Addams Family hookah

[snopes]

Comment: For years now, I have heard the rumor that in old episodes
of the original "Addams Family" television show, Gomez and Morticia often
smoked out of a large Turkish hookah. What was in that hookah is
questionable, but in one such episode, Gomez (played by the late John
Astin) is purported to say, "This isn't helping me at all," at which point,
he stops smoking the hookah and lights up a cigar. The rumor goes on to
say that if it WAS tobacco, why would he light a cigar if the tobacco in
the hookah "wasn't working"?

The rumor then concludes by saying that a search of "The Addams Family"
episodes will never turn up an image of that hookah...because they were
all edited out and destroyed (either purposefully or by some accident) in
the 1970's anti-drug hysteria. Some versions of the rumor insist that the
FCC ordered their removal, while others claim that the networks refused to
syndicate or show the episodes with the hookah images intact. I own many
of the episodes on VHS, and never once in all my viewings thereof have I
ever seen a glimpse of any hookah.

Now, I myself did not believe this rumor, until I watched a program on the
network TV Land, about the Top 10 TV Couples. Gomez and Morticia were
mentioned...and if my eyes did not deceive me, they showed a brief clip of
them smoking from that elusive hookah!

Is the rumor true, then? Did Gomez and Morticia "spark up" from an
elaborate Turkish hookah? And did Gomez ever say, "This isn't working" and
then proceed to light up a cigar, leaving the viewer to surmise that
something OTHER than tobacco was in that hookah? And if all the images of
the hookah were "edited out" and not available, how did TV Land get one?
Did 1970's censors or the FCC assume Gomez and Morticia were smoking
illegal substances and order their removal?

I have spent considerable time attempting to put this rumor to rest...but
have come up with very little. I bow to the experts in urban legends.
Please, put this to rest for me, and solve this mystery!

[landmammal]

You wouldn't smoke pot out of a hookah, though. It's very wasteful because it burns continuously. Maybe if it were really cheap weed, but who'd wanna smoke that? Certainly not Gomez Addams.

[mags]

I feel as though I have seen an episode with the hookah.
I think I may start tivoing the episodes so I can see if I can track one down.

[Artemis]

I don't see why it has to be pot, just because Gomez said it "wasn't working." Actually, it seems like it would make more sense that it's regular tobacco. If smoking tobacco out of a hookah doesn't work...then smoking it out of a cigar is the next logical step.

[snapdragonfly]

I KNOW they smoked out of a hookah, I distinctly remember seeing it. I don't remember the lines, but I absolutely, clearly remembering the hookah.

Hookahs are traditionally used for various things including hashish. It's basically a bong. (not exactly, but similar.)

Where were you in the sixties that you didn't know this???

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah

"Tobacco smoking was not the original use of hookahs, as there are many examples of hookahs in both art and archeology prior to the arrival of tobacco in the Old World. In this period, the substance most commonly smoked in hookahs was hashish. After tobacco was imported from the Americas in the 1600s, hookah use became more widespread because of tobacco's milder effect.

Opium, previously taken orally and mostly regarded as a medicine, was added to tobacco and smoked from the 1800s onwards. This mixture, called "madak", turned out to be more addictive than orally-ingested opium and created many social problems, especially in China. Although the practice of smoking opium and hashish in hookahs is not extinct, today hookahs are generally used for smoking tobacco."

Hookahs can get clogged up - perhaps that is what Gomez was referring to.

[RealityChuck]

When Morticia smoked, she didn't use a hookah. Nor a cigarette, cigar, or any tobacco or "harmful smoking materials."* She just . . . smoked.

*Dick Tracy's Crimestopper description of marijuana in the early 70s.

[Ana Ng]

I've never smoked pot out of a hookah, and I've only ever seen them used for shisha.

Wouldn't one need a lot of pot for a hookah?

[musicgeek]

My parents spent some time in Saudi Arabia in the '70s, and had a lot of Middle Eastern artifacts as decor around the house, one of which was a large, ornate hookah (or "hubbly-bubbly," as they called it.) When I was in high school some of my friends saw it - "Dude!" "What?" "You have a water pipe?" "Yeah. So?" "Dude! Your parents smoke?" "No." "No, like, SMOKE?" "Um, no."

The thought of smoking anything other than tobacco in it never crossed my mind until then.

