“That Which We Call A Shisha”

I’ve always been a big fan of the traditional flavors of shisha -- Melon, Double Apple, that sort of thing. But one of these stands out above the rest, and that would have to be Rose. Dearest reader, I know that you must be thinking to yourself, “What!? ROSE!? That smells like a cross between potpourri and a seventy-year-old woman’s perfume!” Truthfully, Rose by itself might be one of the hardest flavors to palate… which unfortunately leads people to avoid it completely. So why don’t I take a page from their book and run away?

Well, I’ll tell you the tale of me and Rose.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, a few of my friends and I went down to the Hookah lounge where the Hookah Freak himself works. He sat behind the bar, wiping down a mug with a towel, and issued us a challenge.

“Ok,” he said. “I’m going to blend some shisha for you, and you have to honestly tell me whether or not you like it, and if you can name the flavors in it… if you manage to name one of the flavors, you’ll get this bowl on the house.”

Not one to turn down the chance at a free smoke, I quickly agreed.

He turned his back to us and started grabbing kilo tubs of shisha, making sure we couldn’t read the labels. He had the bowl ready in a few minutes, so we gathered around one of the bar’s hookahs and began our trial.

It was like nothing I’d ever tasted before in a hookah – bittersweet and powerful, but never harsh. The smoke was thick and rolling; overall a very pleasant experience.

He came back after we had all puffed away for about thirty minutes. “So,” he asked. “How was it? Can you name any of the flavors?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “I know there’s got to be some Rose in here, but it’s been transformed into something awesome.”

The Hookah Freak grinned. “You got it. Rose is one of the ultimate blending shishas,” he said. “I bet you’ll never turn back from it now.”

He was right. Rose has become my favorite shisha, not for its straight taste, but for the amazing flavor it can add to a blend. Rose is used in quite a few of the Hookah Freak premium mixes, and it’s no mystery why.

Amongst these, my taste buds have crowned a reigning champ, and that’s Roseberry. So, the point of this entire blog: don’t be scared of something just because it has Rose in the name, or potentially has Rose in the mix. This should be an incentive to try it out and see how well the old can blend with the new. Happy smoking!

Happiness Can Give You Blisters

Let me set a scene for you -- A college student sits on the back porch of his apartment with a pair of metal tongs in one hand and a lighter in the other. He stares at a piece of charcoal held in the metal tongs… while his thumb is turning white from the pressure he’s been applying on the lighter’s gas button for a full minute. Beside him lies a wrapper with “Quick-lite” printed across the side.

Ok, that image has to be a bit depressing for avid hookah freaks. Fortunately, there’s a metaphorical Zoloft for the average quick-lite charcoal blues. Akhla Charcoal is the Greek equivalent of a small-scale supernova.

I received my sample pack of Akhla Charcoal and decided to go out onto my back porch to light it, as had become my little ritual. I took my lighter out, shook my hand in preparation for another “quick-lite” session, and held the flame to the small, round black briquette… for about two seconds. The charcoal popped, and an orange trail traveled the length of it and engulfed it. I might have been staring a little too intently, because my face melted a little bit -- yet I still managed to smile as I walked inside.

Of course, that’s just the lighting process. I was even more amazed when I got the coal inside my apartment and onto a bowl of Blueberry Pancakes flavored Hookah Freak Shisha. Apparently most quick-lite coals are made by soaking a normal coal in lighter fluid or something else similar. Before, I had been smoking Gunpowder Berry Pancakes. Suddenly, I was smoking real Blueberry Pancakes. I swear that Aunt Jemima was somewhere off in the background humming a little tune.

So, it lights fast and burns clean… what else can it do? While I smoked I prodded the coal with my metal tongs and it stayed together… charcoal has a tendency to get ashy and fall apart, making your tobacco taste bad by getting down into the bowl. The little chunk of coal went from black to grey and remained solid the entire time. The entire process took about an hour, which was a feat within itself.

I guess this should be summed up… I have a new friend. His (or her?) name is Akhla Charcoal. It burns hot, burns long, burns clean and burns fingers, so don’t play with it without the proper equipment. It will be a permanent addition to my circle of buddies when we’re sitting around, smoking some Shisha, and telling our outlandish stories.