Hookah Bars NYC- Luxor Lounge

I went to the Luxor Lounge tonight in the west village of manhattan for some shisha and hookah smoke. it was a below average experience as the hookah that they gave us was very small and the hose was leaking. the shisha quality of this place is below par and the mixed tobacco hookahs are mediocre. My problem tonight was that the hookah and shisha combo made the taste way too sweet and the flavor degenerated very quickly. the first few pulls were definitely the best and the flavor turned to a sort of licorice taste within minutes. we had a lot of problems with this hookah tonight to say the least. the service was however better but the shisha and hookah experience was terrible. im not sire what it was about this hookah and shisha combo, but within fifteen minutes of smoking the hookah it seemed like it was dead. this should never be the case as a good hookah should ast for at least an hour. the leaking hose was very frustrating and it kept me desiring a better setup. we had to sort of hold the hose with a very tight fist in order to make it stop leaking and even that did not work too well. too often throughout the night i was pulling on the hose with my breath and nothing was happening. the water was not bubbling and there was no smoke coming out of the tube. the only good thing about this hookah was that the blow off valve was working properly and so any stale smoke that was left in the hookah was quicky ejected.

Hookah Bars NYC- Hookah Bar Number 10

Ok well i have to admit that i have been slacking in the shisha and hookah department. i have a great big list of hookah and shisha bars that need to be reviewed and i just have not had the time lately to go out and review one. i was supposed to go to a hookah bar in the east village tonight but yet again i got tired and fell asleep. well this is just going great for me. i have one job to do and that is to go out and review hookah bars and smoke shisha. what a hard life i have! i get paid for going out and smoking shisha out of hookahs at hookah bars and i cant even do that! this is kind of silly because my only responsibility is going out and basically having fun. i guess i am not really doing my job to its fullest potential. Well i am making a commitment to you and myself that i will have two more hookah bars reviewed by early next week and they are going to be of the hookah bar in williamsburg, brooklyn and another hookah bar on the lower east side. I am going to go to the hookah bar on the lower east side to smoke shisha tomorrow night and the night after i am going to williamsburg to smoke some shisha at the hookah bar off of bedford ave. Cheers!

Hookah Bars NYC- Williamsburg Part 3

i was walking around bedford avenue today and i realized that i need some shisha in my life. i needed a hookah right then and there and if i could not have it i was going to be mad. i guess i was going through acute tobacco withdrawl. so i went to north 4th stree between bedford and driggs in search of this hookah bar that i have heard so much about. when i got there it looked in the window and it looked like it was closed. i knoked on the door and no one came to rescue me. I heard that this place was in the process of closing down but i did not think that it was going to be so soon. whenever i walk by this place it always seems closed and there is a sign on the window that says that it is up for rent. now sometimes i drive by this bar and i see that there is shisha and hookas being smoked and i wonder if i should go in. so one day i mosied on in there and i found the door open but there was no one in there! i could not understand why there was on one there but i figured this was the reason that they are closing the place soon. I still have really gone there to smoke hookah and shisha but how bad could it be? the area is good and the people are very nice in this neighborhood but i guess that there is not much demand for hookah bars or shisha tobacco in this area which makes me sad...

Hookah Bars NYC- My Own Bar

Today I am not going to review a hookah bar but I am going to tell you about how last night I turned my house into a shisha and hookah bar. We had a party and throughout the course of the night we ended up smoking a lot of shisha and packing wuite a few hookahs for other party goers. We started out the night with some starbuzz melon shisha and packed it into our three hose hookah from Israel. The crowd at the party started cheering as soon as we brought it out and we could not get enough hoses attached to this thing for the amount of people who wanted to smoke it. It was kind of ridiculous. Everyone started circling around the hookah and waiting for his or her turn to get it. People started grabbing for it and were relentless unless they got a quick puff of our magical shisha and hookah. The party was lots of fun and we entertained almost everyone with our shisha and hookah varieties plus of course beer, wine, and liquor. We brought out many shisha varieties throughout the night which proved very useful for the shisha craving crowd. The best part of all of this was, we did not charge a thing! And the hookahs were blazing all night long as we broke out all three of our hookahs and turned my house into an all out hookah party! Tomorrow we will get into our review of the Hookah Bar in Williamsburg! Enjoy.

Hookah Bars NYC- Williamsburg Part 2

Hey there! So i want to apologize for not coming through with the hookah and shisha review for today about the hookah bar in williamsburg. i have driven by it many times and i know that it is located on north 4th between bedford and driggs avenues and not usually occupied by anyone. this is a total bummer because i thought that a shisha and hookah bar in williamsburg would totally take off. i guess the problem is that the hipsters in williamsburg are too cool to do something actually hip like smoke shisha out of a hookah. i am very disappointed by this as i once thought that i could open up my own shisha and hookah bar in williamsburg that would be flooded with hipsters coming form the left and from the right. but mostly from the left... apparently hookah bars are too far right for a hipster to come and chill in. or maybe this bar is just bad. maybe their shisha is of low quality and the service is bad. then again maybe it is in a bad location. in any case, there needs to be a good hookah bar in the williamsburg area. there are many in astoria in queens and i always thought that astoria and williamsburg were very similar areas. in any case shisha and hookah smoking is something that needs to be done in every neighborhood in new york and i am committed to having a great hookah bar in every neighborhood.

