“Smokey Links” a RITUAL

Yes, when you saw the 2 words “Smokey Links”, did you as a dedicated shisha smoker REALLY think about “links for hookah smoking”? Are you a “man “(or another) with hair on your chest? C’mon?!!
Yes, for Christians the world over, “Smokey links” at breakfast are a ritual.(I lived in the Bible Belt of the MidWest ,the USA for my first 17 years, so I know. They sure smell good, them “Jimmy Dean Sausages”. I remember Jimmy Dean as a singer of country songs before he got big into business.
And yes, for smokers of the narghilah -waterpipe,hookah, etc. that is “our” ritual no?
I’ll bet that you were thinking of breakfast when you read “smokey links”.
http://www.polonia-restaurant.com/delicase.jpg
http://www.shepmedia.com/Paul’sCorner/links.gif
or this electric hookah set-up?
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rjamesg6/hookah.jpg
(I’ll get these links made “kosher” for you on this section for downloading soon).

Speaking of “Kosher” , it means “Permitted” in Hebrew, Kosher as pertaining to the Jewish ritual Laws of what can be eaten as good, or bad for the soul in a body.

This is a tiny, small peek into “the Code of Jewish Laws” as practiced by “Orthodox” Religous Jews of which there are different approaches, general agrement, and no one is placing bombs in the synogogs of the other groups, and never have!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulkhan_Arukh (Jewish Law)

For Moslems the world over its the same principal. Is this food permissible for a soul in a body? There are differences between the 2. There is no “correct, or right way” except if you ARE a Moslem, or a Jew.
A note, most Moslems, I would imagine 99.9% do not bomb or kill other Moslems. Let’s be fair.
Health wise I was warned with all my seven children never to give them honey until they are at least one year old. Health wise YOU are PERMITTED to eat honey, and they no. (Same metaphysical corelationI later found out that chemically the honey lowers the infant’s resistance to many diseases.
“As in the physical worlds G-D Created the spiritual worlds”. ((And Vice Versa)
Kosher and Uswah are health for the soul of Moslems and Jews only as it pertains to each group in PARTICULAR. No “incorrect” way of religion vs. religion.
Here is a link for explanation of the Ritual Laws of Islam:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Islam_Way_of_Life_Explained.
According to the Jewish “Torah” (Book of G-D’s Revealing Infinate Light” :
Christians are permitted to eat pork and most of the probably delicious stuff I’ve seen sold, like McDonalds french fries whom
VEGETARIANS (They have their little rituals and some fanatics too) found out some time back were fried in pork oil, frozen, shipped to your friendly neighborhood fast food McDee’s and refried, hot and juicy in vegetable oil the second fry.
So, here are two sayings in Hebrew and Arabic that both mean “Great ,Infinate,King and Creator of ALL worlds”
Arabic: “Allah Hu Akhbar” simply translated “The Infinate One is Great”
In Hebrew : “Ribbono Shel Olam” “Master of All Worlds is One”
Same difference–what is the fighting all about?
Note : if anyone of the three religions was offended, I ask your forgiveness.
Let’s not forget the “Jain” religion of Indo-China and world over really, who don’t eat anything Kosher OR Uswah, don’t even kill flies or mosquitos!!
I have read quite a lot over many years about the Buddhist religion (Way,path) and the Hindu path and way, but I will not make a fool of myself more than I should.
As we say in the Talmud “How do you know a fool is a fool? Only if he opens his mouth to talk”.
Shalom, Salaam, Peace and Goodwill toward your fellow man as YOU would like to be treated well.
Hookah 1

Hookah Accsessories.How much is enough?

An important part of setting up your hookah are getting the right parts and accessories.

