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Paul: Hello folks. It is Paul here once again with another video for you. This one is an
update to an earlier article I had done on the different kinds of stems that are available
in the market right now when it comes to hookahs. The first one that we're going to go over
is the one that everyone is pretty much familiar with. This is an Egyptian style hookah. Egyptian
hookahs tend to be a central pipe running down the entire length of the hookah surrounded
by turned metal. Metal spinning is the technique that is often
used when it comes to making things like teapots, kettles and musical instruments.
This is a Khalil Mamoon, which is one of the more common brands of Egyptian hookahs that
you're going to find. There are a lot of different variations but everything that is often referred
to as an Egyptian style is this kind of hookah with the accents on the outside that are purely
aesthetic. The smoke never touches this. It's all the
inner stem, which could be either stainless steel, brass, copper, etc.
Moving on from this is what's often known as the Syrian style. A Syrian style hookah
is this. This is actually another Egyptian hookah but it is a Syrian style because it
is cast metal from pretty much top to bottom. The casting stops right here and then it's
spun metal and inside of that is another stem. It is a solid straight pipe which I really
can't get the angle to show you that, but then around that is the cast metal.
The reason that these are called Syrian is because at one point, the only hookahs that
you really found coming out of Syria were solid cast brass, top to bottom, no inner
stem, no nothing. Just solid brass. As the price of brass increased, you saw more
pipes like this coming out, or like this. This is a pile of parts, this is a pile of
pieces but I wanted to show you what a true Syrian pipe nowadays actually looks like.
I have been disassembling my [Nor Karakul], my old school [naras], to show exactly what
this is. This is solid cast brass. This is not spun
on a lath but if you can see inside, the walls are only maybe an 1/8th of an inch thick.
In a piece like this, it's much thicker at an accent like this. This is a heavy piece
of brass and this is the main actual center of the stem, but inside all of this is a piece
of brass. It's a down stem; I'm actually replacing this one right now, which is why this is such
a nice shiny piece in here. I can show you a part of the original. This
is your center stem. This is the actual down stem of the pipe.
The popularity of Syrian hookahs lead other companies like Magdi Zidan and many other
Egyptian companies to produce Syrian style hookahs. Beyond these two main categories
of hookah, there are a few other outliers that you might find every once in a while.
The most classic of hookahs is usually made from wood. The down stem, the inner stem and
everything, all the ports are all usually wood. This is supposedly to allow the hookah
itself to absorb some flavor from the smoke, very similar to an unglazed bowl.
In theory, they also are supposed to absorb a bit of nicotine, which should mellow out
the smoke, but I haven't seen any substantial changes when smoking from a wooden hookah,
so I really can't comment on the validity of those claims.
Those you're pretty much never going to find outside of the Middle East. A somewhat updated
version of that is known as the regal hookah. The regal is an American produced hookah that
uses reclaimed hardwood from things like old barns, railway ties and bridges and produces
an absolutely beautiful hookah that consists of a stainless steel down stem and center
stem surrounded by the turned wood that has been claimed and then abutted on each end
with anodized air craft grade aluminum. They are absolutely beautiful, but sadly they're
very hard to find nowadays as they're not produced in high quantities and they're often
only made in the custom orders. Speaking of very modern style hookahs, one
style that is getting a lot of popularity as of late is the glass hookah.
Glass hookahs are produced most commonly by companies like Lavu, Roi and one of the most
well known companies producing glass hookah items at this point, crown hookahs.
There is another company coming up the horizon that preorders are open for right now call
Project One and we'll wait to see how good those are, but you're going to see more and
more glass hookahs coming up because they are very cleanable, very aesthetically pleasing,
and actually so long as they're using bora silicate, they're using lab grade glass.
They're surprisingly durable; I wouldn't hit a baseball with them or anything, but you
really don't have to worry about them in the same way that you would an old antique thin
glass vase. These things are thick and beautiful pieces of glass.
Lastly we have Chinese hookahs. Chinese hookahs are less of a style and just more of a category.
They're usually knock offs of Egyptian or Syrian styles.
The one-standalone company that is often considered to be an actually worthwhile brand of hookahs
is Mya Saray. Mya Saray uses an almost old Egyptian style
in that the bodies of most of their hookahs are cast brass, which has been plated. Very
solid stuff. Mya Saray is actually a good brand of hookahs.
They're not just given a lot of credibility because they are Chinese and they are not
a very traditional hookah; they're very modern, but they are good quality.
That covers most of the bases when it comes to the major categories of hookah. There are
a lot of random outliers out there. I've even seen ceramic hookahs and there are lots of
people who are making homemade hookahs out of various materials, even including solid
wood vases and things like that, but if you're looking for a specific style, knowing the
main categories will really help you to determine what you're going to buy.
Remember, there's Egyptian style, which is spun metal over an inner tube. There is Syrian
style, which is usually cast brass. Then there are all of the random outliers, including
glass, Chinese, etc. This is Paul for hookah.org hopefully informing
you a little bit about the different styles of hookah that are out there and your different
options and I hope you give us that courtesy of a thumbs up below, a like and a subscribe.
Please go to the forums. Check those out because that's the only place you're going to get
the information you need about our monthly contests and we've got new content going up
all the time that is definitely worth a look. Once again, this is Paul for hookah.org saying
happy smoking.