Heading to Abu Dhabi, any suggestions?

[eaglerico]

I am heading to Abu Dhabi in a few days on business. I will be there a week and will have some time to look around. Any one have any suggestions about pipes or pipe tobacco from that part of the world. Not interested in hooka stuff.

 

[collindow]

Well then you're pretty much out of luck. At PSU I know several people who come from that area, and all they talk about is hookah. When I asked about tobaccos, it's all shisha (sp?) and cigarettes...and of course there are cigars floating around the country too.
From what I gathered though, it is very much not a luxury-tobacco oriented country, nor portion of the world, period.

 

[schmitzbitz]

Actually, pipe smoking is more prevalent in the Middle East than it is in North America, you just have to know what to look for. Yes, you can see the vaunted hookah or nargileh on every corner (not all of the hookah tobacco is sugary wet, either - I know that is what we see in N.A., but seriously, some of the different blends are truely great - particularly the blends made with actual dried fruit), but what you really want to find is a midwakh, and a can of sifted dohka. The midwakh is a small (think one-hit) pipe, simply gravity fill with the dohka, and go - it provides a small, concentrated hit of goodness. I've only had the pleasure of sampling (what I have to assume) is an OTC blend - came in a 250ml plastic jar, and was actually a decent smoke (think orientals, and lots of em). Certainly it's a very different experience than our usual method of tobacco consumption, but that isn't to say that the midwakh doesn't have its place (you can find both a midwakh and the dohka at pretty much any store that carries cigarettes).
Also, to the point, don't forget that alot of the the so-called oriental tobacco's come out of the Middle East - for example, Latakia is not only a condiment tobacco, but also a port-city in Syria...I admittedly haven't been a pipe smoker during any of my trips to Iran, Syria, or the U.A.E., but I would have to assume that one could find some amazing blending tobaccos available.

 

[yoru]

Well my suggestion is come back with a nice collection of midwakhs heh heh. I'm sure there'll be some local games but I don't really know as I haven't been.
You also might be able to get some Thuoc Lou out there which is very nice in a VERY small bowl (like a midwakh or kiseru)

 

[duncan]

All I suggest from my many visits to that area of the world is: the front seat of the cab is bad, bring your own TP when you go out, and if you are looking at buying any gold know the market price per gram and pay no more than that. Oh yeah and have a suit custom made while you are there they are excellent and very inexpensive. That is about it for words of wisdom. They are pretty cool over there and as long as you have money they will stay that way.

 

[porshcigar]

Cuban cigars.

 

[juni]

..and bring sun screen too.

 

[schmitzbitz]

Yoru, you can get Thuc Loc here, but it costs an arm and a leg (I can't imagine making snuff from this, like the site suggests).