Update: This product has been discontinued from our store. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Before I worked at hookah-shisha.com my shisha palate was far from refined. I thought smoke pouring out of the bowl and a few heavy coughs after a long drag were normal, even preferred. I was young, naive and not well acquainted in the subtle nuances of different flavors that can be unleashed with a well-tended bowl. After a few months of daily hookah smoking, I learned which shisha I did and did not like, but my first true transcendent experience was when one of my coworkers introduced me to natural coals; right then and there I saw the light.

I started using Coco Nara Natural Coals for every bowl I smoked at work and never looked back. The even burn and lack of any chemical starter truly allowed the flavor of the shisha to blossom. That Friday night, I was entertaining some company and a hookah was requested. Immediately, I was self conscious of the lack of natural coals in my house, and dared not make my friends aware of my epiphany and tried to pass the quick lights off. They could not tell any difference and enjoyed the hookah thoroughly. I was not so lucky. To me without my beloved natural coals, the taste was the equivalent of adding ice cubes made of pond water to 50 year old whiskey. A sin of epic proportions.

Monday, I came home with enough Coco Naras to survive the apocalypse. That evening, I loaded a bowl and with a big toothy smile, lit the Coco Nara coals on my stove top. Needless to say it made a mess, and my girlfriend was not impressed. The next night, I lit the coals in an older sauce pan, and this threw her into a blind rage. Apparently the pan was an heirloom given to her by a relative that I had never heard of and only to be used to cook a food we never eat. Point well received: stay out the kitchen with your coals!

Bruised and battered, but not beaten, I returned to work the next day and made the best investment a man could make to accompany his hookah: The Hookah Charcoal Heater. Simply put it is a self contained electric coil that you drop the natural coals on top of, wait ten minutes and you are ready to smoke. The coals come out a beautiful ashy gray, hot all over, and the best part, no mess. The Charcoal Heater plugs into any standard wall socket, and is sweetly petite so it is easy to travel with and store. Without the Charcoal Heater, I would no longer be able to enjoy the myriad of pleasures I derive from smoking in the comfort of my home because I refuse to go back to Quick Light coals (its hard to travel Coach after spending some time in First Class). So here’s to you, Mr. Inventor of the Charcoal Heater, may the wind always be at your back, may the road always rise to meet you, and may your bowl forever be packed. Cheers!

I wish I could tell you that we here at Hookah-shihsa.com expound only on the various nuances of hookah smoking, but that would just not be true.  Although the style and substance of all things shisha is our favorite topic, we often raise our voices to elucidate opinions in music. Does Def Leppard suck? Could Explosions in the Sky be played as a funeral march? If Mozart were alive today would he be making beats for Lil Wayne? Conversations at times can become emotional, as we all attach memories to songs, and when someone tells you that Boston should never have been let out of the studio, it cant hurt. No one’s taste is ever wrong.  Learning what someone dances around in their underwear to helps you better understand who they are, and as such we have decided to share our Top Five Deserted Island Albums and Flavors of shisha. These are the albums and the shisha that if we were on a deserted island we would long for. You can disagree, but never hate:

If you ever find yourself on deserted island please let us know what  music and shisha you are missing!

By Tatum Vayavananda

I think I speak for everyone when I say that hookahs are really meant to be appreciated and respected. By this I mean all aspects of it; appreciate the concept of hookah: everything from the harmony of the hardware, shisha and science to the cultural, historical and modern influences. I believe that this must be respected and admired, in such a way that one admires fine wine or elegant cuisine. Or am I being too serious?

I was introduced to hookah during my deployment to Iraq in 2006 from my translator. He brought his hookah and shared it with us. His hookah, more rustic and traditional in appearance, along with his shisha, more of a tobacco-like flavor in lieu of blue mist or strawberry margarita, had an aura about it; It helped me to embrace the tradition of the “shisha pipe” for it’s cultural ideals, rather than solely a recreational appeal.

This might be why I’m hesitant to share the hookah with the masses of people at my school albeit the hookah sessions bring my friends and I great memories, company and recreation. But I realized I’ve never taken it out during parties. Usually my Mya Paragon sits on a table in shimmering display, yet if the beer pong table is set up, I put the hookah away.

