Check around for a hookah bar if you wanna try it, and your in the mood to scandalize… someone. Could be fun! Or maybe over the summer I’ll take you, huh?

I knew what a hookah is (Hey, I read Alice in Wonderland), but I had no idea you could get sticky tobacco for it. If I was ever going to do tobacco though, that sounds like my delivery method: cold, sweet, fruity AND romanticized.

I personally have mixed feelings about these smokes. They didn’t taste particularly great, but they were good enough. (I was a beta-tester. They sent me a few cartons, I smoked them, then ranked my satisfaction on a scale of 1 through 5, like ya do.) They do create a lot more solid waste than regular cigarettes, too. BUT. These things didn’t burn the tobacco, and inhaling the smoke of burning tobacco is the most unhealthy way to consume tobacco, so these things really seriously were way way less bad for you than regular smokes. There is such thing as a safer cigarette.

A hookah is a tall, middle-eastern water pipe. They’re distinguished by the long flexible hoses that connect the mouthpiece to the pipe proper. In The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, you can see Jabba the Hutt smoking one in his den. They’re fairly common in cafe’s throughout the middle east, and hookah bars are experiencing an extended fad hipness in the US.

Hookah tobacco is called “shisha”, and is made up of fairly chunky bits of tobacco saturated with sweet sticky stuff. As I understand it, traditionally, the primary ingredient of the sticky stuff was honey, but modern shisha is made with glycerin, because it simply produces a superior smoke. The way it works, there’s a cup at the top of the hookah that you fill with shisha. On top of that, you put a screen, and on top of that you put a charcoal cinder. The cinder heats the shisha and vaporizes the sticky stuff and heats the tobacco, but it doesn’t burn the shisha (ideally). You puff the vapor through a big water reservoir, and enjoy.

Ideally, smoking a hookah is supposed to be cooling and relaxing (it was invented in the desert, after all. People often add ice to the hookah water to enhance the cooling effect). Shisha comes in a huge variety of sweet fruit flavors, and really is less a way to smoke than it is to enjoy tasting a sweet treat. Often, you’ll hear hookah fans describe it in terms Americans might be more likely to associate with an after dinner apertif: sipping, tasting, palette notes, mouth feel.

Mer: I have to ask. WHAT is a flameless cigarette? I’ve never heard of it, and all I can picture are those candy cigarettes we waved around as children, pretending to sophisticated (well, not us; our parents wouldn’t let us have them). Um … and while you’re at it? Tell me what hookah tobacco is too.

Jayedee: I didn’t know about the fudgesicles. Thanks! I buy from Schwan’s all the time (though I’m having to switch from Desserts for One and Autumn Treat Ice cream — yum, yum, yum! — to mesquite-flavored fish and Mixed Berries, but it’s all good).

Becki: no wonder you’re losing weight/having trouble gaining! We did FF-vegetarian a few years ago, and I remember that I got used to things like FF mayo (yuk–this time I’m doing whole-grain mustard instead) and cream cheese (not too bad, but you can’t cook with it). I’ve tasted the Schwan’s strawberry dessert, and it’s not bad, but I didn’t know about the vanilla ice cream. I’ll have to try it. And maybe the fruit bars too — they sound fabulous, but I also have to watch the sugar (I’m a big fan of Splenda).

Mom: I thought I *did* check with Schwans, but apparently I missed some items. I’ll look for Blue Bunny. I’ve checked a few times and found nothing, but it helps if I know a specific brand. BTW, in the future? TCBY has (used to have anyway) a FF, sugar-free yogurt that is delicious. And Cold Stone Creamery has a FF, sugar-free ice cream that is awesome (though, IMO, they need more sugar-free syrups to mix in).

The only real “fat-free” thing that I thought tasted terrible…was when I switched from International Delight French Vanilla coffee creamer to their fat free version….BLECK!!!! I gave it up and switched to just putting some Splenda in my coffee instead.

And jayedeeq is right…Schwans does have some pretty good fatfree fudgescicles. They also have some really excellent fruit bars that are fat free (blueberry is my FAVORITE). Also…my hubby (who just actually happens to be a Schwan man – LOL) told me that they also have a new product…a vanilla ice cream that is fat free and sugar free that tastes good! I haven’t checked that out yet…but I will be soon! In the mean time I have this unhealthy obsession with their lowfat frozen yogurts.

So now you know.