Howdy Hookah Friends! Last week we held a contest on our Facebook page to Photoshop a hookah into any famous work of art (by the way, if you haven’t “liked” us on Facebook yet, you’re missing out on some awesome promotions and a chance to enter our weekly “Weird Wednesday” contests such as this one!).  Here’s a “best of” list of entries from our talented fans. Enjoy!

“Nighthawks Hookah” by Kyle R.

“The Scream” by Chip H.

“And On the 7th day, God Seriously Chilled Out” by Chris W.

“Miracle Rings” by Munkee F.

“Calling of St. Hookah” by Greg B.

“Card Sharks” by Greg B.

“The Last Hookah Session” by Duell N.

“American Hookah” by Michael K.

“Portrait of Dr. Gachet” by Jake W.

Thanks again to all that entered! Happy Smoking!

Howdy Hookah Friends!  The votes for our Sticker Design Contest have been tallied and we’re happy to announce this entry submitted by Cristian from Arlington, TX as the winner!  I’d say that this design accurately captures the creative humor we like to convey here at Hookah-Shisha.com:

Who doesn’t love monkeys?  Especially monkeys wearing suits?

With 18% of the votes (473 votes total), Cristian is the winner of the Nammor Cleopatra Hookah, as well as having the honor of being the designer for the stickers that will be sent with all of our orders. The design has been sent to the printers, and we’ll hopefully get them back and start sending them out within the next couple of weeks. Thanks Cristian!

You can view all of the other finalists here. Thanks again to everyone that participated in what was the most fun contest ever, and happy smoking to all!

Edit 10/12/10: The voting is now over and the winner will be announced soon!  Thanks again to all that voted!

Howdy Hookah Friends!

Vote for the winner of the 2010 Hookah & Shisha Sticker Contest! We were shocked – SHOCKED at how many creative and awesome entries we received for our Sticker Design Contest – over 200! We certainly didn’t expect that many, and we thank all of our fans and supporters for making this the best and most fun contest in Hookah-Shisha.com history!

It was a very difficult decision narrowing down the finalists, so much so that we all couldn’t agree on a top 10. So, naturally we had to expand it to a top 15. We selected the finalists based on a combination of artistry, uniqueness, and simplicity.

The voting period will end on Monday, October 11, and only one vote per per person will be counted.  We will post all of the entries we received to our Facebook page once the winner has been selected so everyone who entered will get some recognition.

Again, a big thanks to all that participated. Good luck to the finalists, and as always, Happy Smoking!

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Edit: 9/24/10: The finalists will be posted on Tuesday, September 28th.  We appreciate everyones patience!  Thanks again!

Edit: 9/20/10:  The deadline to enter your submissions has ended, and the finalists will be posted by the end of this week for voting.  Thanks everyone, and good luck to those that entered!

Creative, hookah-smoking people of the internet — We’re looking for a promotional sticker that we can include with every order we send out. Want to design it? If you’ve got mad skills, send us your designs and we’ll post the best ones for all to vote on. The top-voted entry will be printed and distributed around the world! You could even win some free stuff for entering!

Basic rules:

1. The sticker will be square-shaped, so make your design accordingly. We recommend using Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. The final printed sticker will be about 4 inches by 4 inches, so don’t make anything that would be illegible in that size (the resolution should be 300 dpi). You are free to design anything you like, but the only criterion is that it must have our website address somewhere on it (www.hookah-shisha.com). Avoid using any copyrighted characters and do not depict anything that is legally questionable.  We reserve the right to alter the winning entry to fit any printing requirements if necessary.

2. Save your entry in .psd format (if using Photoshop) or .eps format (if using Illustrator) and send as an email attachment to stickers@hookah-shisha.com. Try to make the file less than 10 megabytes in size (please compress larger files into a .zip file). Submit as many entries as you like!

The deadline to send in your entry is Sunday, September 19th.  Once the deadline has passed, we will select up to 10 finalists that will be posted on our website. The voting period will begin on Monday, September 20th and end on Monday, October 4th where everyone can vote on their favorite one (only one vote per person!). At the end of the voting period, the votes will be tallied and the winner(s) announced!

Prizes:

The entry with the most votes will receive a Nammor Cleopatra Hookah, plus their design will be printed and distributed to all of our customers worldwide! The remaining finalists will receive $25 in store credit.  Good luck to those who enter, and happy smoking!

And the results are in! But before we get into congratulating our hookah tricks winners, I would just like to thank everyone for their submissions. There were some really awesome submissions this year, and we hope for even more next year! You guys definitely let us know who you wanted to win, with an incredible 4,399 votes cast.

