joeaflak

Few Check points. 1 Give all pieces of hookah a good clean. 2 Fill base with water, approx 1inch above bottom of pipe. 3 draw air through pipe, without hose(mouth directly on shaft) You may need to adjust water level a little. do so until it draws nicely. if it doesnt, get a new pipe. 4 put hose into shaft, draw. if its now too hard to take in, get a new hose. 5 apply empty bowl and draw, if its no good get a new bowl. 6 fill bowl with tobacco. take draw prior to appying foil. if it too hard, re fill using less tobacco, dont compress it. 7 Apply foil, constantly take in and keep adding holes until it flows nicely. IF all the above dont work, throw the bastard out and take up smoking. Dunhill Reds always give me a good hit.

Although you should take note of water level and try remain consistant, i highly doubt that it would affect the flavour. Only a few things come to mind, 1. did you mix the tobacco prior to packing it into head? Important to mix settled syrip into dryer tobacco on top. 2. you say it was a little hard to take in the first time. this in fact may have been becaue of the higher water level. generally you need to have the same amount of airspace in your base as you would have in the shaft of your pipe, anything less and its hard to take up, however, the fact it was hard to take up would generally result in less air flow running through the head, less air = more flavour. test this next time by taking slower, less deep breaths. Not any fun but definately more flavoursim. Hope this helps.

A mate sent me these pictures. Absolutely amazing. Yes their real. check www.medusedesign.com Do you think they work well, or all show & no go???? More....... Final Pics

Does anyone think the breakfast foundation will give it a tick of approval if we were to fill the bowl with Kelloggs Corn Flakes, fill the base with skim milk and smoke it. Please help cause i need an excuse to have breakfast.

Can one assume that after years of smoking daily ones lungs may look the same way...........if not wose. I dont know but ive never stuck a bottle cleaner brush down my throat before.

it looks like the glass base may not be for that shaft. the base usally comes in several sizes and should match up with the shaft. id try returning it. electrical tape is just gonna get annoying cause it gets stuck if you dont disassemble between uses. otherwise try put the tape first and try squeeze the grommet over the tape. as the last guy said, soak in hot water first.

mine think mines a 32-34 inch and i cant say ive had better. Image attached

The taller the better i think. It definitely gives a better hit and the smoke is always cooler and therefore smoother to take in.

AGREE The funnel bowl will solve your leaking problem. It didnt occur to me as a solution cause ive never used one. Should give it a go.

you havnt got a good seal between the bowl and shaft. you may need to replace rubber grommet. however, even if you were to get a tight seal it will definitely run down the shaft into the water and give it an fugly colour. if it dosent reach the water it will dry up in the shaft and give off that taste which is fine until you change flavors, try squeeze some of the syrup. i dont see why even a paper towel wouldnt work. do check your seal. its important that it has a good seal at that point

i think hes talking about a dual/triple hose shisha pipe. they have a ball valve in the hose end so 1 person can smoke without air coming in through the unused hose or so that the second/third smoker dosent have to block the end of their hose when not smoking. that is a little more complicated than the standard air release valve. if it is the standard release valve than hell yeh, shove whatever in there.

leaks around the sides between the bowl and foil or at the bottom, where the bowl meets the shaft

try www.hookah-shisha.com in misc accessories section. they sell all types of adapters and ball bearings. you may need to email them is its not there. their not the cheapest but are definately the best in customer relations.

what leaks, the air or the honey/flavored syrup from the shish. Al Fakher is one of the juiciest out there and it does tend to leak, particularly down the shaft into the water which isnt really a problem but its not inviting once the water is the same colour as piss. try squeeze the shish using a perferated cloth such as chux wipes, but not too much. if its an air leak check all your grommets and seals.

ive noticed that some pipes tend to burn the tobacco quicker. my assumption is that the greater air flow, the higher the levels of oxygen amongst the coal and tobacco. the greater the oxygen levels the greater the heat from the coal. In this situation (as with my 52" Stratus) i use specialty hookah foil. I have seen several thicknesses in the precut round hookah foil. the thickest one really helps extend the smoking session. (takes a little longer to get going) alternatively try double or triple layers of standard foil. As for holes, one ring along the outermost perimeter, 15-20 holes. 4-5 hole ring in the center and 1 hole in the middle which runs all the way through to the hole in the bottom of the bowl. i try to rotate the coal in the sections where it does not directly contact the holes, although it is sometimes inevitable. having said all that, try each to their own i suppose. i have tried filling out a log book for each session. things like water level, amount of tobacco, foils, coal etc. you will start to notice patterns with results and although the pipe may be working fine at the moment it can be improved. i do this each time i buy a new pipe until i get a really good consistent result.

ive already posted this somewhere else. Will add again. My Stratus is an absolue monster. Once you overcome some of it bad design problems such as, Filling the perfect amount of water, too little and not enough bubbling, too much and it splashes up into the hose. Using a thick hookah foil on top so not to burn the head too quickly. gluing the ball bearing in the air release as it has a habbit of falling out of place and creating leak while your smoking. The air flow that flows through this is amazing. I also own 3 different MYA pipes and air flow is no comparrison, hence the nessesaty for a thick foil. The air passing over the coal really gets it going good. The thick smoke and clean flavour it produces is incredible comapred to all my other pipes. I consistantley clean all my pipes, use the same tobacco, same coal and share my hoses amongst all my pipes (apple hose for apple, grape for grape ect) and the Stratus is a standout hands down without argument. A fresh bowl of Al Fakher last about 1 hour, compared to my MYA's 1.5 hours. but the flavour and smoke is heaps better so i guess its worth the sacrafice. In response to the rumors that it leakes between the glass and metal base........absolutely not. the glass is in fact perspex and it runs all the way through. the metal base is simply a dressing on the outside so there is no need for a clean seal between the two. I can highley recommend this pipe to anyone who has the patience to fiddle around with it. Joe... DID I MENTION IT LOOKS ABSOLUTLEY STUNNING.

Hi all, this is my first post. My Stratus is an absolue monster. Once you overcome some of it bad design problems such as, Filling the perfect amount of water, too little and not enough bubbling, too much and it splashes up into the hose. Using a thick hookah foil on top so not to burn the head too quickly. gluing the ball bearing in the air release as it has a habbit of falling out of place and creating leak while your smoking. The air flow that flows through this is amazing. I also own 3 different MYA pipes and air flow is no comparrison, hence the nessesaty for a thick foil. The air passing over the coal really gets it going good. The thick smoke and clean flavour it produces is incredible comapred to all my other pipes. I consistantley clean all my pipes, use the same tobacco, same coal and share my hoses amongst all my pipes (apple hose for apple, grape for grape ect) and the Stratus is a standout hands down without argument. A fresh bowl of Al Fakher last about 1 hour, compared to my MYA's 1.5 hours. but the flavour and smoke is heaps better so i guess its worth the sacrafice. In response to the rumors that it leakes between the glass and metal base........absolutely not. the glass is in fact perspex and it runs all the way through. the metal base is simply a dressing on the outside so there is no need for a clean seal between the two. I can highley recommend this pipe to anyone who has the patience to fiddle around with it. Joe... DID I MENTION IT LOOKS ABSOLUTLEY STUNNING.