Caravansarai Hookahs

Hey, folks, it's been a while since I had time to do any posting to the blog, and I'm really sorry for that. Lots of things have been going on since my last post, so here's a quick recap:

• Because California's budget sucks right now, I took a REALLY early retirement from teaching. It was getting too stressful having to worry about whether or not my contract would be honored and if I'd lose my health insurance. When you've got a serious brain issue or having seizures like I do, you just can't afford to be without health care coverage. So to guarantee that I keep it, I had to retire. Maybe now I'll have time to post more regularly!


• We've got an air cargo container of Khalil Mamoon (KM) pipes coming to us in the next couple of weeks. It should have 10 of each style they make, so that's kind of exciting. Keep your eye out here for the announcement of their arrival and sale.


• The response to Saalaam Herbal Shisha surpassed anything we could have imagined. We know that some people prefer the buzz that comes along with using the tobacco brands, but we are thrilled to be supplying two local hookah lounges that serve Saalaam exclusively! It has also gone international, with representatives now in Russia and Latvia, and and negotiations on-going with reps in the Netherlands (Holland), Germany, the UK, Canada, and Australia. It's hard to imagine that back a couple of summers ago, when we recruited some of our regular customers to be samplers for us, that we'd see the success that we have. Thanks again, guys -- you know who you are!

We're working on a summer contest for one of those KM pipes I mentioned and as soon as we get the details all worked out with the legal peeps, I'll post it here. In the meantime, look for more regular posting from me as I branch out into areas that are related to hookahs without spending all my time talking just about the pipes. You'll soon find recipes for Egyptian food, photos of people and places to see in Egypt, virtual vacations to the Land of the Pharoahs, and lots more. I hope that you'll hang around and join in the fun!

Carleen here. I have the most amazingly scented Pomegranate and Mango shower gel, and it got me to thinking about shisha mixes. To balance the tanginess of the pomegranate, I played around with a few different mixes and came up with a couple that I really liked and hope that you will, too. Although I don't typically smoke tobacco in the hookah (I prefer herbal shisha so that I don't cough a lot), this time I used Layalina tobacco. Here's what I came up with:

• 1 part Pomegranate with 2 parts Mango -- This one turned out to be my favorite. The sweetness of the mango provided a really nice balance to the tanginess of the pomegranate.
• 1 part Pomegranate, 1 part Coconut, 1 part Pineapple -- I enjoyed the tropical taste of this mix, and the flavors blended together well. The dominant taste in this mix, even though I put them together in equal parts, was coconut.
• 1 part Pomegranate, 2 parts Eskandarani Apple, 1/2 part Mint -- First, I have to admit that because I prefer the flavor of Saalaam Herbal Shisha's mint to anything I've tasted in the tobacco brands, I used Saalaam's Breeze O'Mint for this mix. This flavor started out sweet from the apple, took on a tang from the pomegranate, and ended with a subtle hint of cool, cool mint. Of all the mixes I made using pomegranate, this is the one that I would most likely smoke regularly.

Anybody else like pomegranate and have a good mix to share with me?

With temps running in the 90+ range in the OC, how could I not think of this funky song?! We topped out at 100 degrees in Fullerton yesterday, and today promises to be every bit as summery. The middle of May isn't normally so hot, but the recent rising barometer got me thinking about summer shisha flavors ahead of schedule. Here's my list for great summer smokes:

Apricot
These juicy little fruits make their appearance in the early summer months, so I'll start the list with them. A variety of shisha companies have Apricot flavor, with some tasting better than others. I recommend Layalina for the tobacco smokers and Soex for the herbal smokers.

Blackberry
One of my favorite things to do during the summer was to wander through the fields in my Mom's hometown hamlet of Freeman, New York, and pick wild blackberries. Between me, my sisters, and my cousin, we rarely brought back a full bucket because we ate more of the berries than we collected for cobbler! I recommend Fusion for the tobacco smokers and Soex for the herbal smokers.

Cantalope
Nothing beats the sweet and juicy summer melons, if you ask me! The cantalope from Starbuzz is a good choice for tobacco smokers and the Sweet Melon flavor from Soex for the herbal smokers.

Cola
I was raised on Coca-Cola Classic and believe me, I can definitely taste and smell a significant difference between Coke and Pepsi! So, for those of you who prefer Coca-Cola Classic, I can't recommend Starbuzz highly enough -- it has a true Coke taste. If you like Pepsi instead, then El-Nakhla is what you'll want.

