Smoking a bubble pipe in Bursa with the locals

We drove right into the city of Bursa. Luckily Kevin spotted the hotel we were staying at, otherwise I wonder if we would be able to find it by street name! After checking in, Kevin and I went for a swim and then got ready for dinner. We went to the top floor restaurant, except it was too early! They didn't open til 8pm, and mom and dad were hungry and tired, since they diidn't sleep much last night because the AC in their room wasn't working and they had to move to another room in the middle of the night. It was simply too hot in Canakkale without AC, even though the evening air was cool and breezy. We then went to the other restaurant in the hotel and had a buffet dinner.

After dinner, Kevin wanted to go for a walk, so we went. Not far from the hotel, I spotted an old man smoking a Turkish nargile (bubble pipe), and said to myself, this is interesting, I wondered if I could et some photos. So I stopped and found that I was actually in the front of a bar/shop where about a dozen mostly old men were smoking their evenin pipes. None of them spoke English! But they were friendly and we mimed our way and I was able to take several photos of them smoking. Too bad I didn't have my "real" camera with me, I didn't bring it to dinner and we didn't go to the room to get it before taking our walk. But I always have at least the compact camera with me, so that would have to do.

After taking a few photos of individuals and even groups, they let me know that I had some tea waiting at the little table, and I should have some tea. One of them offered his pipe for me and kevin to try, at first I thought No, but then changed my mind. So after inhaling a few long breaths, I had to cough! I don't think they actually inhaled the smoke, but were puffin it out. I didn't want to try more so Kevin tried and was doing better than I did.

They also told me to go inside to see how the tobacco was prepared and it was quite interesting.  Big tobacco leaves were soaked in water, and then chopped into long threads after folding the leaves several times. Then they were wrapped in some other leaves and stuck into a clay pipe. They were put in the freezer untill ready to use. At which time, the top was placed onto the pipe stand, and red charcoal placed on the top of the tobacco leaves. A little foil hood was placed over the charcoal, and the whole contraption was ready. The smoke filters through the water in the bottle before being drawn into the mouth, and then they puff out the smoke. It didn't look like much inhaling was done to the lungs. Anyway, it was great fun to "talkl" to them and be shown how the process worked. They were very polite and always thanked me when I shoed them on the back of the digicam the photos I took of them.