Hi all...

[ValeTudoGuy]

Welcome! You chose a great hobby!

[Edamski]

Sorry to derail slightly but L-ski where would you recommend buying the things you mentioned from? Also found the Cafes easily enough but not the exotica? Whats the difference?

[Joncon]

A fellow brother from the mean streets of Hertfordshire. Have fun and enjoy.

[L-Ski]

Well if that was a derail here comes the crash!

eBay for the shisha and coals, cocobrico are the ones you want, big square blocks. Cafe/cafe exotica are one and the same thing usually although some will have the exotica being taller - there's not really any difference in the way they smoke though at the size they are. Coil burner you will need to get outside the uk as the don't meet our regs. Try smoking-shisha.de and search for Elephant Kohleanz?nder, they are about ?30 and worth their weight in gold, just chop the euro plug and fit a uk one. Phunnel bowls (sometimes spelt as funnel) are available from theshishashop.com for about ?13. I'd get a large (party) bowl. It will easy do 4 hours if packed right, it's better to have a bigger bowl and put less in than try to reload a hot bowl! Plus the bigger size keeps a better gap between the tinfoil and the coals, this makes heat management easier and avoids burning the tobacco. Tangiers I can help you with but it comes from the states so paying duty and the like is down to you. Best taking that one to PM once I can send/receive. It's a massive faff compared to other brands as it needs preping and loading completely differently to other tobaccos but it's so worth it. If you are going to smoke outside you will need a khalil mamoon quadmetal wind cover, it's the only one that will fit over a phunnel bowl height wise, again, eBay and about ?15. They are great for indoors too as you can use them to keep the heat in when the coals get small so you don't need to light another round as quick. They also contain the coals if someone knocks the pipe - which they inevitably will - and save carpets/sofas etc.

Joncon, which part of this fine county do you hail from?

[ValeTudoGuy]

Well if that was a derail here comes the crash!

eBay for the shisha and coals, cocobrico are the ones you want, big square blocks. Cafe/cafe exotica are one and the same thing usually although some will have the exotica being taller - there's not really any difference in the way they smoke though at the size they are. Coil burner you will need to get outside the uk as the don't meet our regs. Try smoking-shisha.de and search for Elephant Kohleanz?nder, they are about €30 and worth their weight in gold, just chop the euro plug and fit a uk one. Phunnel bowls (sometimes spelt as funnel) are available from theshishashop.com for about ?13. I'd get a large (party) bowl. It will easy do 4 hours if packed right, it's better to have a bigger bowl and put less in than try to reload a hot bowl! Plus the bigger size keeps a better gap between the tinfoil and the coals, this makes heat management easier and avoids burning the tobacco. Tangiers I can help you with but it comes from the states so paying duty and the like is down to you. Best taking that one to PM once I can send/receive. It's a massive faff compared to other brands as it needs preping and loading completely differently to other tobaccos but it's so worth it. If you are going to smoke outside you will need a khalil mamoon quadmetal wind cover, it's the only one that will fit over a phunnel bowl height wise, again, eBay and about ?15. They are great for indoors too as you can use them to keep the heat in when the coals get small so you don't need to light another round as quick. They also contain the coals if someone knocks the pipe - which they inevitably will - and save carpets/sofas etc.

Joncon, which part of this fine county do you hail from?

Mate, you have this to an art!

I love shisha and have two pipes, not a clue what they are though? A big one and a small one... LMAO

I like Apple, Cherry, Grape and Strawberry up to now.... Hate the Cinnamon.

[L-Ski]

Lol, like I said, I'm quite a passionate smoker!

I'm really loving melon blend at the mo but I've got about 10 other flavours too. I quite enjoy the whole process of smoking, I roll my own cigarettes, love preping the shisha and enjoy keeping the cigars. A lot of smokers only smoke due to habit/addiction but I see it as more of a hobby. I get really annoyed when people say I should give up, lol!

I've got a hell of a lot to learn about cigars but I'm enjoying that too, really glad I found this place, I'm sure it's going to help me a lot.

[Edamski]

Wow, great wealth of information there! Saved me about a week of faffing about trying to find this stuff out! would you recommend a multi pipe one or not bother and just pass it around?

