One important question for beginners and some of the pros is how to buy a hookah. Especially when you are a newbie in a world full of hookah enthusiasts around you, and you don’t know anything about hookah and its accessories, you will feel left out from the group.
And it would be best if you didn’t experience it like I did when I was a newbie. So, In this complete buying guide of hookah, you will learn everything to keep in mind while buying hookah or hookah accessories.
Because there are many shisha and hookah brands with fake products, they copy the original and reputed hookah brands to increase their sales.
And If you are a newbie, you won’t be able to spot any difference between fake and original hookah and hookah accessories. So, my advice to every hookah enthusiast is that you read this article until the end to learn some basic things about hookah and then start your searching journey of hookah.
Recently, If you are planning to buy a brand new hookah, this is the best thing on the internet to read before you actually buy it.
So, without wasting time, let’s start with the most awaited article on the website.
Things to look for before buying a hookah
We will look into some serious stuff like hookah and its materials, height, type, hose, price, etc., because all these mentioned specifications are critical when you buy a hookah.
So, we will slowly look into these types of things in this article to master each thing and get some basic knowledge about hookah and its parts that will help you make a good decision.
And when it comes to hookah, there are basically two types of hookah available in this world. Modern hookah and Traditional hookah.
The Traditional Hookahs
Traditional hookahs are originated in middle east countries like Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and other counties, to name a few.
And when it comes to the durability of a hookah, traditional hookah takes the lead in that part because they are more durable and made from a combination of steel and brass, which is the main reason behind their high durability of a product.
Plus, traditional hookahs look very old-fashioned compared to modern hookahs. They feel more like an antique masterpiece than a hookah because they look like one. You can also collect them and have them as a showpiece at your home.
And the biggest name in the history of traditional hookah is Khalil Mamoon hookahs come at a bit of a high price compared with other modern hookahs.
The Modern Hookahs
Modern hookahs are generally made in developed countries like the USA by established Chinese companies. These companies have experience and knowledge of what a modern culture demands, making slightly different hookahs from the traditional ones.
These hookahs look different in style, size, and shape because they are made to impress hookah smokers, so they buy them and start smoking hookah regularly.
Modern hookahs are made with the latest engineering methods. With the help of cutting-edge technology, they achieve the highest level of precision while making a great product like hookah.
That’s the motive why they look best from every angle. And they do have an extra check release valve to make it even easy to smoke without plugging in the hose you are not using.
Hookah Origin
Smoking shisha is an ancient trend, and it is getting more interesting daily. Youth are getting more interested in smoking hookah than never before, and the modernization of the hookah industry has also played a huge part in promoting hookah in the world on a different level.
Because nowadays, every young to older adult smokes hookah at least once a week. (I know they are smoking it way higher times than that.)
Why is it important?
The origin is important because it directly affects your smoking experience when you buy hookah. It is important to know from where it originated so that hookah smokers can guess what their journey with that particular hookah would look like.
Some smokers love to smoke from traditional hookahs only because they like the smell of the traditional hookahs and their parts.
However, you cannot get this smell from any modern hookahs available on the market right now because they use original non-processed materials like wood and other different things in making a hookah.
Height can also play a major role in choosing the best hookah for yourself. And the height can play a significant role in the performance of a particular hookah.
Materials And Its Quality
In a hookah, the materials made to use the parts and the hookah itself are important aspects of manufacturing. For example, thousands of different materials are available in the market to make the hookah.
But the one that provides the best durability, in the long run, is the best material for hookah. And after many years of research, hookah smokers and experts have concluded which materials are the best to use in making a hookah, and the answer is Brass.
Brass metal is the best to use in hookah, and other metals also include stainless steel. But when you have brass as a body metal, it will require your polishing and maintenance to make it shine all day.
Why is it important?
Materials used to make the entire hookah or some small parts are essential because these materials will provide an overall strength to the hookah body and other internal hookah parts.
And when you have a solid material on your hookah body, you can freely rest your hookah bowl, hookah coals, and other parts that stay on the body.
When you choose a high-quality hookah, you should always check its material quality because sometimes cheap hookahs are also priced high, and If you don’t know how to check these little things about materials, you may have to face a loss of money.
The type of materials used in the hookah tells the whole story behind the makers and company because not everyone can provide better quality at a great price.
Hookah Height
There are many options available when we talk about the height of the hookah. For example, small hookah. Or short hookah, tall hookah, and other types of hookah pipe are available in the market.
