Potion Xtreme Berries Review

Brand/Flavor:
Potion Xtreme Berries

Methodology:
-14 hits/person over 30 minutes
-5 individuals in the circle
-2 CoCo Naras on standard Mya bowl
-3 hose Mya Staff filled with water at room temperature

First Impressions:
Came in a nifty blue tin, with a few free natural coals. Pretty red and finely cut, with a strong sweet smell.

Post Mortem:
Partially cooked, probably could have gone quite a bit longer.

Pros:
-Moderately thick smoke

Cons:
-Weak flavor
-Tasted like cough syrup

Andrew's Thoughts:
Potion Xtreme Berries did not impress me. I found it's flavor thin and medicinal, with only hints of the fruity sweetness we were promised. While the smoke itself was fairly thick, it was hardly exceptional. I like fruit flavors, but I expect them to overwhelm me with sweetness, particularly when they have names like "Xtreme Berries". I would not smoke this again.

Eric's Thoughts:
Potion shisha is another brand we knew nothing about. Intrigued by the notion that it comes with coals and foil, we decided to try it, in this case opting for the rather hilariously named "xtreme berries", mostly due to the name. Suffice it to say, this stuff was less than interesting. While the smoke was very thick and quite impressive, the flavor was severely lacking. The only time the flavor really came through for me was when the shisha began to overheat, a characteristic that no shisha should ever strive for. And when the flavor did come through, it tasted like that nasty berry cough syrup that your mother would feed you when you had a cold...you know...that one. In the end, thick fun smoke, but the flavor is so not xtreme.

Peanut Gallery:

(Caroline)
Much like Hydro shisha, "xtreme berries" tastes more like children's medication than anything else, and it takes a stretch of the imagination to classify the flavor as anything berry-related. The smoke was nice and thick, but that didn't make up for the atrocious taste.

(Tasha)
Cheap herbal tea which loses flavor toward the end of the bowl- nice and fruity in the beginning, fun smoke.

(Ross)
A slightly flavorless but interesting smoke. A lot of smoke but very little reward. Low tobacco buzz but a slow smooth smoke.

Conclusion:
Potion's Xtreme Berries' lack of flavor makes it a difficult product to recommend to anyone. It's not altogether bad, but we wouldn't smoke it again.

C-

Al Fakher Lemon Review

Brand/Flavor:
Al Fakher Lemon

Methodology:
-3 people, 40 hits/person over 40 minutes
-KM Kafae filled with cold water
-3 CocoNara coals on small Tangiers phunnel bowl

First Impressions:
Pretty choppy cut, dyed red and fairly moist. The smell is lemony, but strangely more herbal, kind of like a lemon Ricola cough drop.

Post Mortem:
Pretty moist, but very little left in the way of color.

Pros:
-Moderately pleasant lemon tea flavor (when detectable)
-None of the dry throat common to citrus flavors

Cons:
-Almost no taste at all

Andrew's Thoughts:
I wasn't expecting much out of this flavor, as we received it as a freebie from a very generous KBB, but I tried to suspend disbelief, as Al Fakher has treated us well before. The flavor was almost unnoticeable at first, and while it did strengthen over time, it never quite 'took off'. It tasted like a sweet, herbal lemon tea, and was fairly pleasant to smoke. However, I mostly felt like I was smoking a flavorless tobacco whose only purpose was practicing my smoke rings. While I won't have much trouble finishing off this pack, I just don't see myself spending money on this.

Eric's Thoughts:
When I opened the bag and took a sniff, I fully expected a nice natural lemon scent, clean and citrus-y, and while they certainly got the clean aspect of it down, that came at the cost of the lemon flavor, which to be honest, is kinda missing the point somewhat. Ever had lemon in your water before? That's kinda what this is like, nothing, but with a refreshing hint of lemon...if that refreshing hint of lemon was near unnoticeable half the time. The other half of the time, the lemon was there, but wasn't making any kind of real statement. So I guess if you're looking for a water with lemon shisha, this is the stuff for you. If you're looking for a flavor that doesn't intrude on your tastebuds, you can do worse than this, but in the end, it was big clouds and a whole lot of nothing else.

Conclusion:
Extremely light, lemony flavor makes Al Fakher Lemon a shisha we recommend only to the true minimalist. Enjoyable, but only barely.

