Posts Tagged ‘starbuzz’

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August 30th, 2010

Hookah and Sickness

This is a topic that I hear brought up quite regularly.

“I’m sick.  Should I stop smoking hookah?”

The short answer: Yes!

Smoking of any kind is bad for you and makes it harder for the body to recover from illness.  The worst case scenario is if you are dealing with a chest cold or other kind of respiratory infection.  I wanted to make it clear right off the bat that if you are smoking while you have an illness of the lungs you are just asking for serious trouble.  Pneumonia is just one of the many complications that could arise.

Less sever illness should be treated the same as well.  If you are sick to your stomach then smoking is just going to make that worse.  If you are smoking tobacco the nicotine is going to add even more to that.  If you have a head cold it’s kind of silly to smoke at all for a few reasons.  Firstly, smoking can prolong a sickness by weakening your natural defenses.  Second, if you are having trouble breathing because of a stuffed up nose then hookah is just going to make it worse. Lastly, if you’re stuffed up you can’t taste the hookah in which case, why smoke it at all?

With something like allergies, of which I am a sufferer, hookah can be smoked but should be taken in moderation.  Very strong flavors like mint and menthol can actually be a nice bit of relief for itchy and stuffed up sinuses.  I have a hookah flavor mix that I use once in a while when my allergies act up and when I am looking for something really strong to smoke.  I call it Vicksotussin.  Al Fakher cardamom mixed with Nakhla Mint.  Super strong, cooling and relieving blast of spicy, minty, burning goodness.

My favorite sinus clearing flavors are

Nakhla Mint

Nakhla Cinnamon

Nakhla Cardamom

Al Fakher Mint

Al Fakher Cardamom

Social Smoke Absolute Zero

Social Smoke Cinnamint

If you have light to moderate allergies these are great flavors to keep around.  Not only are they awesome flavors of hookah tobacco but they are strong and will help open up the sinuses.  Cardamom is a little bit strong for some people but I LOVE it.  If you do get some I suggest mixing a small portion of  it with a mint and see what kind of flavors you can pick out and move up from there.  Cardamom is also a traditional spice used in Turkish coffee so I mix it with coffee flavors like Starbuzz Arabic Coffee and enjoy.

The bottom line.  If you are sick smoking hookah is just going to make you sicker or make this sickness last longer.  It’s no worth it.  It’s a great hobby and very relaxing but it’s not worth risking your health over.

Smoke healthy, my friends.

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March 10th, 2010

Starbuzz Spearmint Flavored Hookah Tobacco

Mint is one of the most replicated and useful flavors in a hookah smokers library.  Sometimes it seems like blenders will get lazy and just mix mint into another flavor and call it something new.  Not that mint flavored tobacco is unpleasant in any way but mixing it with other flavors is something I can do myself…

Spearmint by Starbuzz is not mixed with anything.  It’s just spearmint but it might not be what you expect.  There are subtle differences in the different kinds of mint and this one follows it’s name sake fairly well.  Spearmint is a little softer of a flavor than common mint and has a slightly spicy taste to it that many feel is a distinct part of the plant’s flavor.  Most people experience spearmint through gum which really isn’t the most accurate… but it’s probably what Starbuzz was trying to replicate and they did a good job.  The smell on this one is a little much for me.  It’s very sweet and a little minty but it’s very distinct.  The tobacco is dyed bright green, which is a negative for me.

The flavor is similar to the flavor you get from a piece of half chewed gum.  The flavor is not overly strong but you know what it is.  It’s sweet and slightly minty with a little bit of a plant like flavor that surprised me.  It tastes more like the flavor of the natural plant than I was going to give it credit for.

All in all I am giving this a 6 out of 10.  It is not my favorite mint but it’s a fairly accurate flavor for the name.  It’s the best spearmint I have had to date but I have not had many.  It’s a little too cloying at times and I am not a fan of the dye so that drops it down a couple points.  The price is another.

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March 2nd, 2010

Starbuzz Tangerine Dream Hookah Tobacco

Starbuzz is a good brand for a lot of people and while I am a big supporter of more classic tobaccos I will admit that I really like something sweet and dessert like once in a while.

Starbuzz Tangerine Dream is a nice blend that I have been playing with lately.  It’s a lot less sweet than I though it would be.  Sadly the flavor was not as strong as I was expecting.  Starbuzz is known for it’s big clouds and it’s strong flavors.  It’s not known for it’s accurate flavors.  Many of them are  more like candyish and often chemical version of the flavor that they are trying to replicate.  This one seems to have gone against the grain.

This is definitely a citrus flavor.  It’s fairly tasty and after the bowl really heats up you can pick out the flavors of a tangerine and other citrus.  It’s somewhat natural but still very sweet.  The problem is the lightness of the flavor.  It’s similar to some other lighter citrus flavors where you get a flavor more like a glass of water with a bit of essential oil in it.  The flavor is easily recognized but not particularly strong.  It avoids the oily and overly essence like flavor that some other blends can have but, to be frank, I would take that happily if the flavor was stronger.

6 out of 10.  I really like the idea of the flavor but it leaves me wanting.  I have been mixing this one with a few other things and enjoying it but the flavor gets lost way too easily.  It’s worth a try if you are a fan of the Starbuzz take on citrus but don’t like the minty notes of Citrus Mist.

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January 23rd, 2010

Starbuzz Citrus Mist Flavored Hookah Tobacco

I have smoked more Starbuzz lately than ever before.  I can see both side of the argument clearly now.  Some people love it and some people could not care less about it.  I am kind of in the middle.

Starbuzz Citrus Mist is a great flavor.  It is a sweet citrusy flavor with a slight menthol coolness that is really enjoyable.  It’s not a mint flavor by any means and does not taste like one.  The citrus is something like a combination of sweetened lemon and grapefruit.  Maybe a little very dry orange.  It is nice and enjoyable.  It’s a medium strength flavor with great clouds.  It’s very heat resistant and not too drippy.

Without mentioning any brands, this flavor has some very strong similarities to gummy worms and other classic gummy style candies.  It’s got a slight mouth drying effect and a spot on flavor.  I have heard that originally Starbuzz was planning on calling this Gummy Worms or something like that but there were stopped from doing so for legal reasons.  I’m not sure i somebody actually filed a claim on the name or if they just wanted to avoid potential problems but either way, we have Citrus Mist for our enjoyment today. If you like gummy candies then go pick up a tin of this.  It does come in a 100g tin so you can sample before dropping a bunch of money.

8 out of 10.  It’ hard for me to rate starbuzz at a solid 9 because I always dock it a bit for price.  If you are a Starbuzz fan and enjoy citrus then this is the blend for you.  It’s sweet but not too sweet.  It has great clouds and is a really enjoyable flavor.

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