Hookah Bars NYC- Williamsburg

The next bar in our lovely hookah bar reviews will be a shisha and hookah bar in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Now I know that many of you live in Manhattan and do not like the idea of going out into the boroughs but let me tell you that Williamsburg may be the closest thing that a borough has to Manhattan. Williamsburg is the first stop off the L train into Brooklyn at Bedford avenue and it is quite the up and coming area. The L train runs directly across 14th street and is accessible from almost any train. Williamsburg is a great place to sit down and enjoy a shisha hookah of any flavor because of its funky artsy attitude and vibe. The Bedford ave L stop is 10 minutes on the L train from union square, and only 13 minutes from the 8th avenue station at 14th street. The hooka bar that we will be reviewing next is a bar located on north 4th street between Bedford and Driggs and is quite a large place. There is a rumor that it will be closing down soon and it may remain as a hookah bar. In any case we of Williamsburg need a public place to smoke hookah because this is such a fun area and to be without a shisha and hookah bar would be a total let down not to mention it would not fulfill the stigma of Williamsburg being an eclectic, relaxed part of New York City. In my mind any part of New York City that claims to be a “hip” area must have a hookah bar as shisha smoking is quite a trend these days.

Hookah Bars NYC- Review part 5

Ok so hey there! We want to welcome you to our favorite hookah and shisha review site on the planet! This is Hookah Bars NYC. We are a hookah and shisha review site dedicated to reviewing hooka and shisha bars across New York City. I am an independent hooka smoker dedicated to smoking as many hookas and different shishas as possible. I travel around new york and find the best spots to go and smoke hookahs any night of the week. Todays hooka review will add another new criteria, the most low key and relaxed bar available in New York. Now mind you that I have not been to all of the hooka bars in New York yet but out of the hooka bars that I have been to so far, Café Khufu is by far the most low key. Mind you that I went there on a weeknight around eleven o’clock and it was pretty much dead. I really do not know how this place survives in a place like New York City but I did like the extremely mellow atmosphere and vibe that is within this weird Egyptian shisha bar. This shisha is so so and the hookah quality is mediocre like I said the vibe is very mellow and I don’t think you will find many other patrons there if you go there on a weeknight! Well that is it for now as our hookah and shisha review will come to a final end. I am going to start doing one encompassing review a week and I will leave the other days for individual hookah bar reviews.

Hookah Bars NYC- sorry

Hey there! im sorry i have been absent on my shisha and hookah bar reviews for the past week! i have been very busy on vacation in jamaica! while i was there i did not get a chance to smoke shishs or a hooka one time! what a bummer! i searched for hookah bars and i found that most of the time when i mentioned them people were confused and thought i wanted to buy pot. this was not the case and i was totally let down by the lack of shisha and hookah smoking that goes on in jamaica. i ended p sitting on the beach every day wishing i had a hookah to smoke. next time i travel i am definitely going to check my luggage and bring a damn hooka and some shisha! this was a major damper on my trip all together but on the upside i will be getting to more bars this next week to review more hookahs and shisha flavors available in NYC! Stay tuned!

Hookah Bars NYC- Review part 4

continuing on our concept of young people in hookah and shisha bars we have two more that come to mind...The Luxor Lounge in the west village and of course the giant Le Souk bar in the east village. now although these bars are well respected in the field of hookah and shisha smoking, there are always quite a lot of young people in these bars. when in arrived at le souk, the top forty music was heard from the street where we waited for the woman with the clipboard to ask if we were on the list. We told here no and proceeded to get our ids checked by the bouncer. When we entered the bar all that i could see was the ocean of young people, smoking shisha out of hookahs. i saw hundreds of twenty somehthings shoveling down middle eastern food and smoking shisha hookas furiously. as i proceeded through the bar i noticed the crowd had come to eat smoke and dance. the music was loud and the people were getting roudy. the bar had lines and it was very hard to get a drink. mind you this was a weekday when i went so these kids must have been in college because who else can get ridiculously wasted on an average tuesday night? we will have more on this idea of young people at hooka and shisha bars tomorrow when we review the sillyness that goes on at the luxor brand of hookah and shisha bars.

