Starbuzz Shisha Review: Tangerine Dream

Shisha Review: Starbuzz Tangerine Dream

Starbuzz hookah shisha remains one of my favorite shisha brands for a few simple reasons: Not only is the tobacco they sell consistently packed with flavor, but the product itself is usually easy to handle and contains a minimal amount of twigs (the un-smoke able sticks sometimes found in a tin of hookah tobacco).

Today I exposed my palate to a new flavor, Tangerine Dream, and it simply blew me away. Personally, I’m a sucker for sweeter shisha flavors – Blue Mist, Melon Berry, etc. – for their stronger taste and seemingly longer retention thereof, and Tangerine Dream was no different. Just smelling the shisha itself reminded me of what I imagine a sugary slice of tangerine would taste like. That’s one more thing I really enjoy about Starbuzz hookah tobacco – their flavors are, generally speaking, very exact in what they’re supposed to be mimicking.

I loaded a bowl of the stuff into my Dragon Hookah and stacked two natural coals on top. I like to use natural coals over insta-lites whenever possible for their extended, more even burn. But insta-lites are great for when you’re on the go. The first few puffs were light in smoke as the shisha began to burn, but then the full flavor of Tangerine Dream revealed itself.

The flavor of this shisha was actually very comparable to the way it smelled, which is something I rarely find. Although it wasn’t as powerful, the taste in my mouth was almost exclusively of tangerines. For the first 45 minute session this shisha burned evenly and consistently, never getting too harsh or losing flavor (until the coals eventually died). Even after loading a second round of coals onto the bowl, Tangerine Dream still tasted remarkably like it had previously.

For a flavor such as this, I suspect the manufacturer was aimed at producing a great mixing flavor. That is, Starbuzz Tangerine Dream would most certainly smoke great with other flavors, fruity ones in particular. That being said, smoking Tangerine Dream by itself was in no way a disappointment, and performs well in its own capacity. I would highly recommend this flavor to smokers looking to try either something new, or discover a great mixer to improve existing flavor favorites.

How to Clean a Hookah Pipe

I started smoking hookah at hookah lounges, like most people. This was great at first, but after smoking for a while I started to want to be able to smoke a hookah pipe at my own house. I decided to buy my own hookah. After smoking my new hookah for the first time, I realized I had no idea what to do with the hookah pipe to keep it clean. I improvised, and it didn't turn out well for me. I lived in a particularly wet part of Oregon at the time, and I didn't clean my new hookah very well. I drained the water out of the base, and got the hookah tobacco out of the bowl. After that, I put my hookah back together and put it in the cupboard.

After a couple days, I got my hookah out, loaded it up, and had another session. After smoking for about 15 minutes, I started to feel light headed. That had happened before, so I thought I just needed to slow down. A couple minutes later, I stand up to get a drink. As I'm on my way to the kitchen, I'm overcome with a wave of nausea that almost left me retching over the sink.

My housemates thought it was the tobacco in the shisha, but I wasn't convinced. I had never had a problem like this from hookah before, and I had smoked at quite a few hookah lounges before I decided to buy my first new hookah pipe. After my stomach had settled, I brought my hookah into the kitchen and examined it. Turns out, mold had started to grow in the bowl and hose (did I mention Oregon is a very wet place?). I can only guess bits of the mold got into the smoke and that's what made me sick.

After that, I was much more thorough about cleaning my hookah. Now that I have a many years of hookah smoking experience, I've put together this guide to keep other new hookah smokers from my fate.

After you finish smoking, take your hookah all the way apart. Separate the bowl from the stem, and throw the burned hookah tobacco away. Be careful, it might be hot. Take the charcoal off the stem, and then taking the stem off of the vase (sometimes they screw off, sometimes you can just pull it off). Then, separate the downstem (the part that goes into the water), and take the hookah hose off.

Now that your new hookah is in pieces, clean each one of them. If you have a well made hookah (think Mya, Khali Mahmoon, or Sahara), you can put some of the pieces in the dish washer. However, most authentic Middle Eastern hookahs, like rare China, are extremely well made, but not dishwasher safe.

I own a Sahara Candy Stripe hookah, and I've put both my vortex bowl and the vase in the dishwasher. This is an especially good option if you have a mold problem, like I had after my first blunder. It's not really worth it to put the stem in, because it's difficult for the dishwasher to actually clean. If you're lucky, your hookah came with a stem cleaning brush (all Sahara hookahs do). You can use this to clean the stem and downstem.

If you live in a wet area, I don't recommend running any water through the hose when you're cleaning your hookah. If you do, make sure you hang it up to dry so that both sides of the hose can drain. A clothes hangar or towel bar work pretty well. Put the other pieces of your hookah on the dish rack to dry. In dry climates, you likely won't get mold, but it's still important to clean and dry your hookah to prevent corrosion.

Do not, under any circumstances, use solvents or cleaners on your hookah. This will corrode your hookah and make it break sooner. Soapy water is fine, but make sure to rinse thoroughly so that your next smoke does not have a soapy flavor. I still wouldn't recommend using soapy water on the hose, because it can be really hard to completely rinse out.

Basically, clean and dry your hookah thoroughly after every use. A clean, well maintained hookah will last you much longer and give you a much more pleasant smoking experience, free from mold induced nausea.