The New Hooka Direct From Istanbul
No this isn’t illegal contraband or a bong. Our friend, currently travelling through Europe and the Mediteranean, sent us this original Hooka Pipe from the markets in Istanbul, Turkey. Wikipedia defines a Hookah as, “A hookah is a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian device for smoking. It is also known as a water pipe, narghile/arghileh, shisha, kalyan or hubble-bubble. Recently, “hookah bars” serving traditional flavored tobacco have appeared to serve Middle Eastern communities in the Western world as well as in upscale coffee shops.” It’s actually quite a popular pasttime. Although I smoked a hookah once in a bar in San Francisco, we have yet to break in this new gem. I took some photos a few months back for a feature article in a magazine of one of the popular hookah bars here in San Diego called Fumari. There’s usually a line out the door of people waiting for a table.