Jungle Fever: Smoking Paraphernalia & Legal Highs

In the modern world, and with cigarettes being slowly driven out of acceptability, many people are choosing different methods in which to enjoy their tobacco and other legal highs.  Because of this, shisha pipes are becoming more and more popular amongst the young.  What, though, are the benefits of a shisha pipe?

Firstly, using a shisha (or a hookah pipe) is a far more pleasant experience in terms of smell.  Whilst tobacco is still enjoyed all over the world, there are not many people who would claim that it smells particularly nice.  A hookah pipe uses scents such as sweetener and fruit in addition to tobacco, making it far more tolerable.

It is also considered to be far better for your teeth than conventional cigarette smoking.  Like coffee and alcohol, cigarettes are known to stain the teeth an unpleasant brown colour.   Hookah pipes do not do this as the inhalation of the smoke through the pipe means that the tobacco never actually touches the mouth as it does with a cigarette.

Hookah also does not make use of tar.  One of the unhealthiest factors regarding modern cigarettes is the tar that causes those blackened smoker’s lungs.  There is no inhalation of tar at all when using a shiva pipe, a substantial difference when compared to more conventional smoking.

As with all forms of smoking, overdoing it could eventually be risky, but hookah pipes offer various benefits that will still enable users to take in tobacco whilst alleviating a few of the downsides that cigarettes cause.

Picture courtesy of mikecogh

One of the most enjoyable ways to consume tobacco is with the aid of a hookah. Of course, the main charm of the hookah is that it can accommodate multiple smokers at the same time. There are many different types of hookah, and the styles range from plain to flamboyant. For those in the know, the most colourful and flamboyant types of hookah are usually accompanied by novelty ashtrays.       

As far as more classic styles, most often the skinny middle section of the hookah is comprised of some type of metal. Actually, this is even true of more modern hookah designs, as this section of the hookah must be durable.

The bottom section of the hookah is where the most variety tends to appear. This bottom section may be comprised of glass, or of wood. It may be clear or solid. In any case, this section of the hookah is usually stylized. If an artist made the hookah in question, this is where the telltale signs would be found.

Hookah pipes are a way of smoking tobacco or other mixed herbal ingredients where the substance being smoked has been cooled by water before being inhaled. This large water pipe originally came from India, but is particularly associated with the Middle East, especially Iran and Turkey. Its popularity with smokers of legal substances has grown over the years as it also offers the opportunity to be shared socially.

Hookahs are referred to by many names: the hubble bubble pipe, shisha or narghile being quite common. The pipes come in many different shapes and sizes, some with ornate decorations that make them attractive as ornamental, as well as practical, pieces.

Using a Hookah Pipe

At the base of the pipe is a glass vase that is filled with water, and a down stem is submerged. At the top of the pipe, tobacco is heated then smoke is produced and is sucked through a hose down the stem into the water in the vase at the bottom. The smoke then rises above the water and into the opening of the hose port, then reaching the mouth of the smoker.

Smokers who use hookah pipes do not need to use glass ashtrays or other similar products like spinning ashtrays, though many will have a range of paraphernalia depending on which legal high they are using. A hookah is not easily portable, so other accessories such as Roor Pipes or a Rizla rolling machine are more likely to provide easier access to the required substance if on the move.

Legal highs are becoming increasingly popular, with users preferring not to go down the criminal route with all that entails, and also wishing to avoid the harm to health inflicted by hard drugs.

Those seeking legal highs are predominantly law-abiding citizens who wish to take advantage of the mild hallucinogenic effects of certain legal and naturally occurring herbs in the safest way possible to gain some respite from the pressures of daily life. This is no more harmful than having a few pints, and can actually be beneficial to the health in terms of opening up airways and achieving a calming effect.