C+

Golden Layalina Sweet Peach Review

Brand/Flavor:
Golden Layalina Sweet Peach

Methodology:
-28 hits/person over 50 minutes
-4 individuals in the circle
-Mya Staff filled with ice water

First Impressions:
This stuff comes in a kickass 50g tin, which you don't usually see. Very red and juicy, smells like an overripe peach.

Post Mortem:
Mostly cooked, still a little bit of moisture at the bottom.

Pros:
-Smells like a sweet peach
-Comes in an awesome tin

Cons:
-Tastes baked and artificial
-Unimpressive smoke/buzz

Andrew's Thoughts:
It may come in a bitchin' tin and smell sweet and peachy, but Golden Layalina Sweet Peach leaves a lot to be desired. At first, it tastes like a real "sweet peach", but that is soon replaced by a more "baked" flavor. It tastes thin and artificial, like cheap peach cobbler-flavored candy. While it was never overtly offensive, it was never quite pleasant, either. Neither the smoke nor the buzz warrant mentioning, leaving me thoroughly unimpressed with this flavor, though it compares quite well to Rosetta's disastrous attempt.

Eric's Thoughts:
Another peach flavored shisha, another missed mark. When this bowl started out, we tasted that same plastic-y gross taste that we had with the Rosetta shisha. We started questioning our own sanity, wondering if all peach flavors would be plagued by this nasty taste. Upon realizing though that the shisha was overheating a wee bit, and rectifying that particular situation, the flavor improved. Still not quite like biting into a ripe juicy peach, more like taking a swig of peach schnapps. You can definitely tell its a peach flavor, but its not a peach peach. Still though, despite its err on the side of the artificial, it was significantly better than the Rosetta, and thus at least warrants another look.

Peanut Gallery:
(Caroline)
As Andrew mentioned, the tin this stuff comes in is great and made me pretty excited to try it, as dumb as that sounds. I was horribly disappointed when I smoked it, though–it's very artificial-tasting. At best, the Peach is mediocre.

Conclusion:
Better than Rosetta, but that's not saying much. Not terrible, but we won't be buying this again.

C+

Epic Smoke Apple on a Stick Review

Brand/Flavor:
Epic Smoke Apple on a Stick

Methodology:
-20 hits/person over 25 minutes
-3 people in the circle
-Mya Staff filled with ice water, heba diffuser attached
-2 CocoNara coals on a Mya bowl

First Impressions:
Cut kinda like Romman, but very very juicy. Sweet but tart smell. Nifty plastic tub.

Post Mortem:
I forget.

Pros:
-Caramel flavor was nice, when we had it

Cons:
-Caramel flavor frequently absent
-Apple flavor was kinda sour
-Generally just not much flavor

Andrew's Thoughts:
This was a fairly "meh" experience, beginning to end. The smell of the stuff in the tub was mildly interesting, sweet like caramel with a tangy finish, but the flavor didn't even deliver that. While I occasionally tasted some good caramel sweetness, I was generally treated to little more than thoroughly rinsed green apple peel. If I seem reluctant to recall this experience, it's because it really wasn't worth recalling.

Oh, and that diarrhea thing it did when we lifted up the bowl was just flippin' freaky.

Eric's Thoughts:
I've seen this stuff online and Andrew and I have joked about how the name is somewhat silly in the past, but when I saw it at a local tobacconist, I decided to buy some. Given their limited flavor selection, I went with something completely novel, caramel apple. The smell was very sweet, and definitely caramel, but I didn't get too too much apple. But given the way a caramel apple tastes, caramel is typically the dominant flavor, so I guess I can't fault the manufacturers for that. While the smoke did kind of live up to his over the top name, the flavor simply wasn't there. There were intermittent bursts of a sweet sugary caramel flavor that, when present, was quite intense, it simply wasn't consistent. Very frequently we would find ourselves searching for a flavor that we knew probably was there, but just wasn't coming through. A note about this, when we lifted the bowl to go clean it out, we found that a huge amount of juice had in fact run down the bowl and pooled in the pan. And while this kind of drippage is expected with a Mya bowl, this amount was just ludicrious. Perhaps a phunnel bowl will fix this, but if it's not made to be smoked out of a regular bowl with any measure of success, it won't score any points from me. I'll keep experimenting with this stuff, but as it stands, it's just bland and boring for the most part.

