NOTE: You can view previous Hookah Handbook installments here:

• Part 1 An Introduction to Hookah Pipes
• Part 2 How to Set Up Your First Hookah Smoking Session
• Part 3 How to Clean Your Hookah
• Part 4 Troubleshooting Your Hookah Rig
• Part 5: Buying Hookahs Online VS at a Local Store
• Part 6: How to Pack and Use a Phunnel Bowl

With the growing Western market, there have been a number of hookah tobacco brands to reach market in the last 5 years. It would be near impossible to cover all of the brands, but we will cover some of the most widely sold and trusted brands available in the US:

Nakhla Shisha

Nakhla is a traditional tobacco from Egypt and was the first brand to add flavoring to tobacco smoked in hookahs. Their first flavor, Double Apple, is still widely smoked around the world. While Nakhla can be found online, it is most popularly sold in Middle Eastern markets throughout the world.

While it is typically considered a budget tobacco, Nakhla has a unique flavor and is very easy to smoke, which makes it a fan of even hardened hookah connoisseurs. Recently, Nakhla has added a premium brand, called Mizo, which is juicier and more refined than their traditional tobacco. This is the largest hookah tobacco manufacturer in the world. See our full Nakhla tobacco review here.

Starbuzz Shisha

Starbuzz is a modern tobacco variety that is washed (for lower nicotine). Starbuzz is known for its juiciness, clean taste and avant-garde flavors. It is also the most expensive brand currently in the market. Produced in the Middle East but based in Los Angeles, Starbuzz has become the biggest seller for online hookah shops. It has a very strong following; many hookah connoisseurs only smoke Starbuzz. See our full Starbuzz review here.

Tangiers Shisha

Tangiers is a relatively boutique hookah tobacco made and sold out of San Diego, CA. Their tobacco has a distinct tobacco taste as well as unique flavors that tend to be very close to the name on the package. They have grown to be the 3rd largest hookah tobacco sold online and have a very distinct following that seems to be orthogonal to promoters of Starbuzz.

They are moderately priced and the tobacco typically has top of class longevity. Tangiers also invented the Phunnel bowl, which is a bowl designed specifically for juicy hookah tobacco. Tangiers can be temperamental and hard to pack correctly, so it is often avoided by novices (more on packing the Phunnel bowl here).

Layalina and Golden Layalina Shisha

Layalina is a moderately priced hookah tobacco that has increased quality while remaining true to traditional Middle Eastern tobaccos. Layalina sells well to both novices and hookah pros, especially with some of their popular flavors, which are sometimes considered top of their class. Layalina also has a premium offering called Golden Layalina, which has nicer packaging and slightly better longevity. Most of Layalina’s non-traditional flavors are sold under the Golden brand. See our full Layalina review here.

Al Fakher Shisha

Al Fakher is a Dubai based tobacco manufacturer that is known for its fruit and mint flavors. Moderately priced (like Nakhla), they are one of the best sellers in Middle Eastern markets. Al Fakher is juicy and easy to smoke, but some of their flavors are weak in taste. It’s a good brand overall, but it is advised to research which flavors are good and which ones are not. See our full Al Fakher review here.

See More Shisha Brand Reviews Here:

• Afzal (… … …)
• Hookah Freak (He shoots he scores!)
• King Moassel (Suck suck suck.)
• Havana (Note: charging a lot doesn’t make your shisha good.)
• Sultan (Seriously, this is the best we can do?)
• Romman (Well, at least all the flavors didn’t blow.)
• Fumari (Now that’s what I’m talking about!)

Want In Depth Video Reviews of Actual Flavors?

(Almost) Every week we review specific flavors of each brand on the Hobocans Happy Hour.

Check out the latest reviews right here!

Its always good to get a feeling for what other people are saying about the HoboHookah and HoboNargile.  Back in the day, it was a real uphill battle to convince people that the HoboHookah was the best travel hookah in the world.  Now, we don’t have to convince anyone, our customers do it for us!

“You will not regret it mate, a great investment!! Don’t just think of it as convenient for portability, it is also awesome for ease of washing – just chuck it in the dishwasher and it is good as new!! Also, it has a lifetime guarentee…you break a base (bottle), you get a new one! Simples!! Couldn’t be happier…” – JoeyBroChill86

Always nice to hear that!  Thanks JoeyBroChill86.  We don’t have a job for you yet, but we’ll keep you in mind when once we start taking over the hookah world.

