Commentary on hookahs, smoke rings, and The Dream

…for mostly art and economy.

We reviewed a couple of Starbuzz hookah tobacco flavors over at the Happy Hour, and that got us thinking a lot about flavor mixes.

You could always buy a pre-mixed flavor, something that Hookah Freak has pretty much made their business, or, as we recommend, you could go off on your own and try to discover something great.

There are two reasons to make hookah tobacco flavor mixes:

1) Experiment to find a flavor that you really like;

2) To save on expensive tobacco or to use tasteless or gross tobacco from the back of the cabinet.

We’ll tackle that second, more objective one, in this post.  Everyone has bought a hookah tobacco that didn’t live up to expectations, or in the case of most mint flavors, simply were too powerful for a single sitting.  The trick to mixing shisha flavors that are simply un-enjoyable to smoke by themselves is to find a good pairing.

First, we’ll discuss the mint flavors.  Pure mint goes great with most flavors, but you are better off going with powerful fruit and nut tobacco rather than weaker, more subtle flavors.  In addition, don’t pack the bowls evenly: Use no more that 25% mint in any mix, with most mixes being closer to 10%.  If you are stuck with a mint that you can’t get rid of, try one of these mixes:

• 95% Tangiers Cocoa and 5% Mint: For a great alternative to Fumari Choco-Mint
• 90% Starbuzz Wildberry and 10% Mint: For a great light a sweet mix.
• 95% Layalina Watermelon and 5% Mint: For a sweet melon mojito flavor.

Everyone has had those times when a flavor just doesn’t have any punch, or it just will not go the distance.  If that’s the case, use the tobacco to fill up the bowl to conserve on your higher end hookah tobacco stores for those light session, where you wont be smoking all night.  This works great with a phunnel bowl.  For this kind of mix, use 25% to 50% crappy tobacco with the rest being your premium tobacco.  The flavor wont be quite as strong, but few will notice in the short run.

Got any hookah tips?  Send them to hobohero@hobohookah.com.