Shisha Types – Page 6 – The Hookah Blog

Herbal Smoke… Damiana, Kava, Skullcap and More

Many people all over the world are now hooked on a new trend ‚Äì herbal smoking, also known as legal bud smoking. Legal bud smoking involves inhaling the fumes of several herbs, after lighting them, either through specialized pipes, chillums or just by rolling them in cigarette paper.

A wide variety of these herbs have been branded as legal buds. These herbs are those which have been used for centuries in shamanic potions and traditional tribal teas. Herbal smokes are prepared by blending two or more of these herbs in varying proportions. Most popular herbs used are salvia divinorum, hops, chamomile, damiana, ginseng, kava kava, wild dagga, passion flower, star of Bethlehem, skullcap, Artemisia vulgaris, scotch broom tops, betel nut powder and many more. Some manufacturers also call them marijuana alternatives. These blends also contain powders of the mugwort, in order to hold the mixture together.

Many of these ingredients, like the Ayurveda and Persian, are well-known for their medicinal properties and even used in medicinal branches. Some of them are secretly grown. The salvia divinorum has been used for hundreds of years by the shamans of the Aztec civilization for its healing properties. The skullcap is another herb which supposedly relieves a person of worries and tensions. Damiana and ginseng are reputed aphrodisiacs.

American manufacturers procure these herbs from the Hawaiian Islands or Mexico, where the herbs are grown in secret plantations. There is a huge market in America for smokers of legal buds. Some claim that it gives the same high as smoking pure marijuana, but this is a misconception. Most of these herbs do provide ‚Äòhighs‚Äô, but they are very short-lived.

Herbal smoke is inhaled through pipes or chillums. Native Indians just roll the mixture in a betel leaf. Some people use cigarette paper for rolling the mixture.

The general perception is that herbal smoking is not as harmful as tobacco-smoking. Herbal cigarettes do not contain tobacco, and hence no nicotine. Some manufacturers even claim that these herbal blends do not affect children in any adverse manner. However, health experts have a different point of view. Burning leaves release tar, which clogs the lungs over a period of time. Herbal mixtures may not be as addictive as tobacco, but they do create a craving and a desire to smoke them repeatedly. The only proven effect of herbal smoke is its numbing effect of the nervous system, but health activists still hold herbal smoke in contempt.

Hookah Tobacco aka Shisha Tobamel or Maassel

The tobacco used in hookahs is different than that associated with cigarettes, or, indeed, any other form of smoking. It is, traditionally, a damp blend–called shisha, tobamel or maassel–of fresh tobacco leaves with molasses or honey and semi-dried fruit or fruit pulp. Some smokers would add pomegranate juice or perhaps rose oil to the water, which added flavor to the smoke. Later, hookah tobacco was also mixed with fruit extracts, and in the 1980s tobacconists began experimenting with various flavors, so that now a virtual smorgasbord of highly aromatic hookah tobacco is widely available.

While some hookah smokers still prefer a strong Turkish tobacco, many delight in the large assortment of flavored tobaccos, often called shisha. The dark, wet mixture comes in flavors ranging from apple, cherry, apricot, and watermelon, to rose, jasmine, vanilla, honey, and licorice, with more exotic blends beyond that, such as lemon-cola, cappuccino, apple-mint, and a list of custom blends that is nigh on infinite.

Prices for packaged tobacco range anywhere from $4 to $17 depending on quality, and a variety pack of flavors might cost about $30. The price in most lounges for a bowl of hookah tobacco ranges from $4 to $9 for slower burning leaf or custom blends.

Since hookah tobacco is very wet it must be smoked using a hookah charcoal. Rather than being lit directly, the tobacco is heated with a coal placed on tinfoil or wire mesh above or in the bowl holding the damp mixture. Each bowl of this wet tobacco lasts a long time, usually requiring several replenishments of the charcoal. In the past, among those rituals and traditions surrounding the lighting and smoking of the hookah, or narghile, were strict prohibitions against lighting the tobacco incorrectly–or even allowing a cigarette smoker to light their cigarette off of the hookah coal.

Hookah tobacco is generally only 30 percent tobacco and 70 percent fruit flavoring and molasses or honey. It contains .05 percent nicotine and most types contain no tar. Because the tobacco is heated, rather than actually burned, studies have shown that there are fewer carcinogens produced in hookah smoke than in other forms of smoking. However, concerns about the length of time smokers generally spend around a bowl of hookah tobacco do warrant consideration, and studies have shown that carbon dioxide intake is actually higher in hookah smoking. Though mellower and less carcinogenic, hookah tobacco is still tobacco and the health risks remain. Hookah tobacco should only be smoked by adults over 18 years of age, and then smoked in moderation.

How To Smoke a Hookah and Shisha

	1. Fill the vase so that the stem of the hookah is submerged approximately one inch in the water. Using ice in the glass is very common; it makes the smoking experience more cool and soothing. You can also try freezing your glass by putting approximately an inch of water into the glass and putting it into the freezer.
	2. Place the metal argile on top of the vase. You should have a gasket to help seal the two together making it air tight.
	3. Place the tray over the top of the argile head. The tray will not fit over most heads, so you’ll need to place it on first. The opening for the tray will usually be a bit wider than the neck of the argile.
	This is what your hookah should look like.
	4. Attach the hose gasket to the end of the hose. Place the end of the hose with gasket into the hose opening of the argile.
	Hookah setup with hose.
	*Packing the bowl, takes a little practice to get it perfect.5. Brake up the shisha so it sets lightly in the bowl. If it is packed too dense, it will not allow smoke to be pulled through the head. Fill the head to the rim of the bowl and no higher. If you over fill the head, the shisha will become too packed when placing the foil or metal screen over the top.
	6. When placing foil over the top, get a square piece of foil that is approximately 3 X 3 inches.
	7. Place the foil over the top of the head like the picture shown on the left.
	8. Poke holes in the foil. A thumb tack or oyster fork works best.
	*Setup of hookah with hose and head.
	9. Lighting coals – If you have instant light Syrian coals or Japanese silver square coals, a lighter will work. For Nour and The Lord Style coals, use a stove or propane torch. You can find a propane torch at home improvement store for around $20. Burn the coal all the way around so when you blow on the coal, a red glow covers the entire piece. You can not directly apply flame to the tobacco or use Kingsford BBQ charcoals for the head. A lot of BBQ charcoal gives off too much carbon monoxide which can cause headaches and even death. Use only hookah charcoals please.
	10. Carefully place the charcoal on top of the hookah head so that you don’t drop ambers into the shisha.*If the hookah smoke becomes harsh, you may have too many coals on the head. Try removing a coal or breaking a coal into two to distribute heat better. If the hookah is still smoking harsh, ambers may be in the shisha. Remove coals and cover so that you can blow out ambers.

A Big Thanks To Hookah Company dot com for supplying the steps above. If you really like it, then make sure to buy something from them. I hope this has helped you learn how to smoke a hookah or how to smoke shisha. Enjoy!

Sheesha Dealership in Cairo

Sheesha Dealership In Cairo