If you could only smoke one brand...

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Whew!
With all the flames bursting up around the room I'm starting to sweat here!


I guess we have to face it... the Al-Fakher people are passionate about
Al-Fakher and will defend their brand of choice to the death. In turn
the Nakhla people are then forced to justify their reasons for loving
their prefered brand, which no matter how elaborate they may be, are
never quite good enough reaons for the Al-Fakher people.
Its a crazy crazy world we live in



But do I really feel the need to justify my reasons for liking Nakhla
so much? Naaa...not really.  But incase your curious heres a
simple list of my reasons


1. I really love the way most of the flavors taste.

2. The thickness of the smoke is the best of any brand I've ever had.

3. The buzzes I get from Nakhla are completely unlike any other brand and are very enjoyable.



Yup...that about sums it up I think!

[MR Bubble]

[quote name='ZooJohnnyZETA']Whew! I guess we have to face it... the Al-Fakher people are passionate about Al-Fakher and will defend their brand of choice to the death. In turn the Nakhla people are then forced to justify their reasons for loving their prefered brand, which no matter how elaborate they may be, are never quite good enough reaons for the Al-Fakher people.[/quote]
Yep. Sure is funny how a justification like "I like how it tastes and smokes better" is never good enough. Maybe we can create a psychological profile of these people. That would be interesting. I think half of them spit when they talk because they get going so loud and fast. 
I guess from now on, my standard reply to the insults from being a Nakhlaphile will be "Yeah, okay." That really makes some people bust like a zit.
Y'all are okay, even if you like the sissy stuff (Oooooo.  My smoke doesn't taste like kool-aid. It makes me cough because I'm actually smoking now). Just poking a little, cause I know you all are so pokeable.
 

[NERV]

nothing stronger than that nakhla mint, except plain 

[MR Bubble]

I tried the Nakhla mint one time. I couldn't get any smoke because I was gagging so badly from just trying to get it going. You are some bad, bad, bad people who smoke the mint.
MR Bubble

[King Mo]

I have to stress again, there was a time when I would only ever ask for nakhla in a cafe. That's how much I liked the brand. I do like fakher better, but in terms of flavour, well that's down to opinion. Agreed. You could say I 'saw the light'
 
 
but smoke thickness?? come on guys, you can actually tell with your eyes the thickness of the smoke. Nakhla is a drier tobacco than fakher which as a result produces less smoke. You can visually see this. The only way Nakhla smoke comes out thicker than fakher, is if you are smoking it in a steam room. To get Nakhla ANYTHING close to fakher in terms of smoke thickness, you have to burn it so much that you'll be smoking only charcoal.
 
Wrong wrong wrong. No way is nakhla smoke close to fakher's thickness. It makes me wonder when you guys smoke fakher, how you actually make the shisha?
 

[ZooJohnnyZETA]

Okay... now I'm reaaally puzzled. 

 I have never been able to get Al-Fakher to produce anywhere near
the thickness of Nakhla. The smoke from Al-Fakher is usually about half
to 3/4 as thick as what I get from Nakhla.

 I do the same thing for both brands as far as preperation goes.
Break it up really finely, sprinkle it into a shallow Egyptian bowl,
then tamp it down slightly with my fingers until it becomes an even
layer. After that I just put my steel screen on top, crimp the metal
tabs in a little bit so the screen sticks better to the bowl, then
light my Three kings coal. Once the coal stops sparking I put it ontop
of the screen and press down gently on the coal during the first 5 or 6
puffs to get the massell packed down a little bit more and get it
cooking faster.

 So why is it that using the same process for both I can never
seem to get the thickness I want out of Al-Fakher? When Nakhla often
gets too thick for me to even smoke, leaving me forced to vent some
smoke out through the vaulve.



  Which makes me wonder exactly how you set up your hookah King
Mo?  What do you do differently that gives you great smoke
thickness out of Al-Fakher but not Nakhla?

[wyteboy]

Don't mean to hijack this thread at alll, but quick question, I am having trouble blowing stale smoke out of the air valve...? I tried once and blew too hard I think because water came up THROUGH the stem and into the charcoal tray...
is this important? do you guys frequently blow smoke out during a smoke?
Thurs night is when I will rejoin the Hookah reviews and gonna start off with a little HH margarita and then who knows

[NERV]

i hardly ever use my valve, but u shudnt have to blow too hard to blow
as if ur exhaling and if smoke is coming out of the valve just keep
blowing till the vase is clear, if no smoke comes out then ur valve is
jammed

[King Mo]

i make both shishas the same.

