Caravansarai Hookahs

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?

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!

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

The funniest thing happened at our warehouse today! A very nice young man who bought a hookah from us on Friday came in looking rather flustered. Since Ali was busy preparing a huge order for a wholesaler, I went to the showroom to greet the poor fellow. It turns out that he needed a replacement glass because his was already broken. When I asked him what happened, especially because he hadn't had the hookah very long, the guy tells me that he and group of friends spent the weekend at another friend's beach house. He took his brand new hookah with him to share with his buds. The guys had a great time on Saturday night mixing different shisha flavors with each bowl and judging who had come up with the best mix. All was great until early Sunday morning when our customer was awakened to the sound of shattering glass. Thinking that a robbery was underway, the guys all jumped out of bed and went running in various directions through the house. Imagine our customer's surprise when he dashed into the kitchen and found his friend's mother with a hammer in her hand and his hookah smashed to smithereens! Turns out the mom thought that her son and his buddies were using drugs in that thar hookah and wanted to let them all know that she wasn't going to tolerate it, especially in her home. Feeling rather embarrassed when the guys explained all about the hookah, the mom gave our cusstomer money to replace the one she destroyed.

All's well that ends well, I suppose. . .

But still, I am left wondering how many people still have that 60's mentality about the hookah? I'm not so silly as to think that there aren't people who use the hookah for substances other than what it was intended for, but surely those folks aren't dumb enough to drag a 32" pipe with them from house to house while they party, right? And hello, from what I remember of my younger days, pot and shisha have vastly different aromas! Since when was the last time you smelled pina colada flavored marijuana, LOL?!