Excerpted from DogsAfire's Trip Report - Christmas with Hans Brinker

I usually vaporize my weed, so I headed over to Baba coffeeshop, a place that I have been frequenting in my more recent Amsterdam visits. I rarely buy any weed there, so I can't vouch for the quality of their stuff, but there are several other reasons I go there. One, of course, is the vaporizers.

Baba has a large number of vaporizers and you can almost always find one available, though it make take some squeezing around to do it. You can't be fussy about your personal space in coffeeshops or, for that matter in general. You kind of have to get used to a lot more jostling than we normally tolerate. But Baba is a fairly large coffeeshop, and things have to be really busy for it to be impossible to find a spot.

The layout of the coffeeshop permits a good flow of people. By "good" I mean with relation to many other coffeeshops where you nearly have to crawl over people to get anywhere and in/out traffic must share the same space. It can still get tight. One of the tables is bordered on its long side by a brass rail that separates it from the bathroom area. It's my favorite table. Anyone seated in that area can simply duck under the rail for quick access to the bathrooms which, by the way, are relatively large and well kept, for a coffeeshop. It is also the quickest way to get to the weed bar.

The vaporizers themselves are huge glass monstrosities, close to two feet tall. I would never have one around my house. But in a commercial environment they serve well. Volcanos cannot stand up to the use that vaporizers in Amsterdam coffeeshops see. The balloons quickly develop leaks, they frequently seem to have problems with air flow, and often they simply aren't even working. The temperature of the glass vaporizers can't be controlled, but it's close enough. And they are surprisingly durable, considering the number of parts, the height of the assembled pieces, and the close proximity of very many, very stoned, humans.

I like the feel of the place too. The people there are nice, despite the place's proximity to the RLD and there are a couple of quite cute and very friendly bartenders. While some coffeeshops have something of a sleazy feel to them, Baba is clean and the decor is even nicely done. There are Indian wood carvings and a large hammered brass sculpture of Baba Ganesh


The prices for drinks tends to be lower there than at other shops. I often have Looza fruit drinks or a coffee. Each costs 2 euros at Baba, while they are often 2.50 or even 3 euros at others. And I usually like the music there too. I don't know my genres well enough to classify it, but at least its not cookie cutter American chart toppers. They often have video of DJ performances, but most of the time the video and audio are not related. Sometimes, though, they do have some of the DJ performances going to the audio and I have started to have a better appreciation of what they do. It's fascinating to watch them work a crowd

Cheers mate, shall definitely check this out!

Really makes me wish I could just take my MFLB with me on my next trip in May. I'd feel uncomfortable and intruding going alone and asking to use a Volcano.

Baba is my favorite place to set and smoke , they have some good Hash ,
The waiters and the girls behind the counter are fantastic , But the weed salesman is an AH. Not very much help and the weed is dry ,
But love to set their , see you on the 26th .

Hello all
We Will be in Amsterdam on 24th of April. To enjoy the celebration of first Kingsday. Do you have any suggestions on Babas weed. We are interested in good hazes.

Regards and see you in baba on 26th of april sulltan :)

See you their friend , buy from hunter , or free Adam , smoke at Baba, baba got good hash only.

Finally got a portrait of one of Baba's vaporizers fully assembled



The silver thing on top is the lid to the smoking mix container on the left. It is common to use the lid that way and is even recommended by the staff. The lid increases the temperature of air going past the weed. I usually leave it off for the first few hits, then use it to heat the heavier resins to a better vape temperature. I watched a staff worker demo the unit for an inexperienced group and he put waaaayy too much weed in there - looked like 1/2 a gram. Probably to help the weed sales. I use only enough to cover the screen to a depth of a couple mm. Much more efficient. You can always put more in later if the first round wasn't enough. No need to fry 1/2 a gram at a time.

the dogs

I just asked today and Baba, along with all other coffeeshops on Warmoesstraat, will be closing by September of next year. They may try to get another location, but who knows?

That sucks. Baba is kind of a sanitised tourist trap, but I like it. It's a great landmark too.