But when it comes to choosing a hookah for yourself, it depends on your preferences because someone may like to smoke from a tall hookah, and someone likes a smaller hookah.
So, first of all, make a list of your preferences and then choose hookah accordingly. Because If you are someone who often travels in a month and wants to smoke hookah on the go, I would not recommend you tall hookahs for sure. In that case, you’ll need a portable and small hookah that is easy to set up and smoke.
Likewise, If you prefer to smoke all the time indoors, you can surely try some of the best hookahs that come in a category of tall hookahs.
Why is height important?
The height of the hookah does not affect the quality of the smoke it produces, but it surely affects the performance of the hookah overall.
But further, it depends on your preferences only. As I said earlier, if you do not have any problems with low-performance hookahs, they can surely try the hookah they want, no matter which size of hookah comes.
Generally, hookah height between 30-32 inches will work efficiently with you and produce great dense smoke clouds that every hookah lover likes to have a great smoking session.
Smaller hookahs can also produce great smoke, but the higher the size better the smoke it produces. So, If you can have a tall hookah with a big vase, it would be a great smoking experience for you.
Number Of Hookah Hoses
Hookah hose actually matters, and it, even more, matter when you have a large group of smokers smoking together from one hookah.
At this time, If you don’t have more than one hose in your hookah set, it would be a really embarrassing moment for you because no one likes to wait to take a single puff and pass further.
It would be best to have more hose options in your hookah system for this situation. So, for example, if you are a single smoker, one hookah hose will be more than enough.
Having more hoses in your hookah significantly affects your hookah performance. It will really drag your hookah performance down.
The Four-hose option is a good option to have when you know you won’t smoke it alone. And it’s even good for you if you have commercial use.
And when you host parties at your home, it is recommended to serve hookah with a four-hose option only. Because all guests will be there to smoke, and no one likes to wait for their turn.
You can easily stop the function of other hoses when you don’t require them to work. And If you don’t block it and continue your smoking, You will lose your suction power.
But it does not matter. If you are a beginner and want to smoke it alone, you can pick the best single-hose hookah out there.
Check out: Best hookah in 2023.
And it would be the best practice for you because as a beginner, if you directly try pro hookahs that you don’t know how to operate, it will be a tough job.
Budget/Pricing
The budget is essential to keep in mind while looking for a hookah online or offline in any store. And the price of hookah or product will surely affect many aspects of the product, including materials, quality of product, size, hose, and performance.
When searching for a hookah on your constrained budget, these aspects are critical things to look for when searching for a hookah. And modern hookahs tend to have good quality, but they also ask for high prices.
So, If you want a cheap hookah to smoke some amazing shisha tobacco, you should look at that hookah for a short term because these cheap hookahs won’t satisfy you for a longer time. But, if you are starting and want to try good features in hookah, you can give cheap hookah a try.
And after smoking for long hours from that hookah, you can think to buy an expensive hookah for yourself whenever you are ready.
Buying a hookah doesn’t mean spending all your pocket money or the money you have in your bank account. Instead, always look for reasons and need. If you really need an expensive hookah, go for it, but otherwise, do not waste your money on hookahs.
And If you are looking for a low-cost hookah with the best quality and performance, you will require to spend at least $80.
Things to check while buying a hookah
There are multiple things to check before deciding about buying a hookah. So, in this section, we will discuss those things, so do not miss out.
Welding seams
When you want to join two metals together, a welding process needs to join that two different or same materials. And If you use cheap and inexperienced labor to make those welding for you, it won’t work as you want.
So, you need to check welding seams and other parts for any leakage issues. And if the part is made from one piece of metal, in that case, there will not be any leakages.
Do check for any visible cracks in the weld seams because If they exist, you will surely have a hookah leakage, and you will not be able to smoke it peacefully.
Glass Thickness
One of the important aspects of hookah and its safety is its glass and its thickness. When you have a thick glass used in your hookah and other parts, you will have harsh smoke from that hookah.
At this time, glass hookahs are making their way better than other traditional hookahs because the glass hookahs look very beautiful on the table when you have them in hookah lounges.
And always look for the glass quality and thickness, the higher the thickness of the glass higher the chances of running it for the long term.
It is better to have thick glass, it will be good in handling, and if mistakenly you drop it, there are fewer chances of that glass getting damaged.
Opening passways
If you are a beginner in smoking hookah, it will take much time for you to master some highly technical things, and only pro smokers know about those things.