Hookah Bars NYC- Review part 3

So the next part of our review of shisha and hookah bars we will be looking at yet another aspect of our criteria for our shisha and hookah bar reviews. this week we will look at the best hookah and shisha bar for the younger crowd. As far as young crowds go The Sahara East in the East Village was a stand out for me in terms of hooka and shisha bars with young people. The word young may even be an understatement in terms of describing the age of the people that go there. i would say "underage" may be a better word to describe the age of the hookah and shisha smokers that attend the Sahara East hookah bar. i like to smoke hooka and shisha with all types of people and actually hooka smoking is for me is my greatest opportunity to reach out and meet new people no matter what. so if you are a young person and you like to get away from the grip of your parents to do something rebellious, go to the Sahara East hookah and shisha bar for a crowd like yourself. i was a little thrown off when i saw the amount of young people at this bar. the quality of the products at this bar are sub par but there must be something compelling about this hooka and shisha bar for young people. i think the most compelling thing is that they probably do not card for alcohol or tobacco smoking so if you are fifteen, then this is the bar for you! haha. Well actually this bar is not the greatest shisha and hooka bar that i have ever been to. actually it is probably one of the worst for all around quality of a hookah bar. however like i said, if you are a young person this is probably the bar for you. next time we will shed more light on this subject of young people in hookah and shisha bars so until then, Happy Smoking!

Hookah Bars- Review Part 2

So obviously here we are again to keep the shisha and hookah bar review going hopefully not to a point of redundance. So we left you last time with the clearly stated sentiment that the Hookah Cafe on East 60th between first and second is most definitely the best bar in town and definitely the best bang for your buck. the best shisha flavors were also won by this hookah bar this week and the service again takes the cake. now we are going to change things up in our little hookah and shisha review by altering the terms of the ratings. for the most popular bar we vote on Le Souk in the east village. We choose this hookah and shisha bar to be the most popular because it obviously is. this shisha and hooka bar was blasting on a Tuesday night! there were so many people there and the music was so loud that i could not stay for very long...however, it wins this weeks hookah and shisha bar for popularity by sheer volumes. I could not get over how huge this place was and the amount of people in it. I now know why it is so large: it is here by popular demand. no other hookah or shisha business can produce the amount of volume that Le Souk puts out on a daily basis. And it is obviously the in the latest fashion too because stars like Colin Ferrel go there and hit on young beautiful women. So by the sheer popularity of this hookah bar we give it a thumbs up. as for a mellow atmosphere well you wil have to find that somewhere else, but if you like loud and in your face music and tons of people getting wasted, this is the bar for you! I love to smoke shisha out of a hookah any where pretty much so stay posted for future reviews!

Hookah Bars-Review

SO this is the weekly of all of the hookah and shisha bars that we have smoked shisha in to date on our wonderful list of reviewed hookah bars. in this review i will give you my top three hookah bars of the week plus my least favorite hookah bar that i have been to so far. SO i bet you can guess that my favorite hookah bar so far is the Hookah Cafe located on the upper east side in manhattan on E60th st between 1st and 2nd avenues. This wonderful little place by far has the best shisha that i have ever smoked. there are many perks of going to this place including the very warm and friendly hospitality of the owners and the baklava is fantastic. everything in this bar is homemade and they do not have anything pre-packaged. they have separate hookas for different flavors and i think that that is just a marvelous idea! the couches are low and the taste of the shisha and their hookas are unrivaled. The Hookah Cafe is the perfect atmosphere for smoking shisha because of the dim lighting and the nice middle eastern music. Even the food at this hookah bar is homemade and delicious! you can read my full review below where i just go on and on about this wonderful little gem on the upper west side, telling all of their little secrets to running the best hookah bar in manhattan and probably the entire state of New York. we will be posting a video clip sometime soon about this bar and have you the user rate it for quality. it will be posted on youtube and links to it will be posted on this blog. more of my reviews of this weeks picks will be up tomorrow! until then, happy smoking and treat your mother well!

Hookah Bars NYC- Cafe Khufu Part 2

Cafe Khufu is a shisha and hookah bar located in the east village on east 3rd street between first and second avenues. Honestly i was not impressed by the hookah or the shisha quality of this bar. They do not serve alcohol and the one drink minimum is kind of annoying. i really dont know how this place stays in business. The vibe is very mellow and the service is ok. There is an Egyptian vibe in this place with egyptian artwork that covers the walls. The walls have a makeshift cheesy feel as they are painted to look like they are large stones from a pyramid or something. The hookah s that they use are in ok condition but they certainly do not have specific flavors for certain hookas. they place was pretty much desolate so i gues that was pretty authentic like i was in the desert or something. The Shisha flavors were average although they did not carry too many of them... The brand they carry is soex shisha which is an herbal shisha with no nicotine? how could this be. im not sure i got the correct info on their brand of shisha. i think that i definitely got a buzz from the tobacco that i smoke this night and i find it hard to believe that the shisha that is used in the hookas in Cafe Khufu is herbal no nicotine alternative. They do have belly dancing at this hookah bar once a week and that sounds pretty cool! unfortunately i do not think that i will be going back to this bar. as i said in the last post, the hookah and the shisha became unbearably sweet within about 15 minutes of smoking their hooka. the upside to their operation is the lemon wood coals which provide an authenitc hookah smoking experience. Have Fun!

