Monday, January 16, 2012

Sisha: Arabic Night Cap

My ten-minute walk from the house to our office made me realize that Arabians just love to have their coffee and smoke anytime of the day.

Every corner and almost every building of Daruthalmiya in Khalidiya is swamped with cafe shops. Unlike most cafe shops that I am used to, which serves gourmet coffee prepared in the most fascinating way. Plus pastries that suits perfectly well with the caffeine. But the cafe that flanked the corners of Khalidiya serves mostly Arabic or Turkish coffee and instead of pastry to partner with the coffee, they order sisha instead.

I have always been curious about sisha or some other call it hookah. It is like smoking from the little tube with water inside. A charcoal is placed on top to burn the flavored tobacco. A variety of flavors are available anywhere, even in the grocery stores - rose, mint, green apple, strawberry, lemon and mint.

Some say, inhaling sisha could make you feel drunk. And if do sisha after a heavy meal, tendency is that you might shower the street with your dinner after your sisha session.

Both young and old, enjoy a few hours at this cafes. I'm not sure if this kind of smoking has any effect on the lungs. Good thing, it does not smell as bad as the cigarettes.

So when dusk sets in, the lights on the all the cafe will start blinking and charcoals are already burning.

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