Huka History #1 - Puffin' at the old hubble-bubble

Source : Skylife

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The huka was introduced to Turkey from either India or Persia and provided centuries of enjoyment for Turkish smokers. In Ottoman Istanbul the water pipe or hubble-bubble pipe became an objet d'art, with bottles of crystal, coloured glass or even silver, finials in the form of silver flowers or fruits, gilded pipe bowls, and amber mouthpieces.

They were a decorative appurtenance of coffee houses and wealthy houses and wealthy houses alike. Until relatively recently all coffee houses in Istanbul had a special corner reserved for huka smokers, and if by accident you might sit among them the disgruntled glances soon obliged you to move elsewhere. huka smokers used to be the earliest and most coveted customers at Istanbul's coffee houses. At the first light, rubbing their eyes, they would sit upon the couch or sedir before the newly lit stove waiting for their morning huka before setting out to work. Like everything else from the past the huka has been largely forgotten. However, although it is no longer the national pastime it once was, it is kept alive in a few coffee houses in such districts of Istanbul as Beyazit, Aksaray, Topkapi, Unkapani, Kasimpasa, Besiktas and Kadiköy by old and new adherents of this traditional water pipe.

An advanced grade huka smoker may spend up to three hours over the ceremony. Most such smokers have their own personal huka at the coffee house. This is kept away from sight and used by no one else even if the smoker does not come for months. Still there are some who carry their own silver mouthpiece with them in their waistcoat pocket just in case someone else might have used it meanwhile and defiled the amber mouthpiece with their lips.

The dedicated smoker brings his own piece of the finest tömbeki tobacco for the one trusted waiter who knows exactly how much to dampen and place on the lüle, and how large a piece of live coal to set on top of it. The most famous coffee houses have today disappeared, but their memory remains, such as Pirinçci in Kuledibi, Güllü Agop Kiraathanesi in Gedikpasa, Valide Kiraathanesi in Eminönü, Ligor Kiraathanesi under the Galata Bridge and Erzurum Çayevi. Emirgan Çinaralti still survives but the huka ceremonial has gone, along with its peaceful bubbling sound and wavering smoke.

One place where huka smoking has not been forgotten is Erenler. Situated in Çorlulu Ali Pasa Medrese at Çemberlitas between the Blue Mosque and the Covered Bazaar. Of the 150 or so regular smokers, 30 have their own pipe. At all times of day curious tourists can be seen here watching the smokers puff away at their pipes.

A word of advice if you happen to be in such an establishment: Lighting your cigarette from the hookah bowl of someone's charcoal is an unforgiveable sin, and will certainly infuriate the smoker. Erenler huka's proprietor Sükrü Usta of Sivas, who has been in this business for 20 years, is optimistic about the future of hookah smoking. He says that many new customers try out the hookah every day, and that some become regulars. He even serves that breed of early morning smokers which I had assumed to be extinct.