Hookah Bars- Cafe Khufu

This Hookah Bar is located in the east village on 3rd st between 1st and 2nd avenue.
Not much on the outside. bobmarley playing on the inside. very calm and quiet hookah bar and shisha vibe. interestingly painted walls. no alchohol. one drink minimum. the mix flavors add 2 dollars. sowax brand hookah tobacco. 13 dollar hookah. Three person maximum per hookah whether they are smoking or not. white grape hookah. the owner is very nice. we got a pot of ginger tea that was very good. the tea was 3 dollars a person. the hookah and shisha became to hot and too sweet to the point of harshness within about fifteen minutes. the lemon wood coals were a nice touch. we will bring you more about this east village shisha and hookah bar tomorrow afternoon! this hookah bar was fine for a cheap spot to bring some friends on a school night. it is not the kind of place you would want to go on the weeken. the vibe is very mellow and the shisha flavors are not that good. for this area however it is cheaper than the other hookah bars. there is an egyptian vibe inside of the place and like i said before the owner is a very sweet man. he will entertain you with shisha and hookah smoke bubble which he blows from soapy water into a bottle with a hole in it.

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe Part 7

Ok this must be the last hookah and Shisha review that we post for the Hookah Cafe. Although we cannot say enough about the quality of this bar and its wonderful service, enough is enough! So in our last post we commented on the wonderful and splendid 3000 year old recipe for hooka shisha called saloum. Saloum is a recipe for hookah shisha that is made with raw sugar cane and burns very hot! the burning temperature of this shisha is so hot that you do not use tin foil to cover the bowl head and the lemon wood coals are placed directly on the shisha. now let me tell you that the saloum is absolutely fabulous! the burn is so hot that you can taste the authentic flavor of the shisha mixed with the heat of the coal. you can taste the heat of the burn of this tobacco. And this shisha is so strong that you can feel the nicotine start at the top of your head and run down your entire body as soon as the smoke hits your lungs. The smoke of the saloum shisha is much less thick than the normal shisha and you must pull a lot harder to get a nice hit. Do not be deceived! a small pull of this translucent smoke will get you very buzzed. This is the super hookah. Be careful! the rich taste of the coals and the pure taste of the sugar cane hookah shisha enrich the experience of the hookah smoking to a near state of collapse. Wow. I am floored from my head to my feet! I can barely bring the hose to my mouth after a few long pulls of the saloum. be prepared for a full body high from the moment the smoke enters your lungs. a real treat for the body and mind, the saloum's authentic taste and feel will take you for a real ride to the pre-civilization, tribal roots of this ancient ritual. the taste is so robust, the synesthetic effect takes place where the taste of the lemon wood coals produce outstanding results that you can really feel.

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe Part 6

So once again here we are trying to finish up our extremely long winded review of the hooka and shisha bar The Hookah Cafe. In our last post we introduced you to the 3000 year old shisha recipe made from raw sugar cane called Saloum. now this is not on the menu at the Hookah Cafe and is available only by special request. Its is extremely strong and can knock you out with a few strong pulls. So here we are and i will now take you step by step into my experience of smoking the fine shisha called Saloum. Now as i said in the last post, the saloum needs to burn very hot so there is no tin foil on the top of the bowl and the Lemon Wood coals are placed directly on top of the saloum shisha hookah. The taste of the tobacco is pure and unflavored. the taste of the burning coal in direct contact with the saloum shisha, produces a very authentic and heavy tobacco with a very hot taste.
The Hookah Cafe is the kind of hookah bar in new york city where you can really make yourself at home and feel free to get comfortable. there are a few requests by the owner Ayman like, this is a place to bring people together but if you bring a girl please keep your hands off of each other. you can hold hands but to uphold the respect of the Hookah Cafe as a lounge for people to converse, please save anything more for afterwords. Believe it or not i still have more to say about this wonderful hooka palace, so tomorrow i will most likely blow the rest of the shisha smoke at you!