In other news, if you are a Portuguese speaker, check out this new HoboHookah video from the guys in Brazil.  Check out some of the other subtitled vids as well.

We have another Hobocans Happy Hour video on tap where we review another Tangiers shisha flavor, Mimon.  Definitely worth a buy!

Well, it has finally arrived.  We have been smoking some of the left-over crap hookah tobacco from the back of the shisha cabinet while waiting for this guy to arrive.  It was worth it.

Orange Cream is way up there on my favorite Fumari flavors.  Here at the Hobo HQ we had quite the debate as whether to try something new or re-up on the Mint Chocolate Chill.  We rolled the dice, took what was in the box, let the north star guide us and we were not disappointed.

First thing’s first: The packaging is the same as a regular pouch of Fumari, except 10-times larger.  Its like Fumari took an enbigulator to its regular 100-grams and then shipped it out as a ki.

Fumari Orange Cream tastes a lot like Al Waha Orange Cream, which is a great thing.  The differences are only the typical premium hookah tobacco vs utility tobacco split: Nicer packaging, juicier consistency (great for a phunnel bowl), better smoking longevity and cleaner after taste.  The flavors themselves, are pretty similar.  If you like Al Waha, you’ll love Fumari.

Also, we have a new Hobocans Happy Hour up at Hobocans.com.  Check out the Cinco de Mayo theme and learn the tricks to revamping your music selection.

It has been a while since we broke out the hookah tobacco reviews, but I think it was worth the wait.

We 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 Fumari heads up.

The guys over at Fumari sent us a few of their premo pouches, including Chocolate Mint, Island Papaya, and Blueberry Pancake, and it was tip top stuff.

First thing you notice with Fumari: Cool pouch.  The standard in top of the line tobacco packaging is more or less the Starbuzz style tincan, and for a minute there I was thinking that was the only way to go. Not only did I notice the cool material of the bag, but everyone who glanced at it sitting on my coffee table were compelled to give it a grasp.  They liked, I liked, everyone agreed:  This is a cool and useful piece of packaging.

Now down to brass tacks:  This is a slippery-wet tobacco.  I’d say similar to Starbuzz in cut, but a bit juicier.  We packed our first bowl of Chocolate Mint in a phunnel.  Great idea.  The Chocolate Mint tastes like an After 9 mint, and similar to the Al Waha offering.  Mint is an easy flavor that every hookah tobacco company has mastered, and to a certain degree the Chocolate Mint has been successfully replicated.  This offering is notable for its clean taste (better than Al Waha) and that it is easily adaptable to a phunnel bowl, which increased its life span to the hour-plus range.  Great offering.

Next was Island Papaya served in the clay Hobo bowl.  Now I don’t like papaya, nor papaya dog, which leads me to believe they totally got this flavor wrong: This shit is great.  It has a candied taste like many typical hookah tobaccos, but somehow this flavor just cooked.  It lasted long and remained strong.  It is a re-buy from our end, without hesitation.  The Blueberry Pancake was of similar demeanor, but with way too much punch.  It is over the top sweet.  Definitely necessary to mix this with something more mellow, like Al Waha and Nakhla fruit flavors.  Mixed its a good, powerful additive, but not necessarily something we’d get every re-raise.

The issue with Fumari is the price.  At 9-bones for 100 grams this puts it at a gram to gram price higher than Romman or Starbuzz.  And if you are only comparing it to those two brands, the buck or two more it costs I think its worth it.  If you are going to go top-line Fumari is a respectable choice, and I think as good as hookah tobacco gets.  If you are more budget conscience, get a pouch of Fumari, like Island Papaya, and mix it with a pedestrian tobacco, like Nakhla.  The flavor is potent, and its worth the buy to get more taste out of your standard bowl.

Overall, look this is a pricey tobacco and one of the few products in the hookah market that has actually branded itself well with a great product and strong, independent following (much like the HoboHookah, cheers!).  Also, for a premium tobacco, we never had a problem with Fumari working the way it should.  In a mod-bowl, in a phunnel, straight or mixed it all smokes right.  For all that they demand respect, and our patronage.