Various types of equipment are used, usually to inhale smoke and vapour from plant substances such as legal herbal mixtures. Bongs are very popular, and like hookah pipes they use water as a coolant and filter method to get rid of harmful chemicals in the smoke. If you want a fast high then a bong is probably not the best idea because the water is also efficient at filtering out much of the mildly hallucinogenic element you’ll be after. Hookahs and bongs are for social gatherings where you have time to sit around conversing as you smoke, and indeed there are multi-pipe bongs to facilitate this social element to these activities.

Vaporizers are much better at delivering the pure content at the heart of an herbal mixture, and they do so faster than most other methods. This is because the material is not heated to the combustion point and therefore no smoke is produced.

Bongs and hookah pipes have much in common, and are essentially variations on the same theme. Whereas hookah pipes, or hubble-bubbles, are familiar in the cultures of the Middle East, where they have been used for centuries in cafes, bongs derive from Eastern Asia and have a similar distinguished history across Thailand and Laos. The term ‘bong’ is in fact derived from a general Thai term for a tubular structure made from bamboo.

Both bongs and hookah pipes use water as a part of their operation, to act as a coolant and filter for the smoke produced by burning various herbal products. The water purifies the smoke, removing harmful products like the larger molecules that are responsible for cancers in cigarette smoke. Bongs and hookah pipes have a cultural function in their countries of origin, where smokers chat and take their ease whilst puffing at the pipes, and there are even multi-pipe bongs that can be placed at the centre of a group to facilitate use and social interaction.

Vaporizers such as the sophisticated Volcano Vaporizer, or cheap vaporizers such as handheld vaporizers, work in a different way, heating the products of plants and various essential oils up to but short of the combustion point to produce a vapour that contains only the essential ingredients. As the heat is relatively less and there is no smoke produced, vaporizers are considered safer than other inhalation methods in common use.

There are many legal substances that can be used in bongs, hookah pipes and vaporizers to produce a desired high without getting into legal trouble and at less risk to the health than stronger and illegal stimulants.

A hookah pipe requires a number of components that are essential for its operation, while other optional parts may be added if desired. 

Working our way from the top to the bottom, the first component of a hookah is the bowl, a container that may be made from marble or clay, and holds the tobacco and the charcoal during the smoking session. The bowl is filled with tobacco, covered with aluminium foil and then lit charcoal is laid on top, allowing the tobacco to heat to the required temperature.

Smoke travels down the stem to the base, a water jar through which the smoke bubbles. Smoke travels into the water cup from the direction of the tobacco bowl and through the downstem, a thin tube that is submerged in the water of the water bowl. While in the base of the hookah, the smoke makes a bubbling noise, hence the alternative name for the hookah of the hubble bubble pipe.  Attached to the water bowl is the main body of the pipe. The smoke leaving the water base collects there ready for inhalation.

To technically be called a hookah, the pipe should have a hose. This should be a long hose that cools the smoke before inhalation. The end has a mouthpiece made of plastic, metal or wood and is seen with a number of shapes and sizes. It’s the process of trying to inhale through the hose that causes the smoke to travel through the pipe as it does. It’s as if it is sucked through the hookah.

The world of the recreational legal high user, like that of any enthusiast from photographers and cricketers to fly fishermen and chess players, is rife with its own jargon. Knowing the difference between a bong and a blunt creates a special bond between members of the group, and being able to spout forth on the relative merits of the Volcano Vaporizer and different varieties of hand-held vaporizers helps make friends and influence people in your social circle.

Bongs share much in common with hookah pipes using, as they do, water as a filter system for the smoke from tobacco and various plant products, as well as cooling it for a more comfortable smoking experience.

Bongs originated in Thailand and Laos, in the Far East, where the name covers most forms of tubular bamboo structures which were originally cut from bamboo shoots. These days in the West, bongs are widely available in many different materials from specialist suppliers. Glass bongs are preferred because of the purity of the smoke produced, without any derivatives from the construction material, but you can also get them made from wood, and acrylic bongs are very popular because it is more difficult to break them than is the case with glass bongs. Roor bongs, made from hand-blown glass, are a top of the range make, and are often collected because of their elegance as well as functionality.

