Carnival of the Shisha: King Moassel Hookah Tobacco
A Review of King Moassel Hookah Tobacco
A new king? Return of the king? Is King Moassel any of these things? Well…not really. King Moassel, a new entrant to the American Hookah Tobacco market, is priced to buy, but we think you should stick to Arab tobacco if you are searching for cheap utility moassel to throw in your hookah pipe.
King Moassel is produced in California, by King of Hookah, which so far as been best known for its dirt cheap (and more or less crappy) hookahs. Their King Moassel hookah tobacco is a good representation of what King of Hookah does best: Gets you with the price, hoping that you will forgive the quality.
King Moassel is very much in the same arena as Nakhla or Al Waha, priced appropriately, and even the taste is somehow reminiscent of these hookah tobacco stalwarts. However, King Moassel is lacking: Nakhla has been in the biz for a very long time, and Al Waha, while younger, has been able to produce a few truly standout flavors (like Orange Creme). King Moassel doesn’t yet have a truly standout flavor, one that say Nakhla has yet to conquer, and Nakhla also has its consistent quality standard, which isn’t going to surprise anyone, but at the same time gives the hookah smoker something enjoyable. The King is a bit below the standard set by Nakhla, which doesn’t make it a bad smoke, but at the same time doesn’t make a very good dollar-to-dollar buy.
Everything except the packaging is a bit below what we’d like: The smoke and flavor is a little bit less than Nakhla, not bad, but less. The price is a bit more than Nakhla, not terrible, but not fantastic. The tobacco is more thinly cut which along with the additional juicey-ness, makes it just a tad more messy. Over all, save for the nice but not great tub its packaged in, just makes this tobacco a little less appealing.
So what if this is all you got? We say its not a bad buy. For the $7 dollar price range that its usually found at, buying a tub of this to hold you over until your tobacco shipment arrives, isn’t a terrible waste of your time and money. But honestly, if you can find something else, we say do so.
If you are stuck up that creek: We recommend their Watermelon or Grape. Both are good flavors. Don’t be enticed by their flavor mixes, like Apple-Strawberry: It just tastes like apple. Stick with the solid flavors, don’t do anything crazy and buy their Strawberry or another hard to master flavor. Just throw down for the double apple (if you like anise) or their watermelon, and be content you are smoking something and not nothing at all.
Overall, this is one of the worst tobaccos on the market. King of Hookah likes to low ball in price and really low ball in quality, and unless you are hard up, we really recommend staying away from their hookah tobacco and all of the rest of their stuff, while your at it.
Hookah Tobacco Review: King Moassel
Type: American Utility Tobacco
Signature Flavor: Watermelon
Best Flavors: Double Apple, Peach, Grape
Worst Flavors: Strawberry, everything else
Price: $5-$11 per 250 grams
Ease of Use: 6/10
Overall: 4/10
[...] have covered a large swath of the hookah tobacco market, including some that work and some that don’t. This time though, has been a real pleasure. Thanks to Hobo reader Hachi M for the [...]
March 13th, 2009 at 3:27 am