Karma

 

 

 

 

 

arma

NYC

Karma

NYC

 

 

 

Hookahs

A hookah is a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian device for smoking. It operates by water filtration and indirect heat. There are four fundamental parts of a hookah, or water pipe:

 

1. The base or smoke chamber, which is partially filled with water

2. The bowl, which contains the tobacco; the heating apparatus is placed on top

3. The pipe, which connects the bowl to the base by a tube that plunges into the water

4. The hose, which connects to a second tube in the pipe that does not plunge into the water, but only the air of the smoke chamber.

 

There are many decorations or subtle variations in form. The heating apparatus is usually charcoal, but in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, electric heaters are common. The charcoal is usually placed on a metal mesh or perforated aluminum foil.

Etiquette

In Arab society, social smoking is done with a single hose: when the smoker is finished, either the hose is placed back on the table signifying that it is free, or it is handed from one user to the next, folded back on itself so that the mouthpiece does not point at the person receiving it. The receiver taps or slaps the giver on the back of the hand while taking it.

Tobacco

The most commonly-used hookah tobaccos (known as tobamel or maassel) are produced using a 1:2 mixture of shredded tobacco leaf mixed in with a sweetener such as honey, molasses or semi-dried fruit. Originally, tobacco was mixed with one of these sweeteners to form jurâk (e.g. Zhaghoul brand) - a flavorless, moistened tobacco. The now-popular, fruit-flavored hookah tobaccos got their start in the late 1980s when Egyptian tobacco companies began experimenting with flavored tobacco as a way to sell more of their products to women. Today, shisha tobacco is often mixed with dried fruit, natural extracts and flavorings to produce a varying assortment of tobacco flavors, such as apple, strawberry, mango, vanilla, coconut, cherry, grape, banana, mixed fruit, cola, lemon, apricot, and mint, which has a cooling effect on the throat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple

 

Double Apple

 

Apricot

 

Banana

 

Cherry

 

Cola

 

Coconut

 

Fruit Cocktail

 

Grape

 

Honey

 

Mint

 

Jasmine

 

Mango

 

Rose

 

Strawberry

 

Peach

 

Tutti Fruitti

 

Vanilla

 

 

 

 

Hookahs are $16 each