Vaporizers are widely considered the safest way of inhaling herbal compounds and mixtures, as the material is vaporized short of ignition, avoiding the production of smoke and its dangerous toxins.

A hookah pipe is an instrument used to smoke tobacco through a water chamber, which cools and filters the smoke. The hookah can have a single hose for a single user or multiple hoses. Multi-pipe bongs or hookahs are a great idea for an event or social occasion.

The hookah originated in India and is part of the culture throughout the Middle East but recently it has gained popularity in Europe, Australia, North America and Brazil. One of the more popular hookahs types is known as the Malabar hookah and comes from the city of Koyilandy.

The hookah has a number of alternative names: in Arabic the pipe is referred to as a shisha and this is the most common name used in the Persian Gulf states. Meanwhile, Islamic countries close to the eastern Mediterranean such as Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan and Syria enjoy a narghile. In Croatia and Albania the hookah is a Lula, while in Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina the pipe is called a nargile.

Hookah pipes are most common in the Arab world, where the smoking of flavoured tobacco has entered their tradition and culture. It is estimated that Arabs are the biggest users of shisha pipes worldwide. Nearly all cafés offer shisha smoking and the cafés are the centre of Arab social life, being likened to the bars and pubs in the Western world.
 
Because of the increase in smoking bans across Europe and North America, many hookah cafés have begun to offer a smoking experience by using non-tobacco mu’assel, a mixture of molasses and honey.

Where legal highs involving the smoking of herbals and plant materials are concerned, a very popular piece of paraphernalia in use is the hookah pipe.  As popularity grows, the amount of products available does also, creating a challenge for those individuals who want to start enjoying this type of smoking device for getting high legally.  Here are several suggestions for how to select the one that is best suited to your needs.

Determine the way you are going to use the hookah pipe.  Will you be using it to smoke cannabis, herbals and plant materials (legal highs), or regular loose tobacco?

Size really does matter.  If you are only going to use it by yourself, than a smaller one will be sufficient.  Otherwise, purchase a multi-user style to accommodate a group of smokers.  Additionally, where the size factor is concerned, you want to make sure that you have sufficient storage space so that you can keep it out of the reach of children and pets.

Glass is the preferred material for the bowl base.  However, acrylic models are now emerging throughout the market and are increasing in popularity because of their price and the fact that they do not break or crack as easily as the glass-based ones do.

For the beginner, there are a lot of first time buyer deals available online, making it more affordable than ever to get started with this type of smoking venue.  There are numerous value packages available so that your purchase includes the hookah pipe, the accessories, and even the tobacco in some instances.

A hookah pipe, commonly referred to as a shisha in Arabic, is a water pipe that has either one or more stems for smoking.hookah pipes were originally developed in India, but its popularity quickly spread throughout Asia and the Middle East. In addition, thanks to travellers in these areas, the hookah pipe is also gaining a following in western countries, such as the US, the UK and Canada.

The hookah utilises water to filter smoke from herbal mixtures with indirect heat, thus creating a unique and enjoyable legal smoking experience.

The hookah has a range of titles depending on where in the world it is being used. For example in Turkey and most of the Middle East it is called a nargeela. Alternatively, in Egypt it is called a shisha and the content is referred to as moassel.

Throughout the Arab world the hookah is smoked as part of the region’s culture and tradition. Hookah smoking in social settings is very common in these areas and is often done with single or double hoses. Hookah smoking in Arab social settings carries with it certain social niceties that are observed, such as placing the hose on the table after smoking to signal to the other smokers that the pipe is available. Alternatively, if the pipe is simply being passed from one smoker to the next, it is handed with the mouthpiece folded back, and not pointing in the direction of the recipient. The recipient takes the hookah and gently slaps the person he received it from as a sign of respect and thanks.