Hookah Tobacco Review: Fumari Hookah Tobacco

• Type: Premium Hookah Tobacco
• Signature Flavor: Island Papaya
• Best Flavors: Chocolate Mint, Orange Creme, Prickly Pear, Cantaloupe,  Rose
• Worst Flavors: Cola
• Price: $9 per 100 grams ($22.50 at 250 grams)
• Ease of Use: 10/10
• Overall: 8/10

Holy mole, thought we forgot this little hookah number, eh? Well, Layalina is a staple these days: From hookah bars, to hookah shops to just about every online retailer in the space. We here at HoboHookah maybe showing up to this party late, but that’s our style anyways.

Layalina is typically considered one of two things: A staple or a treat. It is one of the few tobaccos that can really pull off both well: This tobacco packs in the flavor while keeping it real on the price.

Upon first impressions, you get the feel that they wanted you to have all of the function of a tip top tobacco without all of the pizzazz. The box is just packaging, inside is a little, budget plastic jar that keeps the tobacco. The tobacco itself has a unique color to it, distinguishing say Blackberry from Margarita: Dark red vs yellow-green. The texture is the same oily feel as Nakhla, but perhaps a bit more. Overall, it feels like taking a tobacco like Nakhla or Al Waha and giving them a paint job or upgrade to the next level of class and quality.

Lets check those powerful flavors: The standard fruit flavors are great. Blackberry, Peach, Watermelon…all taste like something, something good. Candy perhaps? If I were to smoke hookah for the first time, and someone passed me a pipe full of Layalina Peach I would get exactly what I expected, no disappointments. On the same side of the coin, its not Al Fakher. It doesn’t inspire the thought of actual Peaches, more like peach cocktail or peach Jolly Ranchers. Likewise, their esoteric flavors, like Margarita, take the classic beverage out to its candy limits. Enjoyable, no doubt, but not shock landing-on-the-moon reality.

While we commend the long lasting, powerful flavor, the dark side of Layalina may be its loaded use of tobacco stems. This is very unique to Layalina: Rarely have I received, consistently, jars of tobacco crammed with stems. You can’t dip into the Layalina jar without pulling out at least one. This is annoying: Leave them in the bowl or throw them? We don’t have an answer yet. Also, stay away from some of the real staple hookah tobacco flavors, like apple or mint, they are much better on other lines, such as Nakhla.

Overall, the small drawbacks of candy and stems is the price to pay for a great overall tobacco that you can drive at least a mile (1 hour) and taste great along the way.

Hookah Tobacco Review: Layalina

• Type: Quality Utility Hookah Tobacco
• Signature Flavor: Blackberry
• Best Flavors: Watermelon, Vanilla, Raspberry, Apricot, Cherry, Lemon, Melon
• Worst Flavors: Mint, Apple
• Price: $7-$10 per 250 grams
• Ease of Use: 7/10
• Overall: 8/10

Afzal comes from the first home of the hookah: India. India is known for producing a lot of hookah gear, however, unlike Arabia or the upstart US hookah operations, there aren’t many tobaccos from the subcontinent. The Afzal is a fine offering, and available as the exclusive tobacco at many hookah shops, but it also has some low points.

Afzal is made by the same makers as Soex, the herbal tobacco. And as far as flavors, they pretty much follow suit. This is a mid-range tobacco, that is thinly cut, and a little juicy. It’s served from a box, with the tobacco contained in a zip-lock bag for resealing. They also hook you up with a few mouth-tips, which is a nice touch.

As for flavors, there is a mixed bag here. Their mint is great, as is their double apple, which they have since mixed into their signature flavor: Silver Fox. If you dig mixing your mint and apple together, this is a a unique offering from Afzal and one that we would consistently buy. We also like their Orange and Grape flavors, which are both different than the Nakhla or Al Waha competition, but good. Not all of their fruit flavors are great, however: Stay away from their blueberry or strawberry. Both are below par.

While overall, a pretty good smoke, in our experience, Afzal has a weird, plastic-like aftertaste, which is a problem especially on their more subtle flavors (the blueberry and strawberry for instance). The session length on this hookah tobacco is also not great, maybe a bit below Nakhla and far below any of the premium brands we have tried. The price isn’t bad, at about $10/250grams, but its hard to find online in the 250 gram size and you’ll get nickel-and-dimed buying 50g samples.

