1001 Arabian Nights (Experience With My First Hookah)

When I first started Smoking Jacket Blog in September of last year, I had the full intention of providing reviews on all forms of smoking, including e-cigarettes, and hookahs.

Not possessing either of these, my ability to do reviews on them is extremely limited.  So, you can imagine my excitement when a good friend in the City of Cranbrook told me that she had acquired a hookah for me, back in December.

Now, for those of you not familiar with the BC interior, Cranbrook is about 7 to 8 hours drive from the city I live in.  So, it was not as though it was going to be easy to get the hookah from there to here.  Well, things being what they are, Jennica and I managed to meet up at the beginning of May for a Beltaine celebration, and she brought the hookah with her.

Unfortunately, Jennica knows nothing about hookahs, or I would have known to buy a bowl for it before I arrived, and we could’ve smoked it there.

Hence, it was not smoked until I got home.


The hookah itself is one of those “Eiffel tower” affairs, in red, with two hoses, standing about 24 inches tall.  The bowl I bought is a black ceramic device with five moderately sized holes drilled in it.  Overall, the hookah is a sturdy, colourful, artistic piece that is quite attractive to look at.

I bought some Nakhla mix Ice Apple shisha tobacco, and some Soex Green Mango shisha without tobacco, and got some instruction on how you smoke the hookah, from Ian at Tobacco Land in Kelowna.

When I got home, I couldn’t wait to set it up and soon my hubby and I were attempting our first hookah.  Unfortunately for us, we were too smart for our own good.  Well, honestly * I * outsmarted myself, and didn’t fully listen to the instructions.  So, after 10 minutes of trying and failing to get the hookah going, I resorted to YouTube and Jamie went to shower with Sable.

Once I figured out what I had done wrong (no, I’m not going to tell you, but suffice it to say it was basic physics), Jamie and Sable returned from getting clean, and we sat down to enjoy the hookah.

dsc05935We loaded the hookah with the Nakhla Ice Apple, and discovered that there is a certain rhythm to smoking hookah.

Let me tell you about this amazing experience.  Smoking hookah is not like smoking anything else.  First of all, the smoke is more like vapor, and you barely feel it.  Secondly, you inhale directly into your lungs by breathing in with the hose in your mouth, instead of sucking the smoke into your mouth first.  And, you have to take turns.  If you try to smoke at the same time, one will get a good hit, and the other one a mediocre hit, because the person with the more powerful lungs gets more of the smoke.
However, once you get the rhythm, the hookah is an incredible experience.

The shisha, is made from real bits of fruit, mint, tobacco, and molasses.  It reminds me of pie filling.  When smos_green-mangoked, it is cool, minty, and fresh and the nicotine sneaks up on you.  Unlike a cigarette, the nicotine in the shisha gradually strikes you as you inhale over and over again, and leaves you with a pleasant buzz without the slightly nauseous feeling that a cigarette can give.

I guess I should explain how you go about lighting a hookah.  First, you take off the base and fill it with ice cubes, and then fill it half full of water before reattaching it to the bottom.  Then you seal the bowl on with tape or rubber.  The bowl is then filled with 5-6 Grams (less than ¼ ounce) of shisha, and covered with a piece of tin foil.  The tin foil is perforated with many small holes, and a hot piece of charcoal is placed on it.  Then, alternating, depending on who has the hose, and how many hoses there are, you inhale normally through the hose.

I tried both the tobacco shisha and the non-tobacco shisha, and found them both enjoyable.

I really enjoy the tobacco shisha, though I find a hookah to be a social smoking experience.  It is much more enjoyable to smoke hookah with someone, then doing it alone.

If you have never had the opportunity to smoke hookah, I’d definitely recommend it.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!

One thought on “1001 Arabian Nights (Experience With My First Hookah)

  1. Pingback: Worth the Hype (La Aurora Preferidos Torpedo Maduro): Introduction by New Contributor Sable Aradia « Smoking Jacket Magazine

Leave a Reply
