookah smoked.

Thanks
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Hookah smokes very cool. I know some people who put milk in the base instead of water to make the smoke "creamier".
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It's almost like a vapor. You'd have to inhale it to get any sort of drag.
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Check out a local hooka bar and give it a try they seem to be real popular especially around colleges.
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This.
I have a small hookah. The hookah bars around here do offer milk instead of water for a creamier feel/taste like MJ said. Better than infused cigars because it doesn't smell like perfume. :-)
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If you want to try to use milk in your hookah be sure to use a little milk and mostly water. Milk alone will bubble up and get in your hookah hose. Unless your hookah hose is washable you'll have to throw it away. It's best to use very cold water or water with a few ice cubes added.
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+1 if possible.

Entirely different experience from a pipe. More a flavored vapor than hard particulate smoke, it needs a deep inhale to get to the heart of the deal. Not a bad thing, just not like a pipe. You also need foil, special hookah tobacco, charcoal and, ideally, a blowtorch and a good baby-bottle brush sooner or later to clean the stinky thing out.

For the once or twice a year I get a hookah jones I go the the middle eastern bar, have a shish-kabab, some rice pilaf, let the pretty lady from Lebanon pour the turkish coffee and, then, she brings a clean shisha and fires it up for me. I prefer this method to actual ownership and maintenance. :-)
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I do enjoy smoking hookah from time to time. Usually our sessions are a few hours long and it's quite relaxing in the social setting. (This is what I'm told) Starbuzz brand tobacco is more for the "American" market for it's much "sweeter" while Al Fakher is more "authentic". I enjoy Al Fakher most of the time, but starbuzz blue mist I enjoy quite a bit. ACID of Drew Estate makes a shisha in collaboration with Starbuzz if you can find that. I usually mix flavors, typically mint with another fruit flavor. My favorite right now is mixing 1 part mint and 2 parts orange which reminds of of Orange Soda.

Going back to the original question, the smoke it'self feels cleaner through the water, and cooler (depending if you add ice). It's much denser and thicker so practicing your O-Rings is quite easy. The smell lingers only for a little while, we've smoked it the house and the smell will dissipate quite quickly. The buzz you get is much different from a cigar/cigarette buzz (at least to me) and I feel much more relaxed, but that's probably due to the amount I'm smoking and the lightheadedness that might follow from inhaling so much. I find it much less harsh to my throat if you smoke in a "normal length session". If you need any help don't shy to pm!
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I love hookah, it was one of the first things I started smoking, oddly enough my first time smoking it I actually smoked some sort of sugar syrup and tea leaf mixture that the head shop sold as shishah, apparently they don't sell tobacco...
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Just saw this. I used to smoke my hookah at lunch and then in the evening. Now... it sits in the case :-) I need to break it out.

Yeah, there are a lot of great things you can do as far as mixes, adding different liquids (milk, rum, etc.) to really trick it up. For me? My standby was mixing strawberry and apple together... strapple :-)

I would also recommend you play with the coals. Too much coal and and it can get really harsh. Too little and you wont get enough smoke. Also, there are different types of coal. I think I currently use lemonwood coal and absolutely love it. My wife loves it, too. She says it makes the house smell good. Lemonwood coals usually aren't autostart. So, you have to put constant heat/flame to them. I would just throw a couple of pieces of coal on the burner and get them started. Now, I use the burner on the side of my grill.

Ok, enough... I am rambling.
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Agreed. Another trick we do is using a cored apple as our bowl on top if we're using apple flavors. Pairs really well with a cinnamon rich masala chai and a touch of milk or bailey's mixed in with the water.
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That's a good one.

Al Fakher is my favorite brand tobacco. Make sure the coal is the right size for the bowl or it will get too hot.

http://www.alfakher.com/
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I used to smoke too much of this stuff.
Nakhla, Nakhla mizo, al fakher, and tangiers are my top choices in tobacco.
All have there good and bad flavors.

Invest in high quality coals, different bowls (a clay and phunnel), and learn how to pack each tobacco.

That is all.

Oh, and on a side note. Khalil mamoon hookahs are the best in the biz. Their hoses are great too. Either that or a nammor or narbish.
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Bought me a hookah because of this thread. You guys are dangerous!

MCS
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Hope you enjoy it.
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I have a small 2-hose hookah, it's hard to find a good one, they're either extremely expensive or really cheap. We used beer instead of water once, it just burns a little more...
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How does a hooka bar work? How do they sterilize them, or do you bring your own? I don't know that I'd want to use a public hookah.
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Sterilize is probably the wrong term to think of. Generally, using a hard alcohol like vodka is used to clean the bowl/stem. Hoses can't be sterilized persay (unless said bar has a washable hose). This is why hookah bars use plastic tips to cover mouth piece of the hose to prevent your lips touching someone elses.

Word to the wise- if your hose doesn't explicitly say it's washable, that means if you run water through it- the innards of the hose will rust and decay. You don't want that happening.
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Hookahs are amazing use ice water or as others have said milk.
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I run water through my hoses from time to time. Cleans out much of the grit and grime. I haven't had any issues with it. They are just rubber hoses usually. Right?
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