Peanut Gallery:
(Caroline)
You know how after you eat a popsicle you can still taste a trace amount of its flavor on the stick? That’s what Apple on a Stick is like—smoking a stick that once held an apple.

Conclusion:
Not terrible, but not worth buying again. I imagine we'll finish the stuff at parties filled with people we don't really like.

C+

Fumari Mango Review

Brand/Flavor:
Fumari Mango

Methodology:
-28 hits/person over 40-45 minutes
-3 individuals in the circle
-2 CoCo Naras on standard Mya bowl
-3 hose Mya Staff filled with cold water with a small Heba diffuser

First Impressions:
Packed in a sleek, resealable pouch, the tobacco smelled strong and fruity, and was extremely juicy. It appeared much like Romman, undyed and moderately cut.

Post Mortem:
Mostly cooked, but still quite dry, especially in comparison with how it started.

Pros:
-Lots of flavor (bowl would not die)
-Fairly accurate mango flavor (at times)

Cons:
-Unpleasant "saltiness" present at various levels throughout the session

Andrew's Thoughts:

Given that we've tried three or four TERRIBLE mangos already, I wasn't expecting a lot from the Fumari, but I had heard good things about both the brand and flavor, so what the hell. The lack of dye, juiciness, and fruity flavor all boded well for this shisha, but alas that failed to translate to a pleasant smoking experience.

While the smoke itself started off a little weak, it quickly thickened up, and for a little while I was blowing sweet, thick clouds, with only a hint of salt in the flavor. However, as the session continued, the flavor became more and more salty, while the mango flavor started to peter out. In fact, we ended up killing the bowl not when the "flavor" disappeared, but when it seemed we were inhaling seawater.

The fact that most mango tobaccos are bad doesn't make this one good. However, if you ARE hell-bent on smoking some mango, this is probably the best you are going to do (at least, in our experience).

Eric's Thoughts:

So I had read somewhere on the intarwebs that Fumari made one of the only worthwhile mango flavors out there. And because I have never ever ever had a good mango flavored shisha in my life, I decided I had to give this a try. Now before I go on to talk about Fumari, let me talk about what I've encountered from other mango flavored shishas. For just about all offerings I've had prior, the flavor has never been good. Forget accuracy, the flavor has oftentimes been downright disgusting. Every other mango flavored shisha I've had has been plagued by a bizarre saltiness that I simply cannot figure out. At first I always thought it was me, something I had done, but after disappointing showings time and time again, I started to realize that it wasn't my fault, something about the mango flavoring is innately salty for some reason.

Now Fumari had a decent flavor, still sporting the saltiness that is characteristic of most of the other mango shisha's I'd have prior, but to a lesser extent. So that wasn't horrible. It was reasonable sweet and fruity. Not the most accurate flavor, but still decent. Now here's where it takes a turn for the strange. As the bowl got further and further along, the flavor actually got stronger for me. I can't account for this either, and while this would be normally considered a good thing, the salty flavor got stronger as well. This made the bowl practically unsmokable, and after a few more rounds, we called it quits. Bottom line is, the best mango flavored shisha so far, but still not a great mango shisha.

Peanut Gallery:

(Caroline) This is the first mango I have smoked, and although I am told its better than that of other brands I am still not a fan. For the most part it was, well, fairly disgusting. Mango was definitely the dominant flavor, but it was incredibly salty and became progressively more so as time went on. The last hit I took tasted like nothing but salt and made me choke. Not something I would ever recommend to anyone.

Conclusion:

While it is far too finicky for us to recommend to the average smoker, anyone who is really interested in smoking mango tobacco should definitely give Fumari a shot.

B-/C+

Hydro Black Widow Review (Blackberry)

Brand/Flavor:
Hydro Black Widow (Blackberry)

Methodology:
-20 hits/person over 35 minutes
-4 individuals in the circle
-3 half used up CoCo Naras on standard Mya bowl
-3 hose Mya Staff filled with cold water with a small Heba diffuser

First Impressions:
The cut on Hydro is very fine, like grass clippings or even wood splinters soaked in syrup. The smell is pretty fruity and definitely a berry smell, but not quite blackberry.