If your neighborhood joint has Afzal on the shelves, there is a good chance that that’s your only option, and its not a bad option. Stick to their proven flavors, like Silverfox or Orange and you should be okay. If you see some online, it’s worth a try, but there are other brands, like Al-Waha or even Al-Fakher, that come in at the same price point and offer a better variety of more-consistent flavors.

Hookah Tobacco Review: Afzal Hookah Tobacco

Type: Mid-Range Hookah Tobacco

Signature Flavor: Silver Fox

Best Flavors: Mint, Double Apple, Orange, Grape, Lemon-lime

Worst Flavors: Peach, Blueberry, Strawberry

Price: $10-12 per 250 grams

Ease of Use: 6/10

Overall: 5/10

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

Havana is another Emeriti Premium Tobacco, just like Al Fakher.  It shares a lot of similarities with Al Fakher, in taste and texture, but we wouldn’t go so far to say they are equal brothers in Hookah Tobacco Land.  More like Havana has a bit of growing up to do, before we’d pay the same dollar as for Al Fakher.

Havana is a pretty widely distributed tobacco, especially to tobacco shops that don’t necessarily specialize in hookahs.  Many times, if a place carries Havana, that’s pretty much all they carry.  And its not a bad tobacco to have on hand, but definitely not our preferred hookah smoke.

Like we said, Havana shares a lot with Al Fakher.  They both have similar packaging, but Havana’s looks a little less professional and the jar feels flimsy.  The texture of this hookah tobacco is similar, but less juicy and adapts a little better to climate than Al Fakher, maybe a mix between Al Fakher and Nakhla, which is a positive.

Havana has a good variety of flavors, including some downright weird ones.  One of Havana’s strong points is their flavor mixes, like Lemon-Grape, which is our Havana Signature Flavor.  Both their grape and lemon are nice, and when mixed together, they make a sweet/tart taste that is really great.  Their fruit flavors are mostly solid, with Mango and Blueberry being their best and the ever difficult Strawberry being their worst.  We definitely don’t recommend the Strawberry.  They also have a Carrot flavor, which took us by surprise.  We haven’t had the chance to try it out (the places we shop are reluctant to carry it), but we’ve heard its a surprisingly good flavor.

Havana’s biggest downfall is its smoke longevity.  It just doesn’t retain flavor as long as Al Fakher or even Nakhla, and while the flavor itself is good, its not amazing.  Short smoke, without crazy amazing flavor at the Premium Hookah Tobacco level just doesn’t cut the mustard.

Havana is a Premium Hookah Tobacco, in price, but there are so many Premium Tobaccos out there that offer a bit more in quality: A bit longer smoke, a bit better flavor, a bit cleaner packaging, etc.  While its not a bad hookah tobacco by any means, it doesn’t wow us, and with Al Fakher around nearly every corner, its hard to pick up a jar of Havana at the same price.  If you want to try out some of their flavor mixes, this is the way to go, and makes Havana more attractive, but for most smoking situations, if we want solid fruit flavors in a no-hookah-hassle package, than we’ll go with Al Fakher.

Hookah Tobacco Review: Havana Hookah Tobacco

Type: Premium Hookah Tobacco

Signature Flavor: Lemon-Grape

Best Flavors: Peach, Grape, Raspberry, Banana, Carrot, Cappuccino, Mango, Blueberry, Orange,

Worst Flavors: Strawberry, Raspberry,

Price: $11-14 per 250 grams

Ease of Use: 7/10

Overall: 6/10

Sultan was one of the first American produced hookah tobaccos to hit the market: All the way back in ‘ought 2 (’02). Sultan has gotten in a bit of trouble: filing for bankruptcy, being acquired, etc, but they still produce some good stuff…and some terrible stuff. Like a box of chocolates, you really never know what you’ll get from a jar of Sultan.

Sultan is a low priced utility tobacco with a few things going for it. 1) It’s got a nice jar, and is otherwise packaged nicely, 2) They managed to pull off very respectable Nakhla-esque flavors, such as cappuccino and double apple. Aside from that, this is typically a last resort to a needy hookah smoker bleakly staring at the bare shelves of the only tobacco shop in town.