Short of the tangiers what others would you recommend? The party bowl is out of stock atm, also would it not be a bit to large for say 1 or two people to smoke? Without one of the coil rings how else could I light the coals? Would a flame do? I do like the look of the kaloud lotus though!

Another thing for us to talk about now Marc!

I'm sure it's going to help me a lot.

oh it will, great wealth of knowledge on here and exceptionally friendly

[monkey66]

Hi and welcome. Sorry to say those smokes are 100% fake. But don't feel bad as it has happened to nearly all of us during the journey.

[L-Ski]

It's stuff I wish someone had told me when I got my first shisha, would have saved me a fair bit of cash not wasting it on cheap crap that won't smoke well, lol! Multi hose jobs generally will be cheap steel core affairs that will rust and won't be air tight. Plus it relies on people keeping their thumb on the hose when not smoking to keep it air tight for the person who is - so you have to plug them if you are on your own. With the bowl you can always half fill it for a small session, I tend to find smaller bowls scorch the tobacco far too easy, I've got a medium one that seems to either not be hot enough to produce decent clouds or so hot it burns the top layer. Burning shisha is tastes awful and just makes you cough! You can light natural coals on a gas cooker - I made a little double ring thing out of a metal coat hanger to put them over the flame but it takes AGES for them to get going, I'm talking 30+ mins! Coil burner will light them in about 5, I really couldn't go back to lighting on the cooker, lol! Just stay away from quick lights, they have a chemical smell and taint the tobacco with it.

Other tobacco I would recommend would be Al Fakher - cheap and easily available on eBay, just make sure the seller is in the UK. Expect to pay around ?5-8 for 50g, that should easily do 2 full party sized bowls. Good range of flavours and pretty easy to get on with. Gives good clouds and a bowl should go for 1-2 hours with good heat management.

Nahkla, again from eBay. Much less range of flavours available here and a more traditional tobbaco. Has way more nicotine than Al Fakher, may be too much for those not used to it, so if you are sharing with those who don't usually smoke this is guaranteed to make them light headed!

I don't personally have one but the kaloud lotus has been getting excellent reviews, there is also a new thing called 'apple on top' but I have no idea if it's any good.


Monkey66
Thanks! I don't feel bad believe me, they were cheap and smoke ok, lol. I guess if you took the band off and judged them on there merits alone I'd say I'm quite happy with them. Whether that holds true once my genuine ones arrive is another matter!

[Edamski]

Again buddy cheers greatly appreciated! It's information like this that makes forums a brilliant place!

I was just wondering if a big bowl half full didn't smoke well. No worries I'll have to pick one up at a later date anyway as they're out of stock.

I'll be using the CoCoBrico you recommended, so gonna have to find a method some how haha

Am I right in thinking though that the lotus is just a metal bowl withheld a sliding lid to control air flow, like the ones you get under a fondue?

Is it Soex? They seem to get good reviews and have 10 flavours for ?25, seems like it may be worth a pop.

I had some fake cohibas years ago before I even know we what a Cohiba was haha and to be honest I remember them being pretty decent! So maybe all is not lost

[L-Ski]

No worries! I've never had a prob with the larger bowl/less tobacco combo, if anything I've found it better than a packed small bowl. I find as you heat small bowls and the tobacco swells it touches the foil and burns.

Yeah the lotus is just a tray. Personally I just use foil as it's cheap and I secretly love poking the holes in it, lol!

Soex is a woody, non-tobacco, herbal flavour. It smokes but I found it tastes a bit weird and is the shisha equivalent of alcohol free beer. Personally I'm not big on the non-tobacco flavours as I like the tobbaco undertones you get from the real deal.


Yeah they smoke ok, I'm just gonna enjoy them for what they are. To be fair I bought them because I tried one and liked it, I had no idea who Cohiba were till I got home and looked them up, lol!

[Deano]

Welcome mate. We'll do our best to get you off the fags

[L-Ski]

Lol, you can try!

[PeeJay]

If you keep one of those Fauxhibas until you can send PMs I'll trade you a genuine Cuban for it. I'm interested in trying a fake before I go there. Cheap smokes is cheap smokes, don't mean they're bad smokes.

[ValeTudoGuy]

Make sure you get the glass Top ones PeeJ!