Along with the dangers of having drunk people stumbling around, tugging on hoses and knocking over hookahs at a party, I’m more afraid that they won’t “get it.” They won’t understand that the shisha, the smoke, the base, the coal and the company is the perfect harmony of earth, wind, water, fire and love that we have grown to respect. To them it’s just another thing they do while they are drunk. I’m afraid kids these days are starting to take hookah for granted…

To us American young adults, hookah has become a new recreational past time. The hookah bars seem to grow more into night clubs, with DJs and black lights and martinis. But to me, I want to preserve that cultural and traditional aspect that has made hookah survive all these years. I want people to dig deeper, to understand the miracle of physics that help to bring beautiful smoke. I want people to sit back and not only think about how much fun it is to smoke hookah, but how amazing that such a concept exist. Or maybe I’m just being waaaay too serious?

Editor’s Note: Very well put Tatum!  Have something interesting and hookah-related to say?  Email us and if we like it, we’ll post it!

You can’t have a hookah without a hookah session. Well, technically, you can have an unused hookah and therefore no hookah sessions, but such unspeakable oddities shan’t be dwelt upon in this blog. The problem is, as anyone who has used the term “hookah session” three times in as many sentences knows, the phrase is cumbersome, unwieldy, and connotatively inadequate to capture the spirit of one or more people enjoying a hookah.

George Orwell once advised that one never use a long word when a short word will do. Ignoring the fact that he also suggested disregarding his suggestions, I’ve set out to find (or coin, as the case may warrant) a single word, shorter than the phrase “hookah session” that expresses the subtle joy of the instance of smoking a hookah. How do names arise? This four-word question has occupied cumulative centuries of research, study, and evolution – so I won’t try to answer it. Rather, I’ll focus my energies on deliberately naming a relaxing phenomena. The word for the occasion (“le mot juste” in French) must be taken from a root already well known to the hookah community (or “hookammunity”?), I figure, for it to gain popular usage.

The English language is a tricky one, filled with prefixes and suffixes of shadowy origin.  The Dictionary.com, an online compilation of several respected dictionaries, defines the suffix “-ist” as “a suffix of nouns, often corresponding to verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism, that denote a person who practices or is concerned with something, or holds certain principles, doctrines, etc…”. Therefore, one who smokes a hookah may be known as a “hookahist”.  While this word suits our purpose well enough, it doesn’t chime appetizingly in the ear.  Plug in a more traditional word for “hookah” – nargile – and you get: “nargilist”.  By extension, the act of smoking a hookah could be “nargilism”, or “nargility”.  Why “have a hookah session” when you can “nargilize”?.  When you’ve smoked enough, you drop your hose and sink back happily nargilized.  The word “hookah” has served us too well to be thrown out.  One can certainly “hookahlate”, and if you take your shisha seriously, feel free to “hubbly-bubblify” a bit.  Have some suggestions?  Add them in a comment to this blog, and you may find yourself in the dictionary!

Howdy Hookah Lovers!

Hookah-shisha.com presents our first guest blog author and finalist in our blog contest! Sarah K from Wyoming gives her poignant tale of an exciting hookah adventure, and goes to show that hookah smokers come in all ages and backgrounds. Without further ado, here is a “Mom’s Hookah Adventure.” Enjoy!

What does a tightly wrapped, middle-aged woman do for fun? Well, if you were me in 2006, you surreptitiously sneak out with a bunch of 20-something college pals and try smoking hookah. (I did bring my husband along for moral support, just in case,)

The story began in the summer of 2006 when I had the wild idea to return to college for my Masters degree. I decided to take some classes at the local junior college to ‘get back in the groove’ so to speak. During a class on ‘intercultural communication’, a cute kid (ok, Sunshine will giggle over that one) spoke of smoking his hookah. I, in the spirit of communication, quashed the noise in my head that said “This kid’s doing drugs!” and asked what exactly was he doing, and what was a hookah? Explanations followed with an invitation to go to the hookah lounge with him and some friends. (Horrors! Good girls don’t do that!!!)

I was curious. I began asking around, searching the literature and reading everything I could find on the subject. Just what IS this thing, what is it about, is it legal and can it hurt me?