Post Mortem:
Mostly blackened and almost completely dry, but it's hard to tell what this means given how dry this stuff started out.

Pros:
-Thick smoke by any standard
-No buzz

Cons:
-Flavor misses the mark
-That "hydro" aftertaste is kinda strong
-No buzz

Andrew's Thoughts:
Coming off our experience with Blue Viper, I had fairly specific expectations for this shisha: I was going to get thick, beautiful clouds, tasting strongly of sweet blackberry with just a hint of the "herbalness" that seems to be inherent to sugar cane-based smokeables. Unfortunately, this is not what I experienced when smoking Hydro Black Widow. Though I did get the familiar giant clouds, the flavor itself was overwhelmed by the grassy flavor of the Hydro base, with only a generic berry sweetness managing to come through. And while this bowl was nigh immortal (when we finally stopped it was due to the coals and our preferences rather than any limit imposed by the shisha), we simply had no desire to keep smoking. While I wouldn't go as far as calling this stuff disgusting, it certainly wasn't an experiment I'm itching to repeat.

Eric's Thoughts:
Every single time I smoke hydro, I'm impressed by the size and density of the clouds, so much so that I tend to forget that I'm smoking an herbal, which makes it just that much more amazing. Unfortunately, that is where the praises for this flavor stop. Now I don't quite know what a blackberry tastes like. I thought they were the same thing as black raspberries, maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But despite my ignorance in the matter, I can say one thing definitively, this shisha did not taste like berry of any kind. I mean I would get slight hints of it here and there, but never once during the session did I say "This is definitely berry". Rather, the shisha tasted a generic sweet flavor and nothing else, like a sugary syrupy flavor, rather than a sweet berry flavor. And of course, the typical hydro wood-ish flavor was there again, and stronger this time too. Beyond that, the most frustrating thing was that the smoke smelled of berries, it just didn't taste that way. Bottom line is Hydro continues to deliver consistently good smoke, but the flavor was off by enough to make me say look at different flavors.

Peanut Gallery:
(Caroline)
Hydro seems to exclusively use flavors better suited for children’s chewable Tylenol. They are always ridiculously sweet and remind me of all the times I had a headache as a child.

The Blackberry was not an interesting flavor—it was mostly just sweet, and what little flavor there was closely resembled that of the Blue Viper. It did produce a decent amount of smoke (as Hydro usually does), but for me at least, that is not enough to completely redeem it. This is not a flavor I would willingly smoke again.

Conclusion:
While it certainly won't kill you, Hydro Black Widow leaves our desks without recommendation. Your more tolerant friends might appreciate it, but we doubt you will.

C+

Romman Double Apple Review

Brand/Flavor:
Romman Double Apple

Methodology:
-22 hits/person over 35 minutes
-3 individuals in the circle
-2 CoCo Naras, offset holes with 3 small vent holes opposite, foil rotated every few minutes
-3 hose Mya Staff filled with ice water with a small Heba diffuser

First Impressions:
Typical choppy Romman cut, very sticky and moist. This batch was a bit more stemmy than those past with at least one very large stem. Smells strongly of anise (kind of like black licorice) with a vague hint of apple. Very herbal.

Post Mortem:
Cooked almost all the way through, less than 5% moisture retention.

Pros:
-Reasonably thick smoke
-Strong buzz
-Strong anise flavor

Cons:
-Anise completely overpowers the apple

Andrew's Thoughts:
Double Apple is one of those flavors that every hookah smoker has tried at least once. Nearly every brand has one, and it's usually one of its top sellers. That said, I only recently discovered what Double Apple actually is, at least according to Sonthert over at Tangiers (he actually makes the stuff, so I'm taking his word for it). Apparently Double Apple is made with apple, anise and rose oil, and that is what distinguishes it from normal apple flavors. I was therefore a bit more forgiving when I took my first hit and tasted nothing but anise. However, the same went for my second, third and fourth hits, and indeed throughout the entire bowl I could taste nothing resembling an apple or even rose-like flavor. As a licorice-lover, I do enjoy anise most of the time, but this was just too much. It was sharp, herbal, and overpowering, and beyond practicing my smoke rings I really had very little motivation to keep inhaling. If you really really like anise, you'll probably like this shisha, but everyone else would probably be better off looking elsewhere for their apple fix.

