I found 2 articles posted on eBay  written by a person who obviously is a large seller or a member of the Egyptian hookah cartel with his own business in mind.
http://search.reviews.ebay.com/members/iseetreasures_W0QQuqtZg
One post warns of a scam¬† to sell Herbal non-tobacco shisha as mixed with tobacco in reality according to “lab tests”. He mentions that there are only 2 brands being sold called “herbal non tobacco”. “only”. One he mentions is “Soex” from India, the second is “Black Label Premium”. He says that there are only 2 brands “Period”.
I myself found a third which is labled “High-Life” brand! For all I know, all three could be made by “Soex” of India which I know makes “Soex” in India. Or maybe “High-Life” is made by one of these 2 brands, or maybe it’s “for real”.
What the writer is trying to say is that you are being cheated if you think it’s non-tobacco.
I don’t have a labratory in my back pocket so I don’t know.
The second post says to” beware of the Chinese made hookah scam”.¬† The writer mentions that often made in China (which one, and where?)¬† often label their products as “Egyptian made hookahs” and that they are made on assembly line by people who don’t have generations of passed down hand made hookah knowledge. They even show¬† a photo of an aluminum made shaft in various solid colors.
Having spent about 3 hours today on the internet searching for hookah made products, and  finding many hookah manufacturers who  offer to sell their wares in great bulk wholesale I know and knew that the facts in this article are wrong and way mis-represente.
Even when you go online to any hookah product company like “Smoking-Hookah.com” “SothSmoke” “Hookah and Shisha central”, not to mention hookahcompany.com which offers the larget variety of hookahs, they all say “This is a hookah made in India”, “This glass vase is blown and cut by hand in Bohemia”, ‘this is a Chinese made hookah”. “Egytian style hookah” “Syrian style hookah”.
The simple fact is, yes the Chinese (count em) make hookahs on assembly line, butnot all are made of the same cheap aluminum, stainless steel, brass, iron  or narostah  material .
Look at the pictures online to see. There are hookahs made  and sold all over the Middle East by either Indian or Chinese manufacturers. If you want a simple,  light weight hookah, or an exclusive  premium hookah they build them. The amount of money will determine which quality hookah you can buy.Syria hardly makes hookahs  anymore, while Egypt still does.
The idea is, no one is scamming or cheating anyone. It says “Chinese made” or “Moroccan¬† made”etc.
The scam is in the misinterpretation of facts by this eBay poster.
I myself would not buy anything on eBay. I’ve seen “$10.00 hookahs, why pay more?” Really! Lets be logical, what kind of hookah will you get for¬† $10? Is it large, maybe 24 inches high,but with a bad weld on it that¬† cuts down 50% on the suction?
Why would I buy anything that I can’t hold in my hands or see?¬† Even buying online hookahs from the reputable sellers is the same. Unless you have bought previously from that company, and you know it has a great guarantee to return faulty merchandise?
But eBay for me is one of the most vulgar names I know. These 2 articles posted prove it.
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YOU don’t like ebay?
I read that they are selling on ebay the hair that Britney “Shears” shorn off her bald head. Any entreprise that does that crap is up a creek without a paddle.
Hell no, I would deffinately not buy any shisha 45 years old on ebay or rusted out hookahs.
I must to buy out thes EBAY company and make more it to be belevabble for peeples to buy.
Arkadi Geydamak
Stupid Russian Ruski Communist “Johnnie-come-lately” to pure capitalism.
You can’t buy out eBay since I own 92% of its shares, and I would not sell them to you for all the gold in Siberia…well, IF you own a large group of gold mines I might consider making an honest deal with you.
the Donald Trump @ Trump Towers , Wall street, New York, USA phone number-
area code (717)-754-67-21.
business fax number :
(717) 754-67-22(23) (24)(25)(26) (27).
Make a bid Arkadi.
thanks for the warnings.
I’ve bought and sold more than a 1oo things on ebay, from clothes, shoes, books, cellphones and last but not least a hookah.
I must say, I get things at a reasonable price never too cheap, and have always gotten a great service from all the individual sellers and buyers.
Never gotten a defected product, and my hookah was perfectly fine and functional.
Now I agree I will never buy molasses of tobacco or 100% natural or whathever they sell on ebay of that kind, because its something that my body will inhale and its comming from a 3rd party, so its easier to just buy from a more credited store online or a drive to the tobacco store and buy it there.
I must admit that I found your take on the eBay guides I wrote quite hilarious. Audience is to a writer what location is to a real estate agent, my friend! In plain English, I know my audience (unsuspecting eBay shoppers) and wrote the guides specifically for them.
Doubt my credibility? Check around eBay to see just how many Chinese fakes are being peddled as “Egyptian” hookahs or scout around the Hookah Forum (www.hookahforum.com) for an eBay seller/website named GenuineHookahs (now operating under two different selling IDs on eBay), and you will quickly understand why your take on what I wrote about both hookahs and shisha is so very misguided.
Re: From Hookah 1 (Blog/forum author)
Yes, my man/woman. You make good points here, as you did in your well written articles. I think that some of what YOU wrote is very true and SOME of what I wrote also is very true. (There are 2 sides to every coin).Some of the Chinese companies say that they are “Genuine Egyptian” and some tell the truth about their origin. They not only write “made in China” but, mention various cities, and company names. quite a lot of the online hookah companies sell “Chinese Hookahs”, with no qualms. Can you imagine in India or Persia thousands of years ago them saying “Those Egyptian upstarts”! “They stole our idea for making fine hand crafted hookahs-the idea!”? Well centuries had to go before Egypt got a good name, so did Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia, Norrocco, Libya, etc,as they hand crafted narghilah too.In America there are some terrific companies. What I am saying is, even before you wrote here your (fine mannered and also humourous comment) I knew that you were promoting a cartel. You must know that when mining for gold, thousands of tons of earth are moved, dug up and sifted, just to find a few pounds of gold ore. That is the same on the hookah market.
I saw a site yesterday where they wrote “each hookah is finely crafted, no two are alike”. Well, I know that the said hookah com. manufactures very nice hookahs, but they all are 100% similarly good hookahs!
In closing, I want to tell you in retrospect that your articles were very well written, from a literary standpoint as well as a business viewpoint! I would give you 100% on them. and they were humourous!President Truman said about some “not so Kosher person” that “He is a bastard, but he’s our bastard”! G-D forfend I don’t say that about you, I just wish you were working for our company!You are tops!
Hookah 1
However, I do appreciate the elevation in status to a member of the Egyptian hookah cartel!
This is refering to comment “Egyptian Hookah Cartel”.
By the way, if you click on his (blue lettered) name above, you will reach his well written hookah blog.
Hookah 1