Pre-Austin-Catch-UP-22

Real smokers know Shisha isn't just a fancy past time; it's a way of life.

It all started for me about a year and a half ago-- my smoking life that is. One of my best friends was visiting town for a weekend to attend the big rivalry game. It was one of those great, life-changing experiences that I'll never forget, in spite of the fact that we lost that year. I gained a new love, and her name was 'shisha'. A friend of a friend had brought one that weekend and we wound up smoking as much as we drank, and we drank a lot after that loss on Saturday night. It wasn't very long afterwards that my roommate and I became the proud owners of a hookah, and we set down a new and exciting path.

Shisha rules for a number of reasons. First of all, it tastes great – and you can buy just about any kind of flavor you can imagine, and as demand increases new flavors and brands are constantly making their way into the market. Shisha also goes great with alcohol; you've been in this situation before – you're sitting around, drinking, bored as hell, drinking just to drink, maybe you have the tv on, and people aren't interacting as intensely as they could – now, introduce a Shisha to the mix, and a new kind of social dynamic begins to form. There's a magic in the way the water bubbles as you take a pull, in the serene feeling that the hit induces as you take it into your lungs, and in the smoke wafting through the air, as you slowly release. You can't find that kind of dynamic anywhere else.

Now, fast forward… It was about a year ago that I met my first Hobo. This is another one of those 'life-changing experiences that you never forget'… I had just gone home for a day to pick up one of my old high school buddies. He was going to stay with me starting that weekend for a while, and we were going to party it up together at an event called, 'Casino Night'... more on that later.

So, I walk into my house late Saturday morning to find a pack of young, unfamiliar college kids passed out on my floor. My interest was now piqued. Who are these people? I thought. Why are they using my pillows and my comforter? … why are my roommates giving me dirty looks? … and what in the world is this thing they're smoking out of? … a hobo-wha-wait, that's a Hookah? … where did you get it? … Trent? …



I was quickly left with more questions than answers – these people were still obviously very drunk from the night before. After not so short a journey to the local breakfast-restaurant, my roommate, my best friend and I walked back to my house, and called up some friends with whom we knew we could drop off our esteemed guests – someplace where they could party. Luckily they had quite a reputation on our campus already and we were able to quickly find them an environment more suitable for Edward-40 hands.

It was then, when we returned to my house, and packed a bowl of shisha, that my life gained new meaning – through a skinny, plastic hose, and a liquor bottle filled with water – the Hobohookah. The Hobo hits as smooth, if not smoother than any nargile I have ever smoked – and that's including models directly from Egypt and Israel. I was amazed at how well this prototype, fashioned together by hand, could smoke. It was portable, it was well designed, and it hit you like a hammer. After that weekend, I knew I needed one – the only problem was that they weren't being manufactured for the public… yet.

Now, over a year later, I've graduated and I find myself sitting with my best friend and my roommate, smoking the Hobo together. I'll be taking home this prototype for personal testing, and mass production should begin soon. Go here to grab a piece of history – the first Hobos to come off the line.

A piece of clap-wisdom for my readers:

We were talking
about the space between us all
and people who hide themselves
behind a wall of illusion
never glimpse the truth
then it's far too late
when they pass away

We were talking
about the love we all could share
When we find it
to try our best to hold it there
with our love, with our love
we could save the world
if they only knew

Try to realize it's all within yourself
no one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
and life flows on within you and without you

We were talking
about the love that's gone so cold
and the people who gain the world
and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see
Are you one of them

When you've seen beyond yourself
then you may find
peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come
when you see we're all one
and life flows on within you and without you

-Within You Without you by George Harrison