On March 27, 2026, the HookahPlace Forever Hookah Battle hosted the first Mix and Story in an offline format for everyone. 

12 participating teams from 10 countries sent their videos and tobacco mixes, which were supposed to complement or create an association with what is depicted in the video. The guests and judges watched the video and smoked the tobacco mix of a particular participant.

This means that it was necessary to prepare 18 identical hookahs every 5-7 minutes (16 tables and 2 hookahs for judges), a total of 216 hookahs in 80 minutes!

The challenge of preparing and organizing a “hookah McDonald’s” was given to the Vladlen’s team. It was up to the “secret guest” Alexei Ilyin to assess whether the team coped with the task. At the end of the event, he issued a verdict: the team confidently coped with the task.

Today we will talk a little about how difficult this task was for Vladlen and his team and what helped in its implementation.

Tell me about yourself, how many years have you been in the industry, how did you get into the hookah industry? How did it all start?

I came by accident, before that I worked as a lifeguard for 5 years.

They offered to work at a car wash with hookahs, and something got delayed.

I’ve been working behind the counter for 9 years now.

Was this the first experience for you and your team of organizing so many hookahs in such a short time? If not, tell us about your experience.

Similar large-scale events are often held at HP Forever.

I remember from the last Deus Club, in 3 hours we gave away about 400 hookahs.

In short, we are based on experience.

How many hookahs and cups were involved in the Mix and Story?

150 hookahs and 150 bowls.

What tools/materials and equipment accelerated the process?

3 muffle furnaces and the correct algorithm of actions.

Was there a moment when you realized that you couldn’t have done it without a certain device, approach, or detail? For example, I remember how you put up stickers with numbers, did it help you?

This helped save logistics and timings. I initially thought through every last detail to give a great result.

How many people were involved in total? Can you tell us who was responsible for what?

There were 6 masters, each had his own area of responsibility in the hall. The recoil line began to be warmed up from both sides, to meet each other, in order to achieve a stable temperature of the cups for the guests.

The hookah master’s assistant, who loaded and unloaded the stoves, the cleaner, who quickly and efficiently washed the hookahs, and I, who supervised all the processes, also took part.

Did you maintain the morale of the team? Do you have a proprietary way to keep everyone on the same wavelength without losing control of the overall organization?

Of course, I am the heart of the team, we have been working together for a long time and we are very close—knit. Guys can tell by the look on my face. So I just found the right words and watched the timing, and added a team spirit.

In your opinion, did your team cope with all the tasks that you set for it?

The team managed 10 out of 10.

If you had to repeat or improve the result now, what would you change in the organization of the process?

I would have left everything unchanged.

Did you like the event itself, the idea of a hookah “gastronomy”?

It was fun, we made a lot of noise.

Have you accepted such a challenge again?

Easy!