Shishapedia - Electric Shisha
Shishapedia – Electric Shisha
Smoking a shisha is one of the most pleasurable experiences you can have but in today’s time finding somewhere to go is getting harder and harder. Many countries are implementing an indoor smoking ban which means the shisha smokers have to sit outside. This is never a problem when you have a nice breezy 30°Cs but that is not always the case. Far too often in the west it is close to freezing temperatures and sitting outside in the cold wind could turn your body into an icicle. On the other hand sitting in a 50°C heat is going to be equally unpleasant.
Today there is now an alternative. An Electric vapour based hookah pipe is not only a much healthier alternative but also is not affected by the smoking ban!
What is this Electric Shisha?
In the past there have been many attempts by different companies to make electric components for hookahs, mainly the heads or the heat source but this is something totally different. This is a complete unit designed to be healthy, and to evade the smoking ban. The Electric shisha is a devise that in terms of looks simulated the regular Hookah pipe, but is essence it is a totally different device that uses a battery to heat up water vapour.
There are a handful of companies all around the world selling these fully electric hookahs, but for the sake of this review I have tried one from the United Kingdom. The product is called the Halooka.
In terms of looks it is fairly consistent with a regular hookah pipe. It has a base much like a regular hookah where you fill water, a shaft connecting to the base which the hose connects to. There is a crystal sitting in the head atop the shaft. Interestingly the flavours are stored in sealed cartridges which connect inside the shaft, where the hose sits. Being kept in a sealed unit there is less mess, and defiantly less hassle with changing flavours. The whole unit works very differently from a hookah pipe, and you do not actually smoke any molasses at all. A battery inside the unit will vaporise the flavour, and you are only inhaling water vapour.
Each cartridge for flavour will give between 600 and 1000 puffs and then you need to get a replacement. This is defiantly more cost effective then shisha molasses as a five pack of cartridges costs only £40. Cartridges are available in a few flavours, but the choice isn’t really there yet. I’m sure it will be one day.
The Unit itself is a little costly. It will set you back almost £400; but it is still a very new product on the market.
What are the advantages?
Using an electric Hookah over a regular has many advantages. Here are some of the most important ones:
The Electric Hookah is fine to use inside even with the smoking ban.
There is no tar at all.
There is no Carbon Monoxide as there is no burning at all.
The levels of nicotine are a lot lower.
Electric Hookahs do not produce smoke, only vapour, so you do not get any of the risks from smoking.
There is no issue with second hand smoke as no smoke is produced.
There is very little maintenance of the product and it is fairly simple to set up and use.
Review
After testing this product I have very mixed ideas about it. I truly love the concept and think there is a lot of potential but there is still a little bit more research that has to be done.
Using the Halooka was not at all comparable to a regular Hookah pipe in my opinion and here is why.
The flavour quality was awful, you really could not taste the flavours at all.
The hose was extremely hard to pull on. You had to suck extremely hard to get it to work at all.
After using for ten minutes my throat started to burn. There is a very overwhelming strong harshness that is not pleasant at all.
Personally I wouldn’t smoke this product again, but I would be willing to try later models when the perfect the system. I really do like the idea of smoking a hookah pipe that is electric and based on water vapour not smoke.