On to the winners!

In first place, with an astounding 2,104 votes, is video #8, by Serob Nagapetyan from Los Angeles, CA.

In this video, he shows us how to REALLY get into the Halloween spirit, by making a hookah (mostly) out of parts of an actual pumpkin, including using pumpkin juice instead of water. He then shows us his knowledge of a wide variety of hookah tricks. Excellent video!

In second place, with 544 votes, is video #2.

Here, he makes a good looking “fruit punch” hookah, using a pineapple for the base, and fruit punch for the water. Looks delicious!

In third place, with 436 votes, is video #5.

With a hilarious backing track, these guys take it to the road, filming most of their video in a car.  They also did some hookah innovating by turning one of my favorite drinks into a working hookah. Good job, guys!

Again, I would like to thank ALL of our contestants for their submissions, and we are very pleased with all of you guys this year. Thanks for all the support, and check back in for our next contest!

Howdy Hookah Friends!  The deadline to submit a video for the Hookah Tricks contest is up, and now it’s time to get your vote on!  We received so many submissions this year it surprised us how many creative and talented hookah smoking friends we had.  Wanna see them all?  Head on over to our Hookah Tricks page and select which video is your favorite.  Remember, you should base the judging criteria on creativity, usefulness, and overall entertainment.

The voting will end on Friday, October 16 at 11:59 PM CST.  Only one vote per IP address will be counted.  Good Luck to all that entered, and happy smoking!

Howdy Hookah Friends!  It’s the start of the fall season here in beautiful Austin, TX, and we here at Hookah-Shisha.com are kicking things off with our 2nd Annual YouTube Contest! That’s right, last year we did an Olympics Themed YouTube contest, and this year we’re doing something similar – except this time around YOU’LL be the judge!

We know we have a lot of talented and crafty customers and hookah connoisseur friends that are skilled in the art of hookah.  We receive a lot of emails from customers with various suggestions on how to improve one’s hookah experience.  Here’s your chance to showcase your skills while at the same time educating other hookah smokers from around the globe!  You may even win some free hookah stuff!

What kind of hookah tricks?

The criteria is any novel hookah trick that enhances the hookah smoking experience.  Something you may have figured out on your own, something you may have picked up from your local hookah lounge, or something that has been passed down to you from generation to generation of hookah smokers.   The videos should be as informative as possible.  Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Hookah Modifications! Created a “Frankenstein” hookah out of parts from different hookahs?  Made a hookah bowl out of a cucumber?  If you fancy yourself the Bob Villa of hookah smokers, here’s your chance to shine!

Base Additives/Shisha Mixes! Discovered a great combination of shisha flavor mix and/or base additive?  Share your recipe!

Smoke Tricks! Have a unique way to make smoke rings?  Figured out a way to get more smoke using common household appliances?  Don’t keep it to yourself!

DIY Repairs! Accidents happen, but sometimes a little quick-thinking ingenuity can have you up and smoking in no time without waiting for replacement parts.   If you’ve ever been in a similar situation, show everyone your MacGyver hookah fix!

Basic Rules:

(please click here for a .pdf of the complete rules and regulations)

1. Make a short video of your best hookah smoking trick.   Videos should be no longer than 3 minutes.  Be creative!  The more entertaining the better.

2. Upload your video to your YouTube account (click here if you’re new to YouTube).

3. Once uploaded, add your video to our “Hookah Tricks” YouTube group (www.youtube.com/group/HookahTricks).

4. After the contest ends, the videos will be posted to our hookah tricks page for all to vote on the best one.  Winners will be announced after the votes have been tallied.

FIRST PRIZE: $300 in store credit

SECOND PRIZE: $200 in store credit

THIRD PRIZE: $100 in store credit

The deadline for entries is Friday, October 9th.  The judging will take place until Friday, October 16th.  Good Luck to all that enter!

The results are in from our Hookah Olympics Youtube contest! We had a lot of fun watching the videos and we thank everyone who participated. Without further ado, here are our medal winners:

Gold Medal winner: Water Games!

A lot of effort went into this aquatic-themed hookah Olympic video, and our judges unanimously gave it a perfect score all around. Michael Phelps, eat your heart out!

Overall score: 5.0

Silver Medal winner: Smoke ring target shooting!

Our silver medalist is quite the smoke ring sharp-shooter!

Overall score: 4.3

Bronze Medal winner: Hookah Marathon!

The Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt took home the gold this year for running 100 meters in a record-breaking 9.69 seconds. Well guess what? Big deal. This guy takes 100 hookah hits in less than 6 minutes. Beat that Usain!