I am talking about the gates or open passways your smoke passes through. Because this passage makes a big difference in the smoke output, when you purchase your hookah, try to look at every passage from which your smoke will pass.
If smoke passes from a large gate, you will get a large amount of smoke output at your mouth, and when it passes through small holes, it will reduce the amount of smoke.
How to select hookah hose?
There are hundreds and thousands of hookah hoses available in the market with different materials used to make those hookah hoses. But let me tell you which one is the best hookah hose and material to pick one for yourself.
The plastic hookah hoses are very easy to handle and wash. However, that washable hoses are the best compared with the other materials in the market. They are straightforward to smoke from as they only serve one purpose: passing the smoke from the pipe.
These plastic hookah hoses are cheap, and that is the second biggest reason they are best, and beginners should use them.
And you can easily wash your hoses to get rid of your previous hookah session and shisha tobacco, and within 5 minutes, you can start your new hookah session.
Check out: 5 Best hookah hoses in 2022.
How to select hookah bowls?
Various bowls and materials are used in bowls available in the market. But not every bowl will be perfect for your needs. Therefore, you have to evaluate them according to your needs.
We can include clay, ceramic, and metal bowls, to name some of them. There is one modern bowl also available in the market, and it provides the best quality, which is a silicone bowl.
And it’s not like a silicone bowl is all perfect. There are some flaws in the silicone bowl as well. For example, It takes a bit more time to heat up while other bowls get heated up quickly.
There will be times when you won’t be able to arrange your tobacco properly as you are a beginner at this time, and when this happens, try to sort your tobacco a little bit more and try to adjust it in your bowl evenly so that it will burn evenly otherwise it will not give you the best flavor output.
Check out the best hookah bowls in 2022.
How to select hookah coals?
Many hookah coals are available in the market, but not all hookah coals are made for you to smoke.
So, you need to search for the best hookah coal that fits your requirements. And the requirements could be anything, including the one that runs for hours and more.
The one made from natural ingredients will be more generic and authentic as it will run for long hours and provide the best smoking experience.
And the coconut coals are also worth considering while looking for the best hookah coals for yourself. As the coconut coals are always better, choose coconut coals if you want to smoke the hookah for more than one hour.
There are other quick lightning coals also available in the market, but you should surely ignore them as you don’t want to have a taste of the coals in your mouth.
Check our: 7 Natural Best Hookah Coals.
How to select hookah tobacco?
Choosing the right tobacco for your smoking session is not that much difficult. Therefore, you need to understand your requirements.
If you want to have a long smoking session, choose wet tobacco, it will surely provide the best smoking session of all time because dry tobaccos tend to burn quickly compared with wet ones.
And if your tobacco is soaked in molasses, it would be even better because it kind of helps the tobacco is more good in the long run.
When looking for tobacco for yourself, choose the one that smells good and is dark in colour because the one that does not have this mentioned quality will not perform as per your requirements.
And try to pack your tobacco well in the hookah bowl to get the benefits of your shisha tobacco better. If you don’t know how to pack shisha tobacco, look at the best techniques to pack a shisha bowl.
When you decide your shisha tobacco, try to store it in a refrigerator, it would be the best option to store it.
FAQs
There are various sizes available in a hookah, but which one is best to use and know it. Small, medium and large hookahs are available but look at your requirements first. Whether large hookah will be good for you when you are the only one to smoke in the house? Or is it the small one that you should go after? The answer is that you look deep into your requirements and then find the best hookah size from the market. And also, look at the basic differences of all sizes to keep that in mind.
Picking up a hookah for yourself is a critical task as it requires having a deep understanding of the mechanism of the hookah and the experience of smoking it. And when you don’t have any sort of experience smoking it, you better be choosy when it’s time to pick up a hookah for yourself. Look into every aspect of hookahs, like their materials, hookah parts, height, and many other things, so that you can pick a great hookah to smoke.
Conclusion
Millions of people in this world love to smoke hookah with their friends or alone, but when it comes to buying one, they feel hesitant because all they know is how to smoke hookah, not how to buy one.
So, in this article, I have mentioned each thing that is very important to consider while buying a hookah for yourself or for commercial use.
I have mentioned each aspect of hookah, including height, glass thickness, bowl, hoses, and many other things to consider while buying a hookah that runs longer.
And most important thing while picking a hookah is your real requirements to smoke a hookah. Just find that one and look for that particular requirement in the market for a great hookah.
Have fun with your best hookah.