PS. Eric says this tobacco is for licorice lovers. I disagree. I LOVE Romman Licorice, which tastes like licorice. This tastes like anise. Anise is a lot less sweet, and any real licorice fan can readily distinguish the two. If you hate licorice, however, they probably both taste the same, and you probably ought to stay away from this stuff anyway.

Eric's Thoughts:
I'm personally no fan of black licorice, so I will admit I'm a wee bit biased against this flavor. But here goes. The smoke was thick and fun to play with and the buzz was strong. Not pass out strong, but strong. That said, from my understanding of Double Apple, the Anise flavor should balance with the apple flavor. Romman doesn't quite get that though. In fact, I could honestly barely taste anything resembling apple whatsoever. Each hit I took was simply anise, anise and more anise. The smoke and buzz were both good enough not to make me want to stop smoking it, and the Anise flavor wasn't nasty enough to make me gag, but as far as apple goes, there really wasn't anything going on. So if you're looking for something that tastes like licorice, Romman Double Apple is great. If you're looking for a proper double apple, I suppose you could do a helluva lot worse than Romman, but not by much.

Peanut Gallery:
(Caroline) I was excited to try Double Apple, because I love apples and anything apple flavored, but was sorely disappointed when I did. It's like Apple Jacks—it doesn’t taste like apples. Except, unlike Apple Jacks, it doesn’t even taste like sugary, delicious cereal, either. The flavor is more along the lines of burnt Italian cookies combined with old black licorice and despair. Anise was the dominant flavor, and there wasn’t even a hint or an aftertaste of anything that remotely resembled apples. Not a flavor I would willingly smoke again.

Conclusion:
The usual Romman strengths of buzz and thick smoke couldn't save this shisha from its lopsided flavor. Recommended only to anise-lovers and those who care only about nicotine and smoke.

C+

Al Waha Orange Cream Review

Brand/Flavor:
Al Waha Orange Cream

Methodology:
-15-20 hits/person over 35 minutes
-3 individuals in the circle
-40mm coal offset holes rotated every few passes
-Ophelia filled with ice water

First Impressions:
Tobacco is cut similarly to Romman, but is far less moist. Molasses is oily, much like the Hookah-Hookah shishas we've sampled. The smell was underwhelming, but the orange scent was discernible.

Post Mortem:
Completely cooked. No, really.

Pros:
-Thick smoke
-Citrus flavor was significant, not orange per se, but citrusy

Cons:
-Cream flavor was almost unnoticeable
-Had characteristic "throat-drying" of citrus flavors
-Almost no buzz
-Dried out quickly

Andrew's Thoughts:
I have historically been skeptical of Al Waha tobacco, but I came into this review really trying to give it the benefit of the doubt. I was, unfortunately, disappointed. At first, it took me 4-5 hits to even taste anything, though Eric seems to have had a different experience. When I did start to get some flavor, it was strongly citrus and rather acidic, with no apparent cream taste. I did manage to catch a whiff of vanilla when french inhaling, but as a flavor it simply wasn't there. Though the smoke itself was thick and even pleasant at times, the citrus quickly became too much for me, and despite the significant weakening of the bowl towards the end, I had trouble taking my last five hits.

Eric's Thoughts:
I've heard from a few people that Orange Cream was worth trying, so when I found out that we had a box of Al Waha orange cream from the local store, I was interested. The flavor wasn't quite the orange I was expecting. The orange I had in mind was significantly more sour, so the fact that I wasn't immediately puckering after the first hit was a pleasant surprise. That said, it wasn't a sweet orange flavor either. As for the cream aspect of the flavor, it was practically nonexistent. I expected a balance of orange and cream, like a dreamsicle, but was instead greeted with a cream that was an afterthought at best, and a scent only at worst. The other major problem I had was that it dried out far too quickly, giving the smoke a jarringly nasty flavor. But despite all this negativity towards its flavor, I felt that the thickness of the smoke was absolutely incredible. And while that doesn't absolve it of its many issues, it certainly made this bowl much more enjoyable.

Conclusion:
Al Waha Orange Cream is not orange cream flavored. The cream flavor is quite weak, while the orange is sharp and acidic. That said, you could certainly do worse, as this shisha can produce wonderful clouds of smoke. Just don't expect much buzz.

C+