Strawberry
Memorial Day weekend is the time for the Strawberry Festival in the city where I live. Not only was the area known for its strawberry fields (sadly, only one of them remains and the land on which the strawberries are grown is likely to be usurped by Disney soon), but for its annual festival in their honor. For the best strawberry shisha flavors, I recommend Layalina Kiwi Strawberry, Fusion Strawberry Daquiri, Nakhla Strawberry for tobacco smokers. For the herbal smokers, High-Life Herbal Smoke is a good choice.

Watermelon
No fruit says summer better than watermelon! Al-Fakher is the best choice among the tobacco brands, and Soex has the best herbal selection.

As I mentioned before, non-tobacco shisha is the wave of the future. The anti-tobacco and smoking bandwagon just keeps growing, so those of us who enjoy hookah need to check our options and alternatives. To this end, I recently tried some High-Life Smoke in the peach flavor.

My set up consisted of a 32" tall traditional Egyptian hookah with a single hose and a traditional Egyptian bowl made from clay. I'm not a fan of the Chinese porcelain bowls because they are too fragile and have the tendency to get way too hot. The only "modern" part of my set up was a charcoal screen that I used instead of foil. Basically, my set up is the same that you find in cafes all over Egypt.

High-Life comes in a sealed plastic bag inside a lightweight cardboard box. I couldn't smell much through the box before opening it but once it was open, a strong scent of peaches greeted me. The shisha looks like Soex except that the High-Life was a little more moist and softer to the touch. With the brightly colored and funky packaging, I expected to find a similar contemporary look in the shisha; however, in terms of color, it's just plain old reddish brown.

A group of friends shared the hookah with me, and we all came to the same conclusion -- High-Life is a decent product. The shisha maintained its flavor throughout our smoking session, which is a definite plus. It was a smooth smoke from start to finish with the shisha never becoming harsh. The only real complaint that we all had about it is that no matter how big our hits, we couldn't achieve the thick white clouds of smoke that we get with traditional shisha or with Soex.

Ratings:
Taste = 9/10
Smoke = 7/10
Cost = 8/10

As tobacco prices continue to rise and the list of cities banning smoking increases, hookah enthusiasts and lounge owners alike are seeking alternatives to shisha made from tobacco. And don't forget that with the New Year lurking around the corner, those "I will quit smoking" resolutions loom on the horizon! It's no wonder that the non-tobacco shisha products are quickly gaining a marketshare that few people in the industry expected.

Currently, there are three brands of herbal shisha on the market: Soex , Black Label, and High-Life Smoke. I've tried them all because even though I should be used to tobacco since I smoke cigarettes, something about shisha made with tobacco causes me to have coughing fits every time regardless of brand. A strong desire to avoid coughing while still being able to enjoy hookah prompted me to investigate the herbal products. If you're like me and seeking a tobacco, tar, and nicotine free hookah experience, perhaps this post will help you to make a purchasing decision.

Soex
None of the herbal shisha has the name power that Soex does. Made in India by the same company that makes Afzal tobacco molasses, Soex is the industry leader and enjoys immense popularity in Europe where it has a well established fan base. Contrary to urban myth, Soex is not made from sugar beets; its base is sugar cane bagasse, the pulp left behind after the juice has been extracted.

Soex is my personal favorite of the herbal alternatives. Although moisture levels sometimes vary from one production lot to the next, Soex nails the flavors every time. In addition to the standard fruit choices, Soex makes some fantastic exotic flavors that reflect its Indian roots. Bombay Panmasala, Pan Rasna, Rooh Afza Cool, Cardamom, and Lychee are among those traditional flavors.

If it's thick clouds of smoke and long-lasting flavor that you want, Soex will definitely do the job. I've shared my hookah with plenty of people who had no idea that what they were smoking was not tobacco. They could not tell the difference! The only difference that I note, aside from the appearance of the cut, is the fact that Soex does not send me into coughing fits like tobacco does. I've never experienced a headache from Soex.

Because the cut of Soex is thin, the heat has to be managed more carefully than it does with tobacco. However, once you've got the heat under control, a bowl will last 45-60 minutes. Best of all, you'll get the same delicious flavor and strong clouds of smoke from beginning to end.

If mixing flavors is something you enjoy, Soex lends itself quite well to flavor mixes. A couple of my favorites are Orange + Vanilla for a creamy orange flavor, Coffee + Mint + Vanilla for a delicious coffee with cream and a hint of mint, and Blueberry + Mint for a refreshing cool berry taste.