I too remember them smoking the hookah (my parents had one), but don't recall seeing it on the video tapes I have taped from syndication.

Gomez (played by the late John
Astin)

Actually, John Astin is alive and, presumably, well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Astin

[Cervus]

Simply reading the title of the thread (before opening it) made me remember seeing a hookah being smoked on the show. I watched the show when I was little and I didn't know what that contraption was. The Caterpillar in Disney's Alice in Wonderland smoked a hookah, too, and at the time I didn't understand how you could get colored smoke that turned into animals and different shapes.

Originally Posted by Ana Ng

I've never smoked pot out of a hookah, and I've only ever seen them used for shisha.

Wouldn't one need a lot of pot for a hookah?

Not necessarily. I've cut tobacco with pot and smoked it from a hookah. That way, you don't need as much weed and what little you use doesn't burn off so fast (also, it's not as harsh).

Having said that, though, I find I much prefer uncut tobacco to the pot blend I used. My friends and I didn't really find a noticeable difference between the mind-altering effects of the two, as hookah smoke is so dense to begin with, and we suspect that half the effects we got from plain tobacco were most likely the result of hyperventilation.

Regardless, hookah smoking is some of the smoothest, best, mellow smoke you can ever enjoy. If only it weren't so involved to put together and then clean up.

--Zamboni "Have you ever really looked at your hand, man?" Rodeo

Originally Posted by landmammal

Maybe if it were really cheap weed, but who'd wanna smoke that? Certainly not Gomez Addams.

If it were cheap weed that would explain why "it wasn't working"

[Ana Ng]

Originally Posted by Zamboni_Rodeo

Regardless, hookah smoking is some of the smoothest, best, mellow smoke you can ever enjoy. If only it weren't so involved to put together and then clean up.

Do you guys have hookah bars down there?

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Seltaeb

I too remember them smoking the hookah (my parents had one), but don't recall seeing it on the video tapes I have taped from syndication.



Actually, John Astin is alive and, presumably, well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Astin

Maybe they're getting confused with Raul Julia.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

When Morticia smoked, she didn't use a hookah. Nor a cigarette, cigar, or any tobacco or "harmful smoking materials."* She just . . . smoked.

*Dick Tracy's Crimestopper description of marijuana in the early 70s.

The joke predates them, in fact: it was used in "Carry on Screaming," a delightful and fanciful British romp from a team that made some dozen-plus theme movies. In "Screaming," the heroine asks, "Do you mind if I smoke?" Given assent, she smiles...and smoulders...

Silas (But, oh, that Carolyn Jones! She smouldered even when not smoking!)

[Brad from Georgia]

I give you my reconstruction of the lost stanza of the theme song:

It's the Addams fam'ly hookah,
A nicotine bazooka,
Makes 'em sing just like a kooka-
Burra, warbily!
It might contain tobaccy,
Or a weed that's somewhat wacky,
But Morticia's really stacky,
The Addams family!

Originally Posted by Ana Ng

Do you guys have hookah bars down there?

Actually, yeah. There's a handful that have sprung up around the local universities here in recent years, but I have two of my own. One is purely functional, and the other is an ornate, hand-carved wood and brass piece that a friend brought back for me from Turkey eons ago. That one is just for show. Also, it's constructed a bit differently than the functional one, and we never could figure out how to smoke with it.

[TrishDaDish]

I don't wish to get technical, but why would it nessecarily be an illegal substance Gomez smoked (alledgedly )? The man doesn't do anything you'd consider "normal", so perhaps he wouldn't use a hookah for it's proper use, either. Hell, the man puts lit cigars in his pockets from time to time and he never catches fire!

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by TrishDaDish

I don't wish to get technical, but why would it nessecarily be an illegal substance Gomez smoked (alledgedly )? The man doesn't do anything you'd consider "normal", so perhaps he wouldn't use a hookah for it's proper use, either. Hell, the man puts lit cigars in his pockets from time to time and he never catches fire!

Good point! Knowing the Addamses, it could be nasturtium seeds, or old shredded banknotes from Inner Mongolia, or...or just about anything!

(I have a lovely hand-crafted aluminum pipe...of the "opium pipe" variety...that was given to me by my sister after her brief visit to Karachi. I'll never smoke anything in it...but it is so nifty a thing to have!)

Silas

[BluesScale]

Or dried Banana skins... Well, just what I heard

Blues.