Up in Smoke! Or, the new venues of doing busines in the Middle East!

From Up in Smoke!

*Caution* This posting is no way an invitation to get into the harmful habit of smoking, so be warned!

Tables and chairs are all well organized and spread over the elegant place. Waiters take orders of favorite flavors (apple, strawberry, lemon, or what have you). Active “servants” move between tables skillfully placing hot burning coal atop the “head”. Mouths slowly inhale drags through elegant pipes and gently release it. Clouds of smoke start filling the place, with a mix of fruity aromas. The mood starts getting mellow and discussions are now more facilitated. “Let’s talk business”. You are in a typical café in the Middle East.

Welcome to the new arena of doing business and exchanging market information in the Middle East. No more are elegant hotel lobbies the exclusive place for conducting business deals. ““Argileh” (called "Shisha" in Egypt and the Gulf) places (simple called cafes) are offering an increasingly popular place to meet business partners and clients who share the same affection for smoking the shihsa, to relax and discuss business deals.

Go to any elegant café in Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah or any other vibrant city at day time and chances are you will find it occupied by business people with their notebooks getting together blowing away smoke while they work out details of a business transaction, perfect a presentation or simply exchange business intelligence.

In our company, we have a saying, “If you haven’t had coffee (outside the office) with a business partner, you are not close enough!”. I personally take it further and add Argileh to that cup of coffee! Some of us are guilty of the sin of introducing countless business men from all over the world to this atmosphere! If there is any consolation in that, it is that they have enjoyed it, some to the extreme of carrying the whole works (Argileh, tobacco, coal, etc.) with them back home!

I must emphasize that l never attempt to persuade anyone who does not already smoke Argileh to try it, or even go to an Argileh café with someone who is anti-smoking. I simply make the offer, and the rest is their call.

If you are new to this and If you have already made up your mind to joining the scene, then perhaps the following pointers can be of use.

Argileh Etiquette and Tips

1. Use the provided tip (plastic piece that fits over the metal tip of the pipe). If they don’t provide one, politely ask for it. If they do not have one, then you in the wrong place!
2. When smoking, place the tip at the corner of the mouth not the center. Oh! And not the whole tip.
3. Blow the smoke away from your adjacent person.
4. First coals are usually larger to start burning the fresh tobacco, then renewed ones are smaller to sustain the hot tobacco. Unless you are an expert Argileh smoker, do not tamper with the strategically located pieces of coal.
5. If you notice the smoke to be decreasing in volume and intensity, take note of the coal, it may need to be refreshed with a fresh supply. Simply ask for servant with a simple word “Coal” with a hand gesture towards the shisha. Respectful place will not require you to do that as they are “proactive”.
6. Do not share the Argileh of someone else! (Newcomers and tourists sometimes get excluded from that)
7. Every now and then blow0-IN the pipe to release congested smoke inside the glass bottle to refresh the intake.
8. Do no light a cigarette from the coal on the “head”. (In my experience, very few people do both).
9. If you need to excuse yourself but want to get back to the Argileh, simply keep the pipe placed on the table. (See the following point).
10. When you finish your Argileh consumption wrap the pipe around the shisha.

The final most important recommendation in my mind is to “qualify” a place and frequent it as much as you need. This will allow the people of the place to know your habits, your preferred flavors and drinks, and greet you by the name - Important to show a status when you come in with someone for the first time. It will also make you used to the place so you are more comfortable and more focused on your work or your guest.

Enjoy sensibly!
Visit my Argileh gallery

Special thanks to Adel Awad who contributed nicely to this post while we were smoking Argileh together! :)