Commentary on hookahs, smoke rings, and The Dream

…catch you all on the flip side.

I was putting off writing this entry just in case the world ended, but alas, looks like we made it in to a new Mayan epoch without a hitch, whew!

It might be a little late for this last piece of Christmas shopping advice, but if you have been pushing things off till that last minute, and you have a hookah smoker on your shopping list, than all I have to say is: Nakhla Mizo Guava.  We’ve been smoking that here for the last couple of weeks, and its been rave. 

I don’t think this is our first review of Mizo Guava, but it bears reiterating: This is probably the best flavor that Nakhla puts out, and it can easily compete with the best of Tangiers, Starbuzz and the rest of the premium hookah tobacco purveyors out there.  Its got the perfect amount of juiciness, sweetness and guava flavor to be memorable but not annoying.

Moreover, the bowl goes the distance.  Even in your regular mod-style bowl, Mizo Guava will go three coals easy and at ~$10/box, its pretty cheap.  Definitely a great buy that can do you no wrong.

As for our plans at HoboHookah next year? Ill be moving out West while the Michael holds down the East Coast.  Keep sending us your stories and have a great year!

Some of our favorite bottles for the HoboHookah

One of the toughest communications hurdles for us when we started selling the HoboHookah was “Wait, it doesn’t come with a vase?”  Our response is: You already own the vase, you just didn’t have a hookah for it yet.

While that is true: You’d be hard pressed to find a household that didn’t have a compatible bottle for the HoboHookah, there are some that are better than others.  Here is a good roundup of what we recommend:

Best Plastic Bottle: 1L or 1.5L Fiji Water.  Plastic bottles are nice in a pinch.  The key factor to look for in a disposable hookah vase is the bottom of the bottle (square is better than round) and the quality of plastic (thicker the better).  Fiji has both.  Even though the bottle will cost a bit more than a similar soda or other water bottle, we recommend paying the extra dollar to get something that will be stable.  Moreover, a thin walled plastic bottle can compress on inhale which can add to instability.

Best Party Bottle: 1.75L Captain Morgan (or other liquor bottle) Handle.  When you are at a party, its nice to be able to move the hookah around and reposition it for everyone to enjoy.  The handle bottle, used by various rum manufacturers, is great for these reasons.  The low profile on this bottle also makes it tip resistant.

Best Looking Bottle: 1.75 Hpnotiq Liqueur. (Pictured left)  This is really a matter of taste and aesthetic. This bottle functions great, and the frosted glass makes the smoke visually light up the whole hookah.  The shape and contour visually plays really well with the HoboHookah, especially when you leave off a tray and just build the crown around the bowl.  Bonus points with a Phunnel bowl on top.  We also like the large Jagermeister, Jack Daniels and Bombay Saphire gin bottles, but the Hpnotiq we feel looks the best and the wide base also functions really well.

The great thing about the HoboHookah is that it’s really up to you: Either scope out the liquor store, hop on Ebay for a vintage bottle or just use what’s already in your recycling bin.  It works with almost anything.

I’ll admit, I probably think about party music too much. But hey, adding a little science to the art has never let me down.

You’ve gotta have those medium energy “listeners” for that initial cocktail hour when everyone is powering up. Then move on to the head nodders when folks start to feel some rhythm. Then you pick that tipping song that gets folks to the dance floor and you’re off to the races. How long of a run can your dancers handle before they need a rest? That’s always the question, but a few weeks back in Chicago they went a solid 5 hours. Not bad for a wedding.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Today it’s about hookah music and, if you’re smoking shisha as part of your pre-game party warm up, I recommend you high tail it down to Mexico to get yourself a CD from Sonidos Encantados. Yes it’s a CD and yes I actually bought it. I’m not entirely sure how to pronounce it, but this guy can jam.

He’s got this huge weird horn backed up with electronica and gentle vocals. Color me what you will, but I love me some weird horns in my hookah music.

The Drake smoking hookah from Moet Champagne bottle.

Every once in a while a friend will say, “Hey, I totally have a friend that has a HoboHookah, isn’t that funny?” or “Did you see that one hookah, its kind of like a HoboHookah!”. 