( waterpipe or is also called shisha in Arabic Nargile, Nargilah in Lebanon and Syria, Hubbly Bubbly in India.)
With people getting on an airplane and flying to other continents the cultures mixed and the names were interchanged.(Don’t forget Marco Polo who opened up trade routes from Italy to China, India and Arabia hundreds of years ago )
Some online companies will sell you package deals with all the basic parts and extra accsessories. I’ve checked out the prices per company-yes buying the package deal will save you a few dollars, but it insures you as a first time hookah buyer that you’ll have ” tires on your new car” when you attempt to drive it out of the store at purchase time!
Of course buying your first hookah you can expect all its parts which from bottom to top are :
Glass Bowl (Holds the water)

Big rubber grommet (to attach and seal to the metal pipe and rod)
Lets make a P.S. here, many new modern hookahsare now screw-in types.

Metal shaft (half is in the bowl of water partially submerged in h2o)
and the middle of the shaft hugging the big rubber grommet with the top of the shaft (designed and colored as you ordered) on the top…

Holding first the metal flat dish :
which gives outwards flare , pleasure to the eye and most importantly will hopefully catch any falling charcoals, and ashes.

Next step up is the
clay, pyrex, glass or ceramic shisha tobacco -holding bowl.
Originally the only bowl offered online was the basic brown clay glazed bowl holding 15-20 grams of shisha tobacco and tended to make you try to pack in 2 more grams ” for the road”-thereby guaranteeing you an over hot and too cooked smoke !
I had about 12 of them, not in case they broke, but if I wanted a long smoke, I’d have to change to a second bowl. I tossed em all in the garbage happily when “Smoking-Hookah.com” was the first to sell these little cuties on their web site :
Large-Clay-BowlAs you see, these come in various color and you canput 2 or 3 times the size of a regular bowl.
Soon they offered the double-bowl
This an ingenious idea first from “Smoking-Hookah. com” based on their knowledge of actual smokingscience.
The double bowl is not for lazy smokers who can’t mix their banana flavor with a cool mint for example. We learned how to do THAT at age 4!
No, the idea is simple but no one thought it out- if you mix say, Al-Waha com. cherry flavor with nakhla com. “Coca cola” to make a classic “Cherry-Coke” inthe same bowl you’ll be sorry.
Al-Waha has a certain percentage of glycerine which they mix into the fruit and honey to help blend it even and insure a wet smoke that never is suposed to burn the shisha, but the glycerine assures the DISAPATION or vaporizing of the shisha mixture.
“Nakhla” com adds their certain percentage of glycerine.
So being the two of them in one bowl will never burn uniformly.
I found this out years ago from actually doing it. I only found out a year later the scientific reason.
An added intesting note:
In Germany to order shisha online it has to be under 5% glycerine.Each country has their own funny laws, but most of the shisha we are merited to buy is made in the Arab countries at 25% glycerine,sometimes more along with tobacco ,fruit and honey.(see this link)

http://www.head-nature.com/04477.html
I’ve seen now triple head bowls but my logic says that 3 flavors mixed wil be like having a “Bloody-Mary” with added in banana juice! Vodka and tomatoe juice are a nice mix, add spices if you’d like, but sweet banana will kill it.
Then again, I’ll discuss mixing shisha in another area.
There are also some nice one headed bowl with 2,3 or 4 sections. The same principle and a fine idea.
Here we are almost at the top of the hookah and I’ve let you hanging….
After packing your shisha, how to tips or not to do things will also be in another space on this blog.
Here we come to the Skullcap of the shisha bowl. A thin piece of aluminium foil, punched in theoretically certain patterns to give you the smoothest, coolest burn in the bowl and the thickest smoke.