Flavors: Aniseed, Apple, Blackberry, Black Licorice, Blueberry, Bombay Panmasala, Bubblegum, Cardamom, Chocomint, Cinnamon, Coffee, Coconut, Double Apple, Golden Apple, Grape, Honey, Lime-Lemon, Lychee, Mango, Mint, Mintos, Mixed Fruit, Orange, Pan Rasna, Peach, Pina Colada, Pineapple, Pudina, Raspberry, Red Cherry, Rooh Afza Cool, Rose, Silver Fox, Strawberry, Sweet Lime, Sweet Melon, Vanilla, Watermelon, White Grape

Carleen's Top 5: Silver Fox (apple + mint), Rooh Afza Cool (extracts of citrus flowers, rose, and fruits), Blueberry, Mango, and Double Apple

It's fun to experiment with mixing shisha flavors! With the plethora of delicious and unusual tastes from which to choose, mixing up flavor combos has become something of an art among hookah fans. Some of the most popular hookah lounges offer a "house mix," a combination of flavors unique to their establishments, while others encourage customers to mix flavors of their own.

If you've never tried flavor mixing before and think that you're ready to give it a shot, try one of these great mixes that our customers have recommended:

• 3 parts BLUEBERRY with 1 part MINT
• 2 parts COFFEE with 1 part VANILLA
• 2 parts APPLE with 1 part MINT
  

These combos were made with Soex Herbal Shisha, but they will probably work equally well with regular shisha as well. You may, however, have to adjust the ratios based on the strength of the flavors in the shisha you choose to mix.

Have some fun experimenting with your favorite flavors and if you get a really good mix, please pass it along!

We'll soon be adding a new product to our shisha line-up, and we couldn't be more excited about it! Saalaam, which means "peace" in Arabic, is a new organic shisha made in Egypt. Saalaam has been tested among hookah fans for months to determine things like which flavors are the most appealing, how long a bowl lasts, the intensity and color of the smoke it produces, and overall product quality. We brought some samples to the U.S. to share with our customers as well and since the response we have received about it is overwhelmingly positive, we signed up to become the sole U.S. distributor of the product. Our first container of Saalaam is scheduled to arrive from Egypt sometime in January 2008.

Saalaam has no tobacco, no tar, and no nicotine. Its unique mouth-watering flavors, several of which are not available in any other product on the market, will definitely add the "aah" of satisfaction to your hookah experience!

We still have some samples left so if you're interested in trying it out, give us a shout.

I wanted to be really kitschy and title this post "Happy Hookahleen," but reason prevailed at the last moment. So instead of a catchy title, I decided that it would be much more in keeping with the spirit of the day to offer you a treat by sharing a shisha mix recipe instead. Enjoy!

Cherry Vanilla Cola
If you're into the soda flavor, here's how to get a shisha mix that is very close in taste!

• 2 parts Cola flavor
• 1 part Red Cherry flavor
• 1 part Vanilla flavor

Mix all three flavors together and let sit for at least an hour to allow them to blend together. We don't recommend any specific shisha brand -- just find the flavors from the brand that you prefer. If you are a Pepsi kind of person, Layalina's Cola will work best but if you're a Coke drinker, you'll definitely want Starbuzz's Classic Cola!

We've been comparing our favorite shisha mixes with our customers' and have discovered some really interesting ones that we haven't yet tried. Our favorite is orange and mint (fill the bowl with orange and sprinkle a little bit of mint on top for a wonderful citrus flavor with an aftertaste of mint), but we are always open to try new ones. Here are some of the mixes that our customers have suggested to us:

• coconut, pineapple, and mango
• apple and cherry
• strawberry, banana, and orange
• lemon, jasmine, and mint
• cola, vanilla, and cherry
• raspberry, peach, and lemon

Looks like we've got a lot of hookah smoking to do! I'm not a big fan of the flower flavors (jasmine and rose), but lemon, jasmine, and mint sounds wonderful to me for some reason. If you've got some interesting and tasty mixes that you like, please share them with us!

Take a look at the new hookahs that we have listed for sale on eBay:

• 30" 2-Hose Blue Rotator (turns 360 degrees on its base!)
• Silver Hookah Mouth Tip Keychain (portable hygiene!)
• 100 Pcs Al Manara Quick Light Hookah Charcoal
• 22" 2-Hose White Aswan / Purple Hoses Egyptian Hookah
• 32" 1-Hose Desert Gold Egyptian Hookah