Vice City-How this Addict does it

I've been talking smack about this for a while, so it's time I just throw it down.
Here's a basic hookah how-to, all photos courtesy of me.



Starting with the glass base, I fill it with whatever I'm going to use as a filter, in this case, water. I fill it until the stem that goes into the water is cover by about an inch of liquid. That's not written in stone, but you definitely don't want to fill it all the way up, and you will know for sure when you don't have enough water.



Here we have the essential goodies that go into packing a bowl. The reddish stuff at the top is the shisha, or tobbacco. The grey sqaures are coals. These coals are the best you can use all around. The only I have used that was better was natural lump coal, which is made from petrfried lemonwood. The coals shown in the picture put out a lot of heat, are odorless, smokeless, and light in a few minutes off of the stove. They are my favorite. The foil is used to make an airtight seal over the tobacco after it's been placed in the bowl. The skewer is used to puncture holes in the foil after it's been affixed to the bowl to allow hot air to be drawn through the pipe from the coals. It will make more sense in a second.



Putting shisha in the bowl. Note the light touch I'm using.



Here's the bowl filled with shisha. You don't literally want to "fill" or "pack" the bowl. The whole thing is all about air flow. You want to break the tobacco apart and then sprinkle it into the bowl so that there's a lot of air between the tobacco pieces. After this, we add the foil seal.





Here's the bowl covered with foil. After you put shisha in the bowl, it's really easy to screw up a hookah. You want to make sure you don't pack down the tobacco when you cover it with foil. Don't over-handle it, and don't pack the shisha down at all. If you do, you'll wind up with a hookah that you won't want to smoke at all, if it actually does smoke.





Poking the holes in the foil and the bowl, almost ready to go. You want to use something thin, sharp, easy to handle, that make a tiny hole. Three things are important here: only pierce the foil so as not to pack down the shisha, don't over-handle the bowl for the same reason, and when poking holes, you about 30, and you want more around the edges and a few in the middle. The rest is pretty easy and I think it only bears illustration.



Heating the coals on the stove.



The assembled hookah, waiting for the ash-catcher, bowl, and pipe.



The ash-catcher attached, and some wet tissue added to the grommet to insure the bowl has a tight fitting seal.



Adding a foil windscreen to the bowl. This isn't completely necessary. Just wanted to show off that I could do it.



My bowl, packed, wrapped, poked, screened, and ready to be put on the hookah.



The finished assembly of all the major players. All we're waiting on are the coals and the pipe.



The coals are done. The coals I use are organic, but they use a thin layer of silver lighting agent that must be completely burned off before safe to use. Here, I'm blowing off any silvery remains over the sink.



The coals are in place and I'm good to go. Just remember - breathe in, BREATHE OUT. Smoke responsibly people. Don't ruin it for me. WORD.

I am an addict

I'm a non-smoker - no cigars, cigarettes, pot, whatever. I consider myself a moderate drinker at times. But I'm addicted to Hookah. I just got back from a road trip, six hours one way, and we smoked hookah the whole way up and down. Let me tell you all about it, how it started. A couple of years ago, I was at my favorite place, The Casbah, and a friend of mine was like "Autrelle, just try it."

Okay, it's a short story, but the point is now, I'm hooked. For those of you that don't what I'm even talking about, here is the gist: a hookah, or more properly called arghile is a glass-based water pipe that has one or more stems, and is designed to function by way of liquid filtration and indirect heat.

A quick look at this illustration will give you the idea. Generally, you smoke shisha from a hookah. Shisha, as I have come to love it, is a tobacco that is soaked in molasses and glycerine. The result is a tobacco that isn't ignited, but heated, in order to produce smoke. It comes in wonderful flavors that can be enjoyed as they are, or combined into a smoker's cocktail. Currently, my favorite flavors are watermelon, lemon, honey, cinnamon, grape, blueberry, and cherry. For real fun, you can flavor the water filter also, with milk, beer, wine, or whatever you can think of. I remember really enjoying a cherry hookah with a Dr. Pepper filter. It was the BOMB.

If anyone ever wants to smoke a hookah here in Jacksonville, I recommend the Casbah. It has the highest quality product, and is the most authentic hookah experience in Jacksonville. The food and drinks are great, the staff is beautiful and friendly - you can't go wrong. If you can't make it out to Casbah, come by the house - we'll pass the peace pipe.

Violence, anyone?

As a martial artist and a thinker, I often wonder what is the proper purpose and use of violence. I think that maybe some definitions will be needed. Let's check Merriam-Webster's:

"Pronunciation:
\ˈvī-lən(t)s, ˈvī-ə-\
Function:
noun
Date:
14th century

1 a: exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse (as in warfare effecting illegal entry into a house)

b: an instance of violent treatment or procedure

2: injury by or as if by distortion, infringement, or profanation : outrage

3 a: intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force

b: vehement feeling or expression : fervor; also : an instance of such action or feeling

c: a clashing or jarring quality : discordance

4: undue alteration (as of wording or sense in editing a text)"

Let's go with the first one here: exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse.

So that begs the question: when is it proper to exert physical force so as to injure someone?

ALL OF THE TIME!

Just kidding! What I can offer is only my opinion, but I will back it up for and leave you the reader to mull it over. I think it's proper in a few circumstances: immediate protection from harm of oneself and others, the protection of one's property, and justice.

Self protection and protection of others: In martial arts we are taught effective ways to hurt people. In advanced study, we are to taught deliver injury in degrees, meaning instead of killing someone in self-defense, we only have to render them unconscious or break a limb (for example). The issue here is that sometimes you can't run, and sometimes the law enforcement will not be there in time. No one has the right to impose bodily harm to you, no matter what you have done. By that I mean quite simply, I would never bother to try to justify kicking someone's ass that tried to hurt me. I feel it's my duty to stay healthy. It's not my duty to get my ass kicked. If I see someone being physically assaulted, and I feel I can safely intervene on that person's behalf, I will. Equally important to realize is that some people will assault your sensibilities. By this I mean that if you are acting really stupid, I might kick your ass over it. It's hard to give a hard and fast example of this, but I know for a fact that if someone ever insulted my mother in front of me, I would kick your ass. Your mind is just as important, if not more than your body. Assaults on your senses, on what you believe in, should not be taken lightly. I'm not advocating stabbing someone for stepping on your shoe, but I would immediately slap someone who referred to me using a slur, or if they insulted a lady in my company, or at least I would want to. That's just me.

Property rights and justice are coming soon. I want to get some sleep now.

Back from ATL

I had a blast. Heather was awesome company and the art show was on point. LOTS of pictures coming soon. Some super hot women, nice people all around, and great food. I'm euphoric! Rest now.