As I studied, I found that the hookah is legal. It is a water pipe, not a bong. We never use the ‘B’ word, nor do we smoke illegal substances in the hookah. Later on as I traveled with ‘Pinky’ I made sure to keep the shisha in its original pouch so that, if any questions from law enforcement came up, I had the original package to prove it was tobacco and legal.

Sheesha is tobacco, therefore in some manner, can hurt me. As I looked into the studies, I was not convinced that they represented the type of tobacco used in hookahs. This is raw tobacco with honey or molasses, a flavoring and sometimes glycerin. I didn’t delude myself at all. This is tobacco. There is a danger in smoking it. I felt, compared to cigarettes, pipe tobacco and cigars, this was much less dangerous. I also looked at anecdotal information and found that no one was addicted to it. No cravings, no ‘I gotta have this or I’ll rob a bank,’ syndrome. This was primarily a social activity, shared in peaceful encounters between friends. For most people, this is an occasional indulgence with the benefit of a gorgeous hookah to admire between sessions.

A friend in Maryland, who has traveled the world and acts as my mentor in business, immediately jumped on the subject and regaled me with descriptions of his collection of hookahs. He offered in depth discussion on their origin, usage, design and etiquette. His father-in-law is in Iran and had supplemented the collection with some gorgeous hookahs. He was adamant that I try the hookah. He described dinner meetings in which after the final dessert, someone would say ‘did you bring your hookah’ and there was a mad dash to cars to retrieve hookahs. They’d sit for hours enjoying the camaraderie and discuss business.

Another friend, a journalist who covers Central Asia and the Middle East, explained that in the tribal regions a lot of business is still conducted by men sharing the hookah. When he realized the ‘hookah lounge’ was literally next door to my business, he told me to (essentially) ‘get over myself’ and try it. An Egyptian friend immediately offered pictures of herself with a group of students smoking hookah in the desert around a campfire on a group outing.

Ok…I did it. I went to the hookah lounge with my college pals and I smoked the hookah. I was nervous, worried about my reputation, and guess what? I liked it! I liked the people, the attitude and the taste. A week later, I was the proud owner of a beautiful green & gold Engineer hookah. A green Mya Mini, that lives in a pink travel case (dubbed Pinky by my kids), soon followed it. I was given a beautiful Pink Colossus for my birthday. My reputation is intact. I’ve made a lot of new friends and gained an insight into a whole different culture.

This isn’t a pipe – it’s a work of art!” a customer recently emailed us of his new Mya. We couldn’t agree more. In this age of utilitarianism, form falls too often second to function, and the artistry of hookahs – decoration for the simple joy of adornment – shines forth. After all, decorating something beloved is a natural human activity; we painted our caves millennia ago, we put posters on our walls today, stickers on our cars, and colorful collars on our dogs. Small wonder that we spend so much time searching for a hookah that looks just right. History has provided us with attractive smoke-centric artifacts for our appreciation, such as this Indian pipe from the early 1800s. On this hookah, the base is quite small, but the extra-long hose connector would have given the filtered smoke more opportunity to cool. You thought the large Phunnel bowl holds lots of shisha – the bowl on this hookah would last hours.

Not all hookah art (or ‘hookart’?) comes from the Middle East. This hookah base, make in the Kangxi region of China is made of delicate porcelain. This base dates to the 1700s, but in the century prior, Kerman (in what is today known as Iran), hookahs combined traditional Chinese and Persian motifs. Sadly, we were unable to find any pictures of this style for the blog.

This detail from a Persian rug in the 1800s shows a woman smoking a hookah. Rugs from this area and time often showed nomadic tribes setting up camp and smoking hookahs. Camping and hookahs? Count me in. I wonder if the weaver was puffing a hookah when making this rug…

Inspired by the hookah form (and probably fond of its function), artists frequently crafted other items, such as this decanter from the 1800s, in the manner of the cherished narghile.

And this? This is just silly.

Why are we giving you the largest sale in the history of Hookah-Shisha.com? Simply because nothing makes us happier than putting a hookah smoking smile on every single one of your faces. For Eight years now, Hookah-Shisha.com has grown into the largest hookah store and the oldest online hookah shop in the world. This was only made possible with your continued support and feedback. So as show of our appreciation, starting April 16th and for eight days, we are going to have this super sale!

