This is gonna be a weird one cause I’m really afraid of not doing a double standard kinda thing, protecting a small bowl maker in my previous post and then going in on this one. Hopefully someone will call me out if I do. Mason Shishaware is however a lot more established as a brand. And they try marketing hype. We do not like marketing hype.
Mason initially made a name for themselves with the Onyx bowl.
I own one and can’t really say I was impressed. The clay is good, the glaze is fuckin amazing, and everything else is… just run-of-the-mill. I think the word you could use is “unbad”. I can’t justify calling the Onyx a must-have in terms of performance, but I can’t justify not getting your hands on one if you have the opportunity. Think of it more like a HJ with collector’s value. Especially if it’s in one of the more limited colorways, like the Albinos. On a certain level, they become a sort of Fabergé egg equivalent, with collectors trying to haul as many as they can and them being resold for at least double their retail price. No, really, find one in Europe for under 100 euros. I’ll buy it and resell it for 100 euros.
The Onyx got upgraded to the Grand Onyx, getting a wooden sleeve which makes it match regals and stuff better. Okay.
Then you have the Helyx bowl.
The Helyx is something I’d like to get because it seems like it will perform great. It has the notches on the spire like the Rook, and features a very thick body, like the Predator, but that’s okay cause it’s Mason and they already had a fanbase so nobody actually called it. And it shouldn’t matter, but you know. We’re a weird fucking bunch.
Then there’s the Tymbers, with the Sapphires.
Unless you’re able to get a custom made resin piece somehow, there’s really nothing on the market like them right now. Even though they started off as a bowl company, I feel this is what’s supposed to be their bread and butter and their flagship product. They perform amazingly, they actually have a modularity level I’m content with, selling different tube materials and lengths, different sets of tips and basically allowing you to be able to do some cool setups. Rag on Mason as much as you want, but the truth is the Tymbers are fucking great pieces. They also gave birth to the eclipse mouthtips, which are essentially Sapphire tips with a bit of silicone and you can use them on more restrictive hoses should you want. Of course, there’s guaranteed to be trying to slip an eclipse over his sapphire tymber because you don’t _have_ to be smart to have money and the luck of being in the right timezone for a release.
So if you throw a non-hyped eye over the Mason lineup, you get the Gattuso experience:
Should we be happy we have Mason? We should. It’s really great to have the options. Should we overlook the not-so-good parts? No. And now that I finished my introduction, let’s go ahead to their new release
On the Hookah Smiths podcast on the 11th, the owner of Mason Shishaware gave an interview. I’ll timestamp the important bit, but watch it all. It’s a great foray into the mindset of Mason as a brand and it can clear up a lot of misconceptions. Especially about the limited batches and stuff. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the clip, so just click here and make sure you’re at 24:02 or so. Fuck it, I’ll even transcript it.
There is something that… I’m not going to say yet, but there is something that I’m going to be releasing next month and no one’s done, that I know of, in the United States. I mean, even overseas, but it’s another artisanal thing.
So what is it? Well it’s “the first hand blown in America artisan glass hookah base”.
Holy shit, my American friends, no longer will you need to put your 300$ stems without grommets in coconuts and gallon jugs! You finally have bases! This is the kind of hype I’m talking about, you tease some amazing artisanal new pieces, and you come out with this:
So what exactly are these? “Each piece is made from USA glass made for artisanal use, the depth, clarity and quality is visibly different then[sic] that of overseas production glass pieces you may be accustomed too[sic] seeing on the market today.”
Okay, so maybe design on this spotted thing isn’t the best, but at least it’s USA glass, so it’s better than an Egermann for the same money, right? Ugh… I guess? Apparently, the U.S. has more lax definitions for glass and crystal in terms of quality than those overseas pieces of crap you can now buy for the same amount. The design is supposed to “blur that line with designs that will work beautifully for both styles of hookah.” (meaning traditional and modern.) Here’s what said design looks like:
Whether I like them or not isn’t really an accurate measurement on the success of the design, though I don’t like them. I like that they made colorways that fit the bowls. And they’ve already had a _great_ reception by the community:
Is the glass high quality? Yes, it’s pretty obvious. Is it miles ahead of overseas pieces of crap like the Egermann? Heh. Is the worksmanship on that base great? Yes. Do we need this for 130$? Perhaps? Meanwhile, let’s all cheer at marketing buzzwords, salute this never-seen-in-us-before initiative and totally forget about this 70$ Sahara Smoke base.
Hookah Rants 