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe Part 5

Ok so here we are back at the Hookah Cafe, where you can smoke the finest shisha available in the NYC area. The Hookah Cafe is located on the upper east side on east 60th st between 1st and 2nd aves. By this time you know that i really cannot say enough about this place in terms of service, knowledge, taste, and atmosphere. now we are going to talk about some shisha that is not on the menu... This i mind you is strictly for professionals. the strength and potency of this shisha leaves me no room to wonder why they do not put it on the menu. it is called Saloum. it is a 3000 year old recipe for hookah shisha that is made with raw sugar cane. This tobacco is smoked primarily by the Hookah Cafe employees and is available by special request only, and is for advanced Hookah smokers only. The way that Ayman described the use of the Saloum was simple. to ride a motorcycle, first you must learn how to ride a moped. to ride a moped you first you must be able to ride a bike. to ride a bike you must first learn to ride a bike with training wheels. So the Saloum comes in four stages. For the beginner Saloum smoker you must first start with the most diluted form of the shisha. after you get used to it after smoking it several times you can move on to the next purest state. Now let me tell you this: the diluted form of the Saloum is so strong that it can literally knock you off of your feet. With one pull you could be set on the shisha for the rest of the night. for an amazing smoke try the Saloum if you dare. and i really mean if you dare...More on this tomorrow...

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe Part 4

Hey there! Ok so here is a little bit more on the details of the wonderful Hookah and Shisha spot The Hookah Cafe. The Hookah Cafe is located on the upper east side on 60th street between 1st and 2nd avenues. The owner, Ayman, is probably the most knowledgeable person on the subject of hookahs and shisha both historically and experientially that i have ever met. He explained a few things to us while we were there. First was that when mixing shisha flavors, it is best to look at the type of plant that you have rather than the preferred tastes in order to get the most full experience. He says that you flavors acoording to their plant type. for instance, you dont mix apple with melon because apple is a high tree fruit and melon is a low tree fruit. you would not mix mango and watermelon because again, watermelon is a fruit that comes from the low ground and mangoes grow high up in a mango tree. so when mixing flavors you want to keep like plants together. You can mix apple and mango or pomegranate because these are all high tree fruits. when we asked him about the process of making his special four apple blend, he had a very interesting answer. we asked what makes a four apple a four apple? he said that an apple does not taste the same when it is very small, as it does when it is more mature, as it does when you would pick it from the tree, or as it would taste when it would naturally fall from the tree. these are his choices for his very tasty four apple hookah. he uses the ground apple, the picked apple, the maturing apple, and of course the baby apple to give rise to his wondrously tasteful four apple blend. And let me tell you this: if you ever want an authentic hooka and great shisha taste, only possibly rivaled by other homemade shisha, look no further than The Hookah Cafe!

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe Part 3

So i want to explain a little but more about my hookah and shisha smoking experience while I was at the Hookah Cafe on east 60th between 1st and 2nd avenue. Everything about this place is the most authentic that it could be. These guys are the professional hookah people. They have so much information about the products they are selling and the deeply embedded culture of smoking hookas and shisha production. You know why they know so much about all of this cool hookah and shisha stuff? because they do it all themselves! i cannot stress the amzing dynamic that this hookah bar has. this place is a real hooka bar! THEY MAKE ALL OF THEIR OWN SHISHA! You cannot find quality and genuine hospitality like this anywhere. The owner, Ayman, is the most down to earth real deal hookah connoisseur that may exist on the planet. he loves the experience of smoking hookahs so much that he started making his own shisha...and it is fabulous! the way you fell when you walk into the door of this marvelous hookah bar is scintillating. Ayman, the owner of the Hookah Cafe has everything in his shop down to a science. He uses different hookahs for different flavors. he explained that if you smoke a certain flavor out a certain hooka, then that flavor or the smell or the taste ultimately gets trapped in the hookah and the flavor cannot leave no matter how hard you clean it. So in order to provide the customer with the most pure shisha flavor and experience, he uses only certain hookahs for certain flavors. The apple flavor goes in the apple hookah as to not conflate any of the flavors. in all honesty i have never seen such a tight operation of a hookah bar. The Hookah Cafe is the place to go. i have several more posts to write about this wonderful place so be ready!

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe part 2

So let me tell you a bit more about this bright little gem of a shisha and hookah bar on the upper east side in manhattan. The staff of the Hookah Cafe are wonderful people looking out for the well being and comfort of their customers and themselves. you can see the employees realxing and having a good time as well. this for me in terms of a relaxing atmosphere was great because even the employees are relaxing and having a good time. there were five employees and the Hookah Cafe. There were three older men and two younger men. The older men were each smoking their respective hookahs and personal favortie shisha flavors in between assisting customers and chatting with visitors. The two younger boys were in charge of most of the maintenance work with the hookahs and the customers.
So let me try to explain the situation to you. I know that this is extremely rare to find in new york city, but all of their products are homemade. Yes their shisha, tea, food and coals are all made in house and coordinated by a very special man named Ayman.
So now let me tell you a little about the hospitality that these guys provide. The tea is on the house, and it is wondeful! Their tea is a homemade blend of sage and other spices that is unrivaled anywhere else in Manhattan. They provide you with a pot of tea and a sugar pourer, to match the taste of the tea to your desires. I must have had 7 cups of tea while i was there! it was so good that i could not stop drinking it! The sweet taste of the sage tea went marvelously with our green forest hookah which was a homemade shisha blend of a few of their finest flavors. Although i would love to got into great detail about this now, i will save more for a Hookah Cafe post for tomorrow!