We would like nothing more than to make sure every single one of you is extremely happy. Your continued support is what has kept us strong. Continue keeping us going and show us your hookah love by:

• Bookmarking us in your browser
• Telling your friends about us and this super sale
• Posting links to us in your blogs, facebook, myspace, or anywhere on the web
• Continuing to give us your amazingly valuable feedback
• Coming back to see us to have great hookah smoking experiences

We exist solely to serve your hookah needs. Pretty kewl job huh?

So onto the good stuff. Our special 18% Hookah-Shisha Discount Code that the majority of you are looking for is.

Enter Discount Code:
“8 more years of Hookah-Shisha.com“

Just enter the discount code “8 more years of Hookah-Shisha.com” in the summary page when you are in the checkout process. No tricks, no nothin. Just straight up customer appreciation. And this will last for 8 days, April 16th through April 23rd.

Hookah-Shisha.com has changed dramatically since its humble beginnings of starting in a college dorm room. I remember packing boxes and answering customer phone calls in between classes. From selling two different styles of hookahs and three flavors of hookah tobacco, to where we are distributing hookahs and shisha all over the world with over 3,000 different items. I remember sitting at friends’ places explaining what the heck a hookah was and why I always smelled so sweet (it was the shisha in my closet). And now, we have a full fledged hookah blog dedicated to hookah knowledge and hookah fun with a much larger audience than a living room.

However, one thing has not changed since we started: “We care about you!” Now that we have grown, we have proven that our pillar is our customer service. That is why we have a full-time team dedicated to making sure everything is perfect for every customer. Your hookah experience is the primary focus for us here at Hookah-Shisha.com. We work extremely hard to make sure you have amazing hookah smoking experiences. That means not only us selling the best products at the best prices, but more so through providing you with the most amazing customer service you can get anywhere in the world. And we are crazy when it comes to customer service, because that is where we can best show you how much we care. We ensure that any interaction you have with us or when you have anything to do with us, it is always the best experience possible. After all, Hookah smoking should be a very relaxing time and ordering or smoking one never should have any stress related to it! So as a company, we stretch ourselves to make sure your experience is perfect every time.

Here is one of our customer’s comments, that like many others, helps us know how we are doing:

Thanks. Im still trying to figure out how a Company that sells Hookahs provides me with the best customer service then with any other business ive ever dealt with (no offence). Whos the brains behind it all? I am interseted in purchasing stocks if and when they become available.

No stocks yet, but our methods are basic:

1. Superior, unrelenting customer service
2. Quality hookah products at the best prices
3. Fast, accurate and protected shipping

That’s it… Simple in theory, yet behind the scenes there is a lot of hard work to ensure it comes true because it is all driven by our desire to take care of you in any way we can. We believe our 8 years of business, if anything, is an indicator that we are successful. We do extensive quality checks to ensure all of your hookah products are perfect. Have a masterful room of hookah smokers constantly doing Research and Development to find you the best hookah products. We spend tons of time and care in making sure your orders are wrapped and packed properly to ensure that your package arrives quickly and in perfect hookah smoking conditions (relaxing and stress free). We are always available on LiveChat or phone for any hookah related questions you might have. Our supreme customer service a natural part of how we do business, because that is just the type of people we are. And knowing that you are taken care of is really what keeps us motivated. We truly care about you and your experience.

We know that the world isn’t perfect, but we try and make it perfect. But don’t rely on my pretty words. Here are a few pieces of recent customer feedback in just the past few weeks that help corroborate our work.

once again, i want to thank you very much for your help. you guys have excellent customer service and it is very much appreciated. don’t think that this won’t go unnoticed, as i have already told everybody on the hookahpro forum how helpful you have been.

I am truely grateful for your wonderful customer service and i will continue to buy from your company. Any company that follows up on their customer complaints/comments with worth their weight in gold in my book. Your company has proved to be very good and i will recommend you to anyone. I am sincerely grateful for your post sale support. Many companys i have dealt with in other areas forget you are a customer once they have received payment. You are truely a remarkable company! Thank you so much again and i appreciate all that you have done for me.

