Since I started this evening with it, I'll begin the blog posts with the topic of Shisha.
When I got here I had no clue about Shisha and the part it plays in the world I'm in, so let's start with a few statements about what it's not. Shisha is NOT a bong or an illegal activity.
On the roof of my hotel is a restaurant (as I've talked about before). After dinner, outside on the veranda, they offered customers the opportunity to relax and order one of the many flavors of shisha pipes. Not being a smoker I was a little leary of it until my trusty Canadian partner in crime invited me to share some of his.
Even outside, the smell of apple, cherry and mint is much like the scent of a bakery using a wood fired stove. So thick are these fruity smells you can almost taste it as it escapes from the tall water pipes sitting next to nearly every table. It really smells good...now I'm intrigued!
For hundreds of years, Middle Eastern people have flocked to this exotic water pipe to smoke fruit-flavored tobacco, talk and watch the world pass by. Along with drinking ridiculously strong coffee at all hours of the day, this deeply-rooted cultural practice of smoking shisha has now become an integral part of Arab social life.
Shisha is:
A small amount of tobacco mixed with molasses and fruit flavors and is smoked in a water pipe. It is very light and flavorful with a fruity aroma. Interestingly, it is smoked for the flavor and not for any kind of effect (thank goodness for me!) Though the most popular flavor is apple, others include cherry, watermelon, strawberry, pineapple, apricot, grape, rose, mint, and even cappuccino!
The shisha pipe, has a hollow glass (sometimes clay or brass) base which is filled with water, a vertical pipe topped with a clay bowl for shisha and coals, and a usually colorful hose. It has many different names, the Egyptians call it shisha; Lebanese refer to it as nargila; and in English, it's a hookah. Tourists sometimes refer to it as "hubble bubble."
When you suck on the hose, the smoke is drawn down the pipe and through the water, which cools and filters it. This also produces this great bubbling sound, almost like when we would blow bubbles in a glass of milk when we were kids. (c'mon you KNOW you did it!)
Anyway, there I was in the cooling evening...I think it had gotten "down" to about 95 degrees...and I'm sucking on a hose on top of a roof. Wow, if that doesn't send you into a college flashback I don't know what will!
The Egyptan "Shisha Master" comes to take our order and explains what everything is and why people do it. A lot of people prefer shisha smoking to cigarettes and cigars because of the smooth, flavorful and cool taste of the smoke. The cooled smoke is pleasant because, if properly prepared, it doesn't tickle the throat at all. It's common for smoking shisha to last for hours while you just kick back with friends.
Smoking shisha is nothing like smoking a cigarette. It's funny, the older generation believes cigarettes are for nervous people, competitive people, people on the run. They say when you smoke shisha, you have time to think. It teaches you patience and tolerance, and gives you an appreciation of good company. I'm told that shisha smokers have a much more balanced approach to life than cigarette smokers. Shisha is something special. ;-)
I truly enjoyed having my relaxing shisha experience and since it was such a big part of life here, I asked for a tour. Atif, "Shisha Master," was only too happy to to show me the ropes! I learned all about folding foil, granite rock filters, coal firing, flavors, and the pipes themselves. I was HOOKED...I had to have one!
When I got here I had no clue about Shisha and the part it plays in the world I'm in, so let's start with a few statements about what it's not. Shisha is NOT a bong or an illegal activity.
On the roof of my hotel is a restaurant (as I've talked about before). After dinner, outside on the veranda, they offered customers the opportunity to relax and order one of the many flavors of shisha pipes. Not being a smoker I was a little leary of it until my trusty Canadian partner in crime invited me to share some of his.
Even outside, the smell of apple, cherry and mint is much like the scent of a bakery using a wood fired stove. So thick are these fruity smells you can almost taste it as it escapes from the tall water pipes sitting next to nearly every table. It really smells good...now I'm intrigued!
For hundreds of years, Middle Eastern people have flocked to this exotic water pipe to smoke fruit-flavored tobacco, talk and watch the world pass by. Along with drinking ridiculously strong coffee at all hours of the day, this deeply-rooted cultural practice of smoking shisha has now become an integral part of Arab social life.
Shisha is:
A small amount of tobacco mixed with molasses and fruit flavors and is smoked in a water pipe. It is very light and flavorful with a fruity aroma. Interestingly, it is smoked for the flavor and not for any kind of effect (thank goodness for me!) Though the most popular flavor is apple, others include cherry, watermelon, strawberry, pineapple, apricot, grape, rose, mint, and even cappuccino!
The shisha pipe, has a hollow glass (sometimes clay or brass) base which is filled with water, a vertical pipe topped with a clay bowl for shisha and coals, and a usually colorful hose. It has many different names, the Egyptians call it shisha; Lebanese refer to it as nargila; and in English, it's a hookah. Tourists sometimes refer to it as "hubble bubble."
When you suck on the hose, the smoke is drawn down the pipe and through the water, which cools and filters it. This also produces this great bubbling sound, almost like when we would blow bubbles in a glass of milk when we were kids. (c'mon you KNOW you did it!)
Anyway, there I was in the cooling evening...I think it had gotten "down" to about 95 degrees...and I'm sucking on a hose on top of a roof. Wow, if that doesn't send you into a college flashback I don't know what will!
The Egyptan "Shisha Master" comes to take our order and explains what everything is and why people do it. A lot of people prefer shisha smoking to cigarettes and cigars because of the smooth, flavorful and cool taste of the smoke. The cooled smoke is pleasant because, if properly prepared, it doesn't tickle the throat at all. It's common for smoking shisha to last for hours while you just kick back with friends.
Smoking shisha is nothing like smoking a cigarette. It's funny, the older generation believes cigarettes are for nervous people, competitive people, people on the run. They say when you smoke shisha, you have time to think. It teaches you patience and tolerance, and gives you an appreciation of good company. I'm told that shisha smokers have a much more balanced approach to life than cigarette smokers. Shisha is something special. ;-)
I truly enjoyed having my relaxing shisha experience and since it was such a big part of life here, I asked for a tour. Atif, "Shisha Master," was only too happy to to show me the ropes! I learned all about folding foil, granite rock filters, coal firing, flavors, and the pipes themselves. I was HOOKED...I had to have one!
So what does an American girl do in this situation? I asked where to shop, of course! In his never ceasing hospitality, Atif offered to shop for one especially for me so I wouldn't pay more than I should (very nice of him although he had no way of knowing that haggling was my new favorite sport!). Anyway, Atif went to the souk on his only day off and got me a wonderful and sturdy "not for tourists" shisha pipe, for not too much money, that I packed home through customs in my carry on....the swords in my other bag...well, that's another story for another night.
I have lovingly used my shisha pipe 3 or 4 tims in the last year and on this anniversary of my trip, I'm still saying thank you to Atif!
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