Hookah Bars- Hookah Cafe part 1

Let me just start out by saying that this was probably the most enjoyable shisha and hookah smoking experience that i have ever had. i had such a pleasant time at this location smoking their wonderful homemade blends of shisha tobacco out of their Israeli hookahs, interacting with the staff and learning about their operations, that i might go so far as to say that this is the be all, end all for the best shisha and hookah smoking experience in the new york city area. so lets start out with the usual logistics then we will get into the good stuff. The Hookah Cafe is located at 309 east 60th street between 1st and 2nd ave in Manhattan. when you walk into this joint the intoxicating smell of the sweet shisha smoke will sweep you off of your feet. the dim lights and funky middle eastern music set a very relaxing tone and mood for the full experience that you will get when you hang out here. the granite tile designed floors and the low seated bench style couches are a perfect fit for the resounding atmosphere of this wonderful bar. Let me just say that for this experience that i just had, it was one pleasant surprise after another, and i really only have great things so say about this place. my first pleasant surprise at this wonderful hookah bar was the no drink minimum. now this should not be a surprise, but unfortunately most of the other places we have gone to do have a drink minimum which is a total bummer. so with that out of the way we will tell you that the price for a singe hosed hookah is 20$. now you may be saying that that is above average, which it is, but i am going to take a stand for this wonderful establishment and tell you right out that it is worth every penny. in-fact, the shisha and hookah quality is so supreme and unsurpassed that the Hookah Cafe could easily get away with charging double that. i cant wait to tell you more, this place just keeps on getting better, you will just have to wait until tomorrow where i will spill the beans about this marvelous hookah bar!

Hookah Bars-terrible service

ok so maybe what i said about smoking shisha out of hookahs in the last post was a bit of an exaggeration. Luxor cafe is nice however the service is terrible. too many times i have gone there and found the hookah service to be sub par. last night for instance, we ordered a hookah and it came about fifteen minutes after we ordered it. now this is not a full restaurant or bar so i imagine that all the people do who are in the back of this place are doing is packing the occasional hookah and getting someone an occasional sam adams or bottle of water. now this to me sounds like a very remedial task which would take only a few minutes TOPS. the fact that we waited so long for a hookah was silly and their one drink minimum thing is stupid. the worst part about this place is that the hookah packs are not even packed fully and they burn out and become harsh after about 15 minutes. the shisha quality is fair but like i said they do not put enough shisha in the bowl for a hookah to smoke for a considerable amount of time. the fact is hat most of these bars use outdated products. they use very old hookah and tin foil for a coal screen. this is the 21st century and i think that people smoking shisha out of hookas might enjoy an occasional glass screen or a clean hookah that is not clogged or leaking air. that is all im saying

Hookah Bars- Review So Far

ok so here is the deal. of the hookah bars that i have reviewed thus far my favorites for smoking shisha are Karma, then Luxor Lounge, then Luxor Cafe. Karma is my favorite because of the general vibe and atmosphere. it is dark, with good music and plenty of couches that are sectioned off for privacy. the shisha is good quality and the hookah smokes for a while without getting harsh or too hot. Karma is pretty large so there is enough room to engage in conversation with a number of people and the music is not so loud that it overtakes the conversation. Then comes Luxor Lounge because it is very small and if you bring some people you can feel like you own the place. although the wait staff is not the best and the quality of the shisha and hookah smoke is not prime, the atmosphere is very private and the place is not packed very often. if it is a slow night you can even plug your own ipod in to listen to whatever tunes you want. that is very prime if you want to bring your friends out for a night of chill shisha smoking. the Luxor Cafe is nice as well because it is very similar to the Lounge, it is great for a monday night hooka session. it is not usually packed although it is very small. you can always play your own music and the quality of the shisha is ok. the hookahs do not leak and they have a variety of shisha flavors including their deluxe hooka in which the bowl head is packed into a hallowed out piece of fruit. so far my least favorite hookah bar is le souk because of its ridiculously loud music and no available seating. also the crowd there is terrible for me but maybe you like a hyped up thrashed out atmosphere to smoke your shisha. happy smoking!