BTW you have have some of the best CS ever!

You guys are incredible! I ordered at 8:00 on a Thursday night and had the product in my hands at 5:00 THE NEXT DAY with plain-jane UPS shipping. WOW. Seriously, you have 100% of my buisness from now on!

You guys keep amazing me with your great customers service, I very much appreciate the effort. I will definitely keep referring you to my friends.

Well thanks again for the awesome customers service, really haven’t had anything as good with online stores so far…. you mind if I mention you to Dell?

I just wanted to say that it was a pleasure working with your site and will be happy to do business with the company again based on the superb customer service!

u guys rock!!! ur the best vendors online.

i just recived my package, everything was there and in good order. you guys are always on point and take care of me so thank you. youve made me a life customer

I cant believe the turn around time on my order!!! Ordered Monday, and here by FRIDAY?!?!?! I was expecting this to get here next week somtime.. especially since part was out of stock. oh its gonna be a great weekend!!! You guys are unbelievable. My loyalty is with Hookah & Shisha Central. Smoke on fellas and Thank You again!!

Thank you for your excellent customer service! You’re very friendly and polite. I really appreciate it.

Hey all……My True Love bought a Hookah and tobacco from you guys…….I am headed to England to see her……Your help in processing all of this means the world to me ……We met at the Hookah and are going to spend the rest of our lives together……Thank all of you and your staff…..Thanks guys……for helping me meet the woman of my dreams……. devoted customer

With that kind of motivation and success at doing what we say we will do, you can see why we love our jobs so much and why we have been around for 8 years. And more than anything, why you all have helped support and turn us into what we are.

So once again, thank you so much for all your support. Help celebrate our birthday by telling a fellow hookah smoker about our 8 more years of Hookah-Shisha.com Sale and remember to come back and visit us. We always have new hookah content, hookah promotions, hookah related contests and hookah innovations coming out. Show your support and bookmark and post links to our site to help others find us. Let us show the rest of the world why we are the largest and best hookah company that ever existed.

Thank you!

Hookah-Shisha.com – the Hookah and Shisha Central

“We put the dash in life”

Do I dare disturb the universe? Yes – Romman Peach is that good.

Whenever I serve a hookah to someone who’s never smoked one before, I like to treat them to Romman Peach. This succulent shisha is one of the most vivid, long lasting, and aromatic shishas I’ve ever smoked. Frequently, when I smoke this flavor in public, people will walk up and announce

“Oh! That smells so good – is that peach I smell?”
Because of the higher quality tobacco and flavoring used in Romman shishas, this tobacco is more sensitive to heat, so be sure not to burn it! As scrumptious as it is by itself, Romman Peach mixes well with other flavors. Try mixing it with some vanilla to make peaches and cream! Throw peach and orange together for a flavor inspired by the Fuzzy Navel drink. Here’s a trick that’s guaranteed to please: make a hookah bowl out of a peach!

You can slice a peach in half and remove the pit, and use a spoon to enlarge the dip in the peach half (where the pit was). Then, you can poke a small hole through the peach half. Now, simply load the peach with shisha as though it were a clay bowl, and use the hole to place it on top of the shaft! You don’t have to stop at peach, either – you can make a hookah bowl from fruit using apples or even lemons!

]]> http://www.hookah-shisha.com/hookahlove/86-do-i-dare-to-eat-a-peach.html/feed 1 http://www.hookah-shisha.com/hookahlove/44-on-the-pleasure-of-hookahs-iv-happy-smoking.html http://www.hookah-shisha.com/hookahlove/44-on-the-pleasure-of-hookahs-iv-happy-smoking.html#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:35:12 +0000 Christophanes http://www.hookah-shisha.com/hookahlove/44-on-the-pleasure-of-hookahs-iv-happy-smoking.html Whether it’s a riotous party, an intimate gathering, or a way to while an afternoon hour by yourself, you’re never truly alone when smoking a hookah. Sociologists have pointed out that, as participants pass the hose and wait their turn, hookah smoking bears more elements of game playing than cigarette or cigar smoking. A Turkish [...]]]>

Whether it’s a riotous party, an intimate gathering, or a way to while an afternoon hour by yourself, you’re never truly alone when smoking a hookah. Sociologists have pointed out that, as participants pass the hose and wait their turn, hookah smoking bears more elements of game playing than cigarette or cigar smoking. A Turkish hookah lounge patron has been quoted saying:

“Smoking a hookah is nothing like smoking a cigarette…cigarettes are for nervous people, competitive people, people on the run…when you smoke a hookah, you have time to think. It teaches you patience and tolerance, and gives you an appreciation of good company “.

