what do you clean with?

[wyteboy]

I know if your hose is not washable, then you clean it by blowing very hard, but for the rest of the hookah parts do you just clean with warm water and soap?
also, I remember my friend's hookah and he was never sure the correct way to have the air valve twisted shut or left open....what is the right setup?

[cypress]

I clean my with just regular water. Some people do use soap and say use
a mild soap.  There is a hookah cleaner called Formula 420 but
never heard any reviews. Some times I clean my hookah with lemon juice
from the bottle. That pulls the smoke scent out of the hookah.

I usually open the valve about a turn open from shut. For me it makes
it easier to blow back.  You are going to need to experiment with
that because i am pretty sure some one will say to keep it shut. The
main thing is dont loose the b-b.

[wyteboy]

the ballbearing is on the air valve? this I am sure will become much clearer to me once I get my hookah, lol!
Thanks as always cypress!
I really hope I am not building up too big expectations for my smoke considering all I have is al waha and nakhla!

[Mathazar]

All I have is a cheap $40 Sultan Hookah,  about 18 inches tall I
think.  The stem is too narrow to fit a cleaning brush into
it,  so all I do is simply rinse it out.  The glass vase I do
the same thing for.  It makes cleaning really easy not to have to
mess around with brushes and soap.  Rinsing it out is the easiest
way to clean it.  If you bought a taller hookah stem,  then
you're definitely going to want to use the brush,  especially if
you're smoking Double Apple or a licorice flavor.  That licorice
syrup will get down into the stem and effect all your other
flavors.  I don't clean the vase with a brush,  because I'm
too lazy,  but if you bought an expensive hookah,  you'll
want to do everything in your power to keep it clean.  You don't
neccessarily HAVE to clean your hookah after every smoking
session, only when you switch flavors.  I like to put
icecubes in the vase,  so when the cubes melt it gives me a good
reason to rinse out the vase.  I would reccommend cleaning your
hookah with the brush once a day. I don't think you need to do it
anymore than that.

You mentioned Al-Waha and Nakhla.  I'm smoking Nakhla Lemon right
now and it absolutely KICKS-ASS!!!  So does the Double Apple 


On the advice of King Mo,  I'm going to be giving Al-Waha Strawberry a try tomorrow when the UPS driver pulls up.

[cypress]

Take it one step at a time, you will enjoy it. You may even get hooked. Just try not to pull a Mathazar . You know smoke about 10 bowls a day.

[wyteboy]

I don't PLAN on smoking more than like one bowl a week at the most...girlfriend isn't the MOST fond of it...didnt have a great 1st experience and is now hesitant sort of about the whole thing.
 
thanks for the cleaning tips! I am not a lemon fan or a licorice fan so I stayed away from both of those flavors...

[King Mo]

[quote name='Mathazar']On the advice of King Mo,  I'm going to be giving Al-Waha Strawberry a try tomorrow when the UPS driver pulls up.[/quote]

did I recommend that??

from what i remember it was very similar to romman, strawberry, but lasts less.

I dont ever remember recommending it!!

[dizzing]

i don't use any kind of solvents or soap to clean my hookah, except for
the base, which i wash just like a glass in the sink with dish soap.
the stem (which dissasembles thanks to mya's nifty
engineering) i clean with a gun cleaning kit, it has several size
brushes, many of which are very small and will easily fit into the most
hard-to-clean parts... i have washable hoses, so this is off topic, but
to clean those i use the technique discussed here somewhere else of
sticking one end into the faucet, blasting warm water through it, and
then whacking it against the ground a couple of times and repeating
until no brown sludge comes out.. then just spinning the hose around my
head about 20 times outside to clear the water out