Hookah Bars- Le Souk #3

ok so heres the deal with this hookah bar. the fake plastic twenty somethings and the new jersey crowd smoking shisha kind of got to me. i guess smoking hookahs is quite the fad as of lately, after all this bar would not exist if it were not for recent hookah fad and pop culture shisha attitude. after learning that the only chill place in the gigantic hookah bar was bottle service only, i became very discouraged...to say the least. so now after walking through this maze of a hookah bar, drenched with sweaty popped collars, and filled with frantic black dresses, we decided it was finally time to order ourselves a hookah. so we did. we sat down in the second room on the right where there were lounge couches filled with people and barely had room to seat the three of us. so we sat in the crowded hooka bar with tons of people singing along to top 40 music. now let me say that this hookah bar has food and it is damn good. very pricey but damn good. so we ordered an grape mint hookah and it came after about ten minutes. the quality of the smoke was damn good! the hookah worked properly (which was a surprise) and the shisha flavor was not harsh and rather smooth. the coal burned evenly. i did not get a chance to see what brand tobacco they used but i am sure that it was of top quality. the only draw back of this hookah was a big draw back at that. the hookah was 23$! twenty three dollars..... oh my this is by far the priciest thing out there and for the privacy and intimacy of this hookah bar i find this to be very poor. the fact that we could not have a conversation without shouting, and that it totally broke my wallet was very discouraging... i dont know if i will ever venture back to le souk. so what i will leave you with is this... le souk or le suck?

Hooka Bars- Le Souk #2

Wow. this place is huge. as we walked past the shisha smoke being smoked out of bubbling hookahs by college kids in collared shirts and black dresses, i realized that this hookah bar was quite the scene. and by scene i mean there were drunken frat guys and sorority girls that were decked out in fancy clothes and sort of reminded me of the west village. this i thought was peculiar since this hooka bar was located in the east village in alphabet city. all in all i thought that the scene was quite plastic. in fact that is one of the only ways i would use to describe this scene. it was very plastic. so as we proceeded through the hookah bar i realized that the dirty house music was coming from down below. what? there is another floor?? now this place is really really big and i could not quite comprehend how a place this size could fit somewhere in the east village. so i decided to walk down the stars to the dance floor where the third alcohol bar was located. across from the now desolate dance floor was another lounge area that was slightly elevated and had pretty white candles on small tables. as we sat there for about ten minutes i wondered why there was no one serving us... as a waitress came by i asked if we could order a hookah and what i though she replied was "you have order at the bar" what she really said was "you have to order a bottle." thsi was the point which i said "what?" wait a minute, the only way we can sit here is if we order a bottle? this was by far the chillest place in this bumping hooka bar and we could not sit there unless we ordered a bottle. what a let down. we had ventured downstairs to escape the plastic twenty somethings to find out that the chill area in the bar was exclusive and that we were not. to be continued....again

Hookah Bars- Le Souk

As i approached this east village hookah bar i realized what i was about to get into... i could hear the top 40 music playing from down the block and i could smell the shisha as well. uh oh. sounds like a deadly combination. there were three bouncers that stood outside of this hookah bar, all with ear pieces, and a velvet rope that sectioned off the entrance. there was a cute woman with a clipboard asking if people were on the list. we were ID'd and let into the crazyness that they call Le Souk. on first impression i though to myself, wow! dim red lights! this was a change from yesterdays sahara east! as i looked around the front room the volume from the top 40 dance tunes started to get to me. i saw many people at dining tables eating very expensive Mediterranean food and i thought to myself, how could anyone enjoy a meal with music this loud?? so we kept on walking into the next room where therewere doxens of people crowded around a bar and people scattered on velvet couches smoking a variety of hookahs and shisha pipes of all different flavors. the top 40 music played on. i suggested that we grab a seat when i realized that there was another room! we walked into the other room only to find more dining tables with people smoking hooka and eating mediterranean cuisine only in this area there was some dirty house music playing along to the subtle bubble sounds of dozens of smoking hookahs....to be continued....

Leaky Hookah- Shahara East

on the outside of this east village hooka bar there are great colorful yellow signs with a sort of make shift hand drawn feel. you can see the sign that says Sahara East hookah bar. when i walked in the door there was no one seated in the front and i was a little confused. then i saw down the long narrow hallway lights coming from the back and people seated smoking shisha of different varieties. the first thing that i noticed about this hooka bar were the very bright lights which were quite misgiving due to the relaxing nature that a hookah bar should have while people are engaged in smoking sheesha. i thought wow these lights are bright. so in the front of the establishment you can see that it is a restaurant and i figured that the back would be a lounge type area with comfortable couches and dim lighting. instead there was a restaurant style seating with hard chairs around stiff tables. the back area of this hookah bar looked sort of like a tent that one might see in the middle of the dessert, covered with tapestries and hanging lights. this was ok but as i said before the lights were too bright. the hookah was poor and 15$. there is a one drink minimum at this bar and they are all 5.00, even the water! there is strange middle eastern up tempo music playing. they really need to make this back area a lounge if they want to make it cool. they serve nakhla tobacco and walnut coals! the tobacco is low grade but the coals were of an excellent wood variety. we got mint raspberry and our hookah was very leaky. this was all in all a disapointment. this bar has a high school vibe reminiscent of fraternity boys and drunken louts. the hookah had a strange licorice taste and it was obvious that it was not cleaned well. the mango juice was heavily sweetened. this is not the best hooka bar by any means but if you are a high school kid or a frat guy this may be the place for you, as we should try to keep these types in a fixed location:) just kidding.