Overall score: 4.0
(bonus points awarded for not passing out)

Runners-up:

Record-setting bubble blowing!

Smoke Ring Skeet Shooting!

We’re not exactly sure what’s going on in these videos, but it looks like they had fun making it!

part 1:

Part 2:

part 3:

The wait is over hookah friends, and we’re happy to announce that the winning T-shirts from our T-shirt design contest are here at last!  Designed by you, voted by you, and now available to you for only $20.  Once again we’d like to thank all of the creative hookah smokers out there that participated, and offer congratulations to the winners.  Check out the Hookah T-Shirts here!

“Bubbly” Hookah T-shirt. Congratulations to Joseph Warren for the winning entry!

“Chaos” T-Shirt. Congratulations to Raymond Gonzalez for the winning entry!

“Cloud” Hookah T-shirt. Congratulations to Ioannis l. for the winning entry!

“Plaid” Hookah T-shirt. Congratulations to Emmanuel C. for the winning entry!

Update – Hookah Olympics Medal Winners Announced!!

We’ve created our own Hookah Olympic Games that you can participate in. Though the criteria for earning the gold, silver or bronze is slightly different than you’d expect: we’re looking for creativity, originality, and fun. The best part is that you get to create your own events!

Contest Rules:
Make a video of you, your friends, your enemies, or anyone else that wants to participate, doing hookah related events. We’ll get into what kind of events in a minute, and there are only two rules that you need to follow:

The first rule is that you need to post your video on YouTube with the title of the video listed as “Hookah Olympics – “Event Name”" where “event name” is whatever you decide to name your event.

The second rule is that you need to include the following link in the first sentence of the description of your post: http://www.hookah-shisha.com/hookahlove/290-hookah-olympics.html

Lastly, we ask that you please email us with the link to your post so we can embed it in our blog to keep all the competitors abreast of the competition. All submissions must be posted on YouTube by the end of the day Saturday, August 23rd. We will announce winners on Sunday, August 24th.

So, what kind of events are there?

We’ve thought up a couple ideas that might help get your creative juices flowing, but the sky’s the limit. You can create any event you like, provided you offer a brief description of the event and any particular rules you’ve created for it so the average viewer will know what they’re looking at.

Bowl Loading: This is an event of quickness and skill. Who can load their bowl the fastest, while properly installing the foil with nicely poked holes. Bonus points for neatness.

Hookah Relay Race: Race your friends around a course using your hookah as the baton while stopping for a puff at each exchange. We suggest using a Leila hookah or an Ultimate Combo Bowl to avoid coal burns. (Bonus points for smoking while running!)

Synchronized Smoking: A great way to express your inner artist. At least 2 people moving and smoking in synchronicity. Bonus points for style and hilarity points for incorporating any aspect of Rhythmic Gymnastics (you know you want to use one of those twirly ribbon things, right?!)

Smoke-Ring Sharpshooter: An event of skill and focus, pick a target and blow smoke rings at it. Whomever hits the mark the most consistently wins! Bonus points for style.

There are countless other ideas we know you can come up with. Create your own event and post it up for the world to see.

Prizes and Awards:

Each video submitted will be scored on a scale of 1-5. Our expert judges will examine your video and give it a score. All entrants will earn $5 in Hookah-Shisha Reward Points for each point they score. Maximum $25 in credit for each video with a limit of 4 videos per person.

We will also award a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal for the top three overall videos. Gold will receive $100 in store credit plus a free Hookah T-Shirt. Silver will receive $50 in store credit plus a free Hookah T-Shirt. Bronze will receive $25 in store credit plus a free Hookah T-Shirt. Store credit paid to Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be in addition to credit paid for initial entry score.

Special Promotions during the Olympic Games!

From now until the closing ceremonies on August 24th, take advantage of either FREE UPS ground shipping (order minimum $40) or 10% off your entire order! Please use the following coupon codes during the checkout process:

“Olympic 10” – this coupon code will take 10% off of your order. There is no minimum to buy! (make sure you press the “apply discount” button before you press the final checkout button!)

“Olympic Ship” – this coupon code will give free UPS ground shipping for our domestic customers for orders over $40. (make sure that you select UPS ground as your selected shipping method, and don’t forget to press the “apply discount” button before you press the final checkout button!)

Sorry, the 2 coupon codes cannot be combined.

And now for some of our videos:

Hookah Olympics – Hookah All Around

Hookah Olympics – Bubble Blowing

Hookah Olympics – Hookah Marathon

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