(at this point, let me state a fact, not opinion that is quite basic).
There are many experts like wine snobs who smell the wine blindfolded and on tv or the movies will crow out “ah- yes a good Bordeaux, must be a vintage 1978 from…yes Alsace near the fork in the old road….” I will never claim inthis blog to be an expert, but I’ve been followingthe best of hookah forums from the US of A, Middle-East, UK Great Britain , one German forum which is also “big” enough to publish in English too. French I don’t understand, “well, shut my mouth”. This section on forum info and great hookah shisha references, postings and such is so vast, but its all here at my fingertips and waiting only to type up under”Hookah forums” if you’ve got about 5 hours a day for 4 years running, you’ll vacumn up what I’ve read and digested too.
This is to say, some experts say punch “21-25 holes” in the foil
(oh no, I’ve punched 26, now what?), or to punch in a star pattern, Is that Surius, Star of David, Bethleham or the Crescent of Islam? We don’t want a religous war starting in the hookah lounge nor with your hoomies either!
Ever heard the saying : “Different strokes for different folks”? Well that’s the approach I prefer. Do whatever is working good for you add your own personal input as long as its working.
There is a great scientific idea which is smart chemistry knowledge (I flunked basic chemistry) in the wonderful ,well set up RollsRoyce of all hookah forums hookahforum.com
If you look in its vast archive under “tobacco (or) shisha conditioning” or “acclimitizing” you’ll see that “Tangiers” of “Tangiers” shisha tobacco fame explains all of his secrets to the whole world including how he is making (had made) his new brand and flavors.
I’ve yet to taste any of his brand.
Maybe “Tangiers” will give out free samples to some of this blog’s subscribers and those who have added comments. (hint,hint, nudge,nudge, wink,wink)
The foil.http://www.smoking-hookah.com/Products/Accessories/Hookah-Foil-(100-pcs).asp
I bought my first very cheap pack of 100 foils 3 years ago.
“Wow, they sure packed one-hundred foils thinly ” as I saw at first glance.
Suprise when I opened the thin box and found an added touch. In order for the foils not to stick together they packed between each aluminum sheet a waxed paper cut the same size with orange letter writing….I’m not making this up the orange print was-you guessed right if you are married or have a girlfriend or are female. “TAMPAX”.
That was no advertisement, sometimes there were 2 or 3 waxed Tampax sheets in between each foil.
As the son of and grandson of the first re-cyclers way back in the 1940’s until the 70’s (yeah, scrap-metal dealers). It takes a genius to make money out of junk.
As the son of a man who graduated from junk dealing to selling the wax that went on a mid-western paper mill and upwards from there, some wax paper dealer had each company’s extra pages to get rid of, and business from the U.S. met Jordan in the Middle-East! (not my father’s portfolio this time around) but its a true story.
Maybe you’ll be lucky and get “Fannie Farmer Candies com.waxed wrappers with the chocolate flavor smell still in.
Life is so sweet and often funny.
http://www.smoking-hookah.com/Products/Accessories/Hookah-Foil-(100-pcs).asp in case you didn’t look the first time around at the link.
These nifty foils are great and easy to use.
I remember reading on “Abulehleh co. il” forum site somewhere in the middle-east 4 or more years back. This smart one had a great idea to take a rubber eraser and painfully force pins into it all the way of the number and design you’d like to use on your foil Wwll, same hole pattern each time. Now don’t prick yourself sticking 20-35 holes in a rubber eraser.
I knew it was a nice idea and never tried it.
Came again. the experienced purveyors of great hookahs, tobacco and designers of progressive accsessories….again
look here at this screaming-yellow zombie light plastic pre-hole puncher. Scientific march of hookah progress!
I’ve much more to add on accessories and since thse are the basics, I’ve dealt withthem at length.

See you al soon for more accssesory ideas.
Maybe I’ll read a few comments hint hint by the time I log in again.
Arrivaderci, Salaam,Shalom,bye,syonara shisha-san.(hookah1)

Hookah Smoking Caterpillar

So as a hookah smoker, our little claim to fame is the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar that we all know and love from Alice in Wonderland. So, what better is there to do than to make a banner out of it and remind us all of when we were three years old and had no idea what Lewis Caroll was talking about.

hookah smoking caterpillar

If you want to see this banner in action, you can spin on over to out forum and see it and write to us and let us know how much you love hitting the Hookah. Until then, be like the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar and smoke smoke smoke.

Hookah Smokers Across the World Reading Here at The Hookah Lounge!

Alright, so I thought that you all might enjoy seeing where your hookah smoking friends that read on this website are reading from! Google supplies me this nifty little map, so I’m going to pass it along to you. Let’s just say that the USA is way in the lead, with the Middle-East in a close second, and some Australia and South Africa behind.

Hookah Smoker Map Hooka Shisha Narghile Map