Many cite the conviviality of hookah sessions as an important contribution to the burgeoning popularity of hookah culture in the busy West. Of pipes in general, English author William Makepeace Thackeray summed up the general sentiment of hookah enthusiasts when he said:

“The pipe draws wisdom from the lips of the philosopher, and shuts up the mouth of the foolish; it generates a style of conversation, contemplative, thoughtful, benevolent, and unaffected.”

One doesn’t require others to enjoy a hookah; a hookah is a companion in solace as well. It lends relaxation as you read a book, garnishes creativity when you compose a work of art, and harmonizes your evening after a day of labor. Try your hand at blowing smoke rings (pursing your lips out like a fish helps!), or try blowing smoke through a bubble wand: smoke bubbles! The early Greeks believed that the gods dined on the smoke that rose from burned offerings. In the east, many cultures believe that burning incense carries prayers aloft. With such a worldwide appreciation of smoke, what else can a well prepared hookah be but special? When you sit down to watch a movie, engage a video game, or even gaze out a window in daydream – a hookah bubbling beside you will consummate any time spent lounging in one place.

Check out the previous installments of this blog:

On the Pleasure of Hookahs I

On the Pleasure of Hookahs II: Shisha of the Earth

On the Pleasure of Hookahs III: Fire and Air

Since the dawn of history, fire has been revered by humanity with near religious regard. According to the Greek myths, it was a tool stolen from the gods and given to humanity. When once fire was a mysterious phenomena, a source of fear and destruction for early humans, we’ve now tamed this immortal power for one of it’s most noble applications: smoking a hookah.

Just as fire depends on air for its survival, a hookah depends on air and fire to generate the flavorful smoke through your hookah. Air, heated by the charcoal, passes through the shisha warming it up, and travels down the shaft. The smoke is then drawn through the water, which filters and moistens the smoke before it travels through the hose to your delighted tongue. Since the air passes around the charcoal, it captures any extra flavors given off by the burning coal, so you’ll want to choose the type you use carefully.

A cursory glance at the market reveals a wide variety of hookah charcoals. Hookah coal is separated into two major groups: natural and quick light. Natural coals are typically composed of a single type of material – wood. The wood in natural coals come from several sources, such as lemmonwood, olive wood, or even coconuts, and undergoes very little processing. Unlike instant-light (or quick light) coals, natural coals require a steady external heat source to ignite into glowing embers. Some like to use commercially available electric charcoal heaters to start their natural coals, others simply use a pan over a hot stove. Whatever lighting method is used, natural coals are regarded as the cleanest burning coals available. They emit no smoke once ignited, and give off virtually no fumes or flavors that can contaminate the flavor of the shisha. Natural coals also burn at a more consistent temperature ideal for shisha tobacco. Instant or quick lighting coals are made of compressed carbon, and contain additional igniting ingredients. One must exercise some caution when selecting a quick-light coal to use- some brands use petrochemicals as catalysts that can create fumes that taste bad and may be hazardous. When selecting an instant lighting coal, make sure you choose one that uses all-natural ingredients, such as the Golden Coals. Managing the heat given off of the charcoal is considered the true artistry of hookah smoking. If there is too much heat, the top of the shisha will start to burn, creating harsh acrid smoke that tastes terrible. With too little heat, the shisha won’t heat up enough to impart the essence of the flavor and tobacco to the smoke, which will be thin with little flavor. On the next blog, we come to the final and most important element of hookah enjoyment – the enjoyment itself!

Don’t miss the previous installments of this blog, On The Pleasure of Hookahs II: Shisha of the Earth and On The Pleasure of Hookahs I