We don’t want to sound too hard on old Sulty. As said above, the cappuccino and double apple along with their rose are as good as Nakhla. Their jasmine is probably the best flavor they have, and probably my #1 choice in the jasmine department. Pretty much anything that isn’t a fruit flavor is going to smoke and taste pretty good coming from the jar. The mango shisha is the loan exception: This is a surprisingly great flavor from Sultan.

Sultan tobacco is very similar to Nakhla in consistency and quality of smoke, which means its easy to pack and light up, with no surprises.

Sultan has changed management, so we expect their new stuff to be improved, but we hope they keep the few flavors that worked as is. Don’t fix nothing that aint broken. Also, keep that price low. It’s hard finding a jar of good mango hookah tobacco for under $10.

Hookah Tobacco Review: Sultan (can’t find a link at the moment)

Type: Utility Tobacco

Signature Flavor: Jasmine

Best Flavors: Cappuccino, mango, rose, double apple, mint, grape

Worst Flavors: Everything else

Price: $8-$10 per 250 grams

Ease of Use: 7/10

Overall: 4/10

Starbuzz is another American Ultra Premium Hookah Tobacco.  They have made a name for themselves for many reasons, which we’ll get into.  Its these reasons that make us believe that this is the only truly ultra premium hookah tobacco on the market, not only in price but also in quality.

So what makes a Ultra Premium Hookah Tobacco?  Well, first, it has to be consistent.  If you buy a $5 box of something, and it doesn’t taste as good as the last box, no big deal.  Its 5-bucks.  But if you buy a Ultra Premo box of something, it had better taste just as good as the last box.

Next, it has to go the distance.  Part of the value in buying premo hookah tobacco is that it lasts longer.  It has to go well over an hour, and maintain the flavor till the last pull.  It should also be clean, packaged well and easy to keep and smoke without a lot of mess.  And finally, most importantly, it has to have awesome flavor.  It has to blow your mind, if you are dropping the big bills on hookah tobacco.

While Starbuzz doesn’t have all on these in spades, its damn close. Definitely the winning hand on the hookah table.  It is consistent: While not every flavor is a home run, the ones that are, are always winners.  The blueberry you smoked today, will be the same you inevitably buy tomorrow.  This is important for Starbuzz, and something some other premo brands need to work on.

Starbuzz definitely goes the distance. While other brands, like Tangiers and Al Fakher, last long, Starbuzz lasts longer, not only in smoke but also in flavor.   And its a clean tobacco.  The packaging is nice, easy to seal and keep.  The best packaging in the business.  And, while Starbuzz smokes long like other premo brands, its not as messy.  The texture is closer to Nakhla then Al Fakher, which is actually a benefit.  The juice doesn’t drain from a standard bowl, it stays on the tobacco, where it belongs.  This may be the secret to the long lasting flavor.

As for the flavor?

It’s great.  Really solid, clean flavor.  Some other brands leave a little taste in the back of your mouth, not Starbuzz.  Its just big plumes of flavorful, but not overpowering flavor.  What’s their signature?  Its tough, but X on the Beach is what we are going with.  This is a unique fruity blend, not exactly like the drink it takes its name from, but delicious.  Their Chocolate Strawberry is their next in line. Starbuzz nailed both chocolate and strawberry and then mixed them together.  Delicious, and something no other brand has been able to do.  Their fruit flavors are mostly all solid, except for Cherry and Watermelon.  They are both off, and while they are decent flavors, they aren’t to the standard that is Starbuzz and not worth the price.

The final word:

Starbuzz is a great hookah tobacco, and lives by the hype that it has generated.  It is pricey, but worth it as a high quality treat to keep for special occasions.  Also, if you are a casual hookah smoker, who just wants their hookah tobacco to work every time, easy to pack, with no hassles, than Starbuzz is it.  As for a true Ultra Premium Hookah Tobacco, right now, Starbuzz is what we go to.

Hookah Tobacco Review: Starbuzz Hookah Tobacco

Type: Ultra Premium Hookah Tobacco

Signature Flavor: X on the Beach

Best Flavors: Peach, Guava, Irish Cream, Strawberry, Chocolate Strawberry, Chocolate Mint, White Grape, Black Grape, Lemon, Marlett, Blackberry, Blueberry, Apple, Mango,

Worst Flavors: Watermelon, Cherry

Price: $20 per 250 grams

Ease of Use: 9/10

Overall: 9/10