Shisha Spot- Luxor Cafe

for more hookah smoking adventures in the west village try luxor cafe.  they carry a wide variety of shisha flavors in fact they have the same narghila and shisha brands  and it is right down the street from the larger luxor sister spot the luxor lounge.  this bar is located on macdougal between west fourth and west third.  it is surrounded by lots of Mediterranean restaurants and falafel stands.  the luxor lounge is not open on mondays but the luxor cafe is open for a fine shisha smoke if you have a craving for one on a monday.  the service is much better at the cafe as it is smaller and more personal.  the hookah quality is pretty much the same as the lounge but i feel that often i have a more enjoyable time smoking shisha at the cafe.  if you ever go to the luxor cafe, their apple mint deluxe hookah is great.  ask for rosa.  she is the best hookah waitress in the world.  she is very personal and attentive to the coal status and will always greet you with an offering of another hooka with her own personal recommended shisha flavors.  the only problem with this bar is that there is a one drink minimum for all customers!  This is always sort of a downer for this type of setting because in addition to the 15$ hooka i usually get a bottle of water.  now its not that i dont like the taste of bottled water, i would just rather not pay for it and drink a glass with ice.  all in all the luxor cafe is a little more quiet that the luxor lounge and the hookahs and sheesha selection are about the same.  Enjoy your smoke!

Shisha Spot- Luxor Lounge

for smoking a shisha out of a hooka in the west village, there are a few places one can go. Both places are owned by the same company, luxor. luxor has two hookah bars on the same strip on macdougal between west 4th and west 3rd. There is luxor lounge and luxor cafe. these are good spots to smoke a fine narghila and sheesha. they have interesting fruit flavors and options for a deluxe hookah with the bowl head made out of a hollowed piece of fruit. the sheesha in this place is ok. the hookas are a little over used and a bit harsh. their pricing for deluxe hookahs is in my mind a but over priced and they are not excellent. The luxor lounge is the larger of the two with a beer and wine list that goes well with their flavored narghila. one draw back of the lounge and the cafe is that they require all customers to purchase at least one drink. also on the weekends sometimes in the middle of smoking your second or third hookah they will ask you to leave and point to their one hour maximum limit if necessary sign. this can be very discouraging especially if you are with a date and enjoying your time smoking some fine shisha out of one of their mediocre hookas

Hookah Bars- Karma

if you like to smoke shisha out of a fine hooka, and you like to be at a happening place in nyc on a thursday, friday, saturday, or even sunday night, then karma is the hookah bar for you. it is very hip and posh with great drinks and bartenders that give a nice pour if you are drinking scotch or something neat. they have a great selection of flavored shisha and a wide variety of hookahs for large parties or small gatherings. the hookas are moderately priced at around 16$. the feel and atmosphere of this hookah bar are stand alone some of the best in nyc. when you walk in you go through a pretty dark red velvet curtain and you instantly get the aroma of a mixture of many shisha flavors. you can see the thick smoke all around you from the plumes emanating from dozens of smoking hookahs. the music early on in the night is of a mellow electronic feel and as the night progresses the electronic music subtly gets heavier. the quality of their hooka is an industry standard, nothing too special but they work none the less. you have options of a few different styles ranging from a short hookah to a tall hooka with anywhere from one to four hoses. all around, this is one of the best hooka and shisha spots for smoking in nyc based on quality of the shisha and amosphere alone.

Hookah Bars- My First Time

The first time i went to a hookah bar, i was in new york city. i was visiting for a weekend with my family and i had plans to hang out with my friend sacha. when she told me what the plans were for the evening i was so shocked that i became speechless. we were going to a hookah bar to smoke some shisha! i became ecstatic and kept on asking her, "wait you mean there are public spaces and bars to smoke hookahs?" what a great idea! so we were off to the east village where we stopped in a lovely little, dimly lit bar with low couches and pretty curtains separating everyones smoking entourage. The bar was called Karma. i loved this idea of the hookah bar name from the onset. Although the creation of hookahs are decidedly a middle eastern cultural concept, and karma is a sanskrit term derived from ancient india meaning "action," i figured this was the perfect action to engage in on a friday night in nyc. this posh east village bar was a perfect fit for the type of lifestyle i wanted to pursue in nyc. the cultural concept of hookahs and the relaxing act of smoking some fine shisa was a perfect match for my relaxed personality and my desire to engage in traditions of other cultures.

Friends

This is a post where I list links to websites of my friends....



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