Well, the most recent instance of this is my old Freshman Year roommate, PG.  He contacted me out of the blue and was like, “Hey man have you seen French Montana’s Pop That video? Its totally got a HoboHookah in it!”  Its not a HoboHookah, but Drake is smoking some Egyptian looking pipe with a Champagne bottle vase.  Pretty damn close!

Its always interesting running into a hookah smoker in pop culture.  Its definitely a cult.  I know the Drake is a legit Hookah Smoker, he’s puffing on a KM (side video).  You don’t just pick up a KM randomly, you go after it.  Its your 3rd or 4th hookah, once you commit to the lifestyle and quit messing around with cheap pipe and glass.

Little known fact, Art of Charm guys and the founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, are big hookah smokers.  I’ve also heard that hookahs make frequent appearances at the Playboy Mansion during their famous quarterly soirees.

So, now I’m blowing up the Drake on Twitter: Dude, you want a HoboHookah?  Give me a call.  You throw it in your next video, and its yours man!

Memories of building my own hookah.

I’m sure some post of youtube video long ago I covered the “HoboHookah creation story”, but I thought I’d retread on that ground and give you Hobo Heroes a few tips in building your own.

A long time ago, 2005, I was holed up in a small lofted studio apartment in Hoboken, NJ.  All of my stuff from Wisconsin was making its slow trek through the wild of the interstate system, and that included my cherished all stainless, rotator hookah that was my treasured prize from my summer in Egypt and trusted companion throughout my senior campaign on the UW-Madison campus.

Alone, and relatively idle (save a soul sucking job at a Fortune 500), I needed a project and more importantly, I needed to fill my hookah fix.  Sure I could have just hopped off the PATH in the West Village or gone deep into the NJ wild to score a cheap, hold-over hookah, but building something myself solved both of the hookah and the idle hands problems I was facing.

So I went down to Home Depot one evening, after looking up some rudimentary specs on hookah construction, scouting for materials to make my own hookah.  That’s when I scored a hand full of important items:

1. 3ft of Copper Tubing
2. Cheap pipe cutter
3. 1 four pack of large leg tips
4. 1 Four pack of small leg tips
5. 10 ft of rubber tubing
6. 1 2-liter of soda

I already had a bowl and hookah tobacco (thanks to a nice care package!).  Also, the apartment had a small toolbox with a drill.  You’d need either a drill or a screw driver to punch some holes in the leg tips.

From there, I emptied the 2-liter, punched two separate holes in the top of the large leg tips, one hole in the center of a small leg tip, I cut one 24 inch section of copper tubing and then another 2 inch section.  I inserted the 24 inch section into one hole on the large leg tip, and the 2 inch section in the other.  On the top of the 24 inch section I placed the small leg tip, for the bowl to sit on.  Its important that the holes in the leg tips are smaller than the actual tubing so that there is a tight seal.  Next I filled the 2-liter about half full so that the 24 inch section of tubing would be submerged when I put the large leg “cap” on to the 2-liter bottle.  Last thing was to place the packed bowl and attach a switch of about 3-ft of dubber tubing on the 2 in section of tubing, and BAM I was in business.  A glue gun might helped for some of the seals, but if you punch the holes right, you should be fine without.

I later upgraded the vase to a 1.75 of Bombay Saphire gin.  The versatility of using either the liquor bottle or the 2-liter soda bottle gave me the initial concept for the HoboHookah.

Here are a five hookah building tips if you were in the same situation as myself, and somehow didn’t have your HoboHookah handy:

1. Use copper tubing or pipe: Its much easier to mold and to cut.  Steal can be a real problem.
2. Large leg tips work as a great malleable seal for most bottles, like 2-liters and 1.75 liquor bottles.
3. If you don’t have a bowl, I recommend cutting a firm apple into a bowl.  They work great in a pinch, but only use each apple for 1 bowl.  The fruit deteriorates quickly.
4. Use a pipe cutter if you can, instead of a pair of tin shears or other crimping implements.  The cuttter is clean, and it keeps the pipe from getting restricted.
5. If you can, use a glass vase.  They are much more sturdy and pulling hard on a plastic vase can compromise the bottle.

Picture courtesy of Rastatu at Devian Art.  Enjoy!