Lavoo MP5XL

Really great hookah experience. Quality is awesome, maybe it makes sense to reduce the cost.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Lavoo. I bought this hookah despite the lack of reviews, and I want to make sure others are not deterred by this in the future.

This is by far the best hookah I have ever purchased or used and its design is incredibly sleek and eye-catching.

I found this piece almost by accident while looking for a more conventional glass hookah and immediately decided I needed it. We pretty much exclusively smoke hookah in our media room/man cave and as such, we've long struggled with regular hookah designs blocking the projector image. The MP5XL's horizontally-oriented chamber means that it only measures roughly 6-7 inches from the bottom of the base to the top of the bowl—without any additional accessories. This not only solved our picture-blocking issue but also gives the hookah a really low center of gravity. Having read reviews of the MP5XL's smaller cousin, I had been a bit nervous about stability, however, this has not been an issue. The hookah stays put even when we tug the hose too hard by accident.

Now, onto the stuff people actually care about-

The craftsmanship is absolutely superb. All Lavoo pieces are hand-blown from super high-quality glass in the US, and this definitely shows in the finished product. Every inch of the MP5XL feels solid. The downstem is non-removable, which can make cleaning a bit more difficult but is also necessary because of the shower head diffuser on the end (more on this later). The piece also has two equal-sized ports for a hose and a modular clearing valve. This means the hose can be placed on either side depending on seating position and the MP5XL's orientation. Additionally, the hookah is actually large enough that you can easily add a second hose (instead of the valve component) without any real change in cloud thickness. Speaking of which, the glass hose feels incredible in your hand and also looks so much better than the cheap-looking hoses/heads generally found in North America. There is also no drop-off in quality when it comes to accessories. I purchased the cyclone tray and hose holder which both fit perfectly into the 19mm port in the middle of the MP5XL. You can stack the accessories any which-way with no change to the quality of the smoking session. In the picture below this review, I have the cyclone tray fitted.

Now for the smoke itself-the shower head diffuser makes smoking this hookah an unreal experience. Traditional hookahs make a lot of noise-even with some sort of diffuser installed, and I have long accepted the annoying echoey bubble sound as a necessary evil. The MP5XL makes almost no noise at all. I repeat: no sound. Even better-the smoke is thick, soft, and never harsh. Since the hookah arrived last week, we've smoked Darkside, Tangiers, and Fumari bowls and each has been an absolute joy. Each draw is clean and easy.

All in all, the MP5XL gets a 10/10. It might just "the mother of all hookahs" as is declared by the only other review here. This piece is an incredible value for money, well-crafted, and a pleasure to smoke.

The mother of all hookahs! We call it the submarine!