Smoke Box Dangerous cheapo Hookah exploded causing a 2nd degree burn! New York City Internet

Just received my portable "retro" hookah from ,boxhookah.com after seeing it advertised on the busniess owner's Twitter page (@22caliberhitter) twitter.com/SmokeBoxHookah/status/611188884609892352

I have to say that customer support was initially fantastic, helping me choose the right hookah for me and answering all my questions very quickly. Shipping was also quick using USPS Air Mail, it took only 4 days to get to AZ. The packaging was done really well though- there were even these cute little Sharpie drawings that the owner Felix, had drawn on the shipping box for me.  It was a nice touch.

So far so good right?


Well...

It turns out that this product was a complete disaster, literally, in a box.

The package arrived today at noon and upon opening the box I was immediately hit with the over powering smell of concentrated acetone nail polish remover or some sort of solvent which reminded me of spray paint.

My heart sunk as I realized that what I thought would be a legit looking "retro" hookah, turnt out to be a rather cheap contraption seemingly built at Home Depot using thin plywood reminiscent of the wings on one of those balsa wood model airplanes (the kind with the rubber band propellers) - cheap and thin.

Something wierd I immediately noticed was not only my new hookah had my name written ON IT, with a black Sharpie in cursive lettering (which I didn't ask for) immediately below the word "NASTYNNYC" which I thought looked stupid.

Despite the smell and my huge disappointment and after debating about whether to send it back, I figured what the heck, perhaps the hookah may just need to be aired out and plus, it's only $160 and so I figured I would keep it and see how the hookah smoked.

I set my Smoke Box out on the patio to air out for a few hours until after dinner.

I followed all of Felix's instructions, which seemed to work ok at first. I tested out the Hookah with my everyday blend of AlAmir Molasses. I noticed that the sides of the hookah were getting somewhat hot at this point, but didn't really think about it too much because by the then the spray paint smell had inexplicably returned and was becoming stronger than the smell of the shisha. All of a sudden the sides of the hookah literally imploded sending hot coals splashing onto my legs (I made the mistake of wearing shorts). Despite the horrendous pain, I managed to limp into the kitchen in time to get the fire extinguisher.

This evening, after leaving the hospital and applying the prescription lidocaine gel to the atrociously painful red blisters on my legs, I contacted the owner, Felix and explained what had happened with his product. The man was immediately defensive, immediately told me to not go to Rip-Off Report, and began blaming his exploding hookah death trap product on ME! He also kept accusing me of having a parakeet, when I do not own ANY pets. I told him that frankly I don't understand what on earth that would matter even if I did (which I do not). Then he told me that he quote/unquote "didn't like my tone", mumbled something about telephone harassment (???), threatened to "expose me" and then hung up.

So bottom line, despite the fact that I'm probably setting myself up for reprisal from the owner, who explicitly requested/warned me not to write anything, I don't care, because frankly this product is dangerous and should never have been offered for sale if it so combustable.