Middle Eastern hookah pipes produced in Weleri<\/p>\n
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Weleri, Central Java<\/p>\n
Thirty-year-old Sohir looked very serious when trying to inhale
\nsmoke through his mouth from a hookah, an instrument of Middle
\nEastern origin that is used to smoke tobacco.<\/p>\n
\"It tastes strange. It isn't like tobacco that I know. It's
\nlike strawberry. I don't really think this is smoking,\" said
\nSohir who is known among his village friends to be a heavy
\nsmoker.<\/p>\n
Sohir was trying to smoke tobacco through a hookah. However,
\nhe was not on a journey to a country in the Middle East, nor was
\nhe visiting a friend from the Middle East.<\/p>\n
In fact, he was just dropping by the small town of Weleri in
\nKendal regency, Central Java, some 60 kilometers west of the
\nprovincial capital, Semarang, where this particular Middle
\nEastern smoking instrument is produced as an export commodity.<\/p>\n
CV Indo-Arab Interprise, a company owned by Istikanah, a
\ndivorcee with two children, from Weleri, produces them, with
\nSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the main markets.<\/p>\n
\"I have regular buyers there, but I have no idea to which
\ncommunity my products are sold,\" Istikanah told The Jakarta Post
\nat her home on Gang Korekan, Weleri village, Kendal, recently.<\/p>\n
Istikanah said she started producing hookahs in 1997 after
\nbeing divorced from her Arabian husband who had given her two
\nsons, Ilham Ahmed Shaekhoon and Mohammed Ahmed Shaekhoon. She
\nsaid it was her closeness to the Arabian tradition that had moved
\nher to produce them and make a livelihood from it.<\/p>\n
Using the hookah she bought while studying at the school of
\nIslamic law at Al Azhar University, Cairo, as a model, she
\nstarted to produce the shisha and hose parts of the hookah, which
\nshe claims is very specific, especially regarding the raw
\nmaterials used to produce them.<\/p>\n
\"The specific texture of sonokeling wood that I use makes my
\nproducts different from those made in Syria, Egypt, China,
\nGermany and other European countries. Mine is very Indonesian,\"
\nIstikanah said.<\/p>\n
A hookah usually comprises one-and-a-half-meter-long vinyl
\nhose, whose extremities are covered with wooden structures, a
\nshisha on top, where the tobacco is placed and burned using
\ncharcoal, and a transparent glass vase of artistic design that
\nalso functions as the stand of the hookah.<\/p>\n
The shisha is attached on top of the glass stand, while the
\nhose is attached to a hole at the bottom of the shisha. When
\nsucked, the smoke from the burning charcoal and tobacco on the
\nupper part of the shisha flows through the neck of the shisha and
\nenters the glass vase filled with water before it finally goes
\nthrough the dangling hose and is sucked into the smoker's mouth.<\/p>\n
The water in the transparent glass bubbles away every time the
\nhookah is sucked. The water, according to Istikanah, functions as
\na filter for the smoke.<\/p>\n
Except for the transparent glass vase that she still imports
\nfrom the Czech Republic, Istikanah says, all materials needed to
\nproduce the hookah including leather, brass, and wood are sourced
\ndomestically.<\/p>\n
\"Someone offered to produce the glass vases for me, but we are
\nstill in the process of discussing the details,\" she said,
\nexplaining why it was mainly only the shisha hose parts that she
\nexports so far.<\/p>\n
For the shisha, Istikanah initially used copper. However, as a
\nhigher-quality product is demanded, she eventually substituted
\ncopper with pure brass. She gets the brass parts from craftsmen
\nin Sampurno village, Pati regency, Central Java.<\/p>\n
After being given a silver- or gold-colored coating according
\nto the order, it is then adorned with pieces of shaped wood --
\nthe wooden structure -- which forms the neck of the shisha in a
\nvariety of designs.<\/p>\n
It is the mixture of the specific wooden texture, the brass,
\nand sometimes the iron rings around the wooden structure and the
\nhose, Istikanah said, that have made her products distinctive.<\/p>\n
Besides, some 75 percent of the production process is done
\nmanually, making them into handmade products.<\/p>\n
With some 30 employees, Istikanah said she could export
\nbetween 100 and 150 sets of shisha hoses a month -- that excludes
\nsome 1,200 hoses that she has been exporting monthly.<\/p>\n
\"We have received so many orders, but we can not yet meet all
\nof them,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Although Istikanah's products are considered to be handmade,
\nher prices are still below the international market. In the
\nwebsite www.hookah-shisha.com, for example, a hose is offered for
\nUS$ 17.95 to $24.95, but Weleri-made models sell for only $5.5 to
\n$7 apiece.<\/p>\n
Hookahs, similarly, are offered for $68.95 to $99.95 each,
\ndepending on the number of hoses. A hookah sometimes has up to
\nthree hoses attached.<\/p>\n
Those produced in the shapes of animals like swans or fish are
\nusually more expensive, selling up to $114.95. Those from Weleri,
\nhowever, cost only $57 each for a hookah with the cheapest,
\nsmallest glass vase of simple designs, and $82 each for those
\nwith the most expensive, luxurious and largest glass vases.<\/p>\n
To complete its export products, the company has also been
\nproducing charcoal to burn with the tobacco. Marketed under the
\ntrademark Indoarab Coconut Banquet and Indoarab Hardwood Banquet,
\nthe product is made of coconut shells and wood.<\/p>\n
\"I'm also in the middle of studying how to produce the
\ntobacco,\" Istikanah said.<\/p>\n
Asked about whether she was worried that other producers might
\ncopy her products, Istikanah said that she had patented her
\nproducts and put the label AMS Design on them.<\/p>\n
\"A company abroad might be able to copy my products, but I'm
\nsure they will only produce more expensive ones as labor is more
\ncostly there. I'm confident that my products are attractively
\npriced,\" the 36-year-old businesswoman said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/middle-eastern-hookah-pipes-produced-in-weleri-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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