I don't use a metal screen, I use foil. I also use 1.5 -2 pieces of
dutch coal. These are instant light coal from the middle east but made
in Netherlands. The discs are about 30 mm in diameter

coal is sprinkled in and I do not pack it at all. There is clear gap
between the foil and coal, so the foil and hence the coal in no way
whatsoever makes contact with the tobacco.

As a result you get no 'burning' whatsoever, and you have maximum freedom with the heat when you move about the coals.

I also use a pin to make the holes (very thin).

will take pictures of my shisha head once made, and with the foil on. may take a little picture of some fakher smoke as well.

Nakhla smoke does not come close. when it is at its most potent lethal flavourless charcoaly burnt ashiest ,
even then it doesn't match the fakher rich rich thick white smoke which
is generated with a fantastic flavour. It is effortless.

I am still amazed by the fact you say the fakher smoke is less thick
than nakhla. The other difference is the fakher smoke is alot more
dense, whereas the nakhla is a bit more transparent, which adds to the
thickness.

will post the pics over the next couple of days, I'll title the post "King Mo's shisha head".

will do one pic of the empty head, head with tobacco in, head with foil, and the holes.

Try perhaps with the foil Zoojohnnyzeta, and dont make very thick holes
because the more air that gets in, the thinner the smoke. Thin holes
with a pin works best, and if there isn't enough ,then simply make more
while you're smoking.

i'm suspicious of the screen as that might be the problem, as well as
the fact that it is packed down. Mine are never packed down.

anyways will try to post an illustration. in a couple of days or so

[King Mo]

[quote name='wyteboy']Don't mean to hijack this thread at alll, but quick
question, I am having trouble blowing stale smoke out of the air
valve...? I tried once and blew too hard I think because water came up
THROUGH the stem and into the charcoal tray...
is this important? do you guys frequently blow smoke out during a smoke?
Thurs night is when I will rejoin the Hookah reviews and gonna start off with a little HH margarita and then who knows [/quote]

most shishas have an air valve and assuming yours has one, then unscrew
it a little. If that doesnt work, then it's probably dirty, so unscrew
the whole thing and pull out the ball, wash the ball and put it back
and it'll be fine.

If even that fails, then you're putting in too much water.

hopefully that'll do the trick as no other thing would be wrong.

blow gently first, and if it's blocked then unscrew and try, followed
by cleaning the little ball if that failed  (sh*t, that really
sounds dirty doesn't it lol). If you give it a big blow then of course
the water will shoot out ruining your head.

(I'm not doing this on purpose btw, u guys have a dirty mind )

[NERV]

king mo, mind shrinking that avatar?

also do you just sprinkle nakhla in too? cuz i know AF has a finer cut
so you can sprinkle it easily, but nakhla is usually strips of leaves
with bits poking up so u have to pack it down just a little bit

[MR Bubble]

I usually just barely graze the top of the nakhla with my finger tip, enough to knock the tips of the leaves down. No more. I feel I have the perfect combination of airflow/heat when I smoke. It used to be hard for me to get anything BUT nakhla, so I learned how to treat it and get it yummy.
MR Bubble

[King Mo]

[quote name='NERV']king mo, mind shrinking that avatar?

also do you just sprinkle nakhla in too? cuz i know AF has a finer cut
so you can sprinkle it easily, but nakhla is usually strips of leaves
with bits poking up so u have to pack it down just a little bit[/quote]

avatar shrunk

when using nakhla, I try to seperate as much as I physically can. You
are right in saying it is not as easy to sprinkle in. They are simply
large chunks which are stuck together. It is literally a crappily made
tobacco which is harder to work with, and becomes harsh very easily.
This is where underfilling the bowl is important so that you can apply
alot of heat via charcoal, and the air space gives you alot of room for
manouvre and you can get maximum flavour and no burning.

I do make sure that the tobacco does not stick up in such a way that it
would touch the foil, but 'packing' it would be an incorrect way to
describe it as I do not compress the tobacco in the head, simply
arrange it in a relatively even manner which does not protrude to make
contact with the foil (even nakhla, and cannot overstress the
importance of this).

by sprinkling, I would have a bunch of tobacco in my palm (as much or
slightly more than I would use). close my hand ,and use my thumb, and
the three main fingers to sprinkle it in (uncompressing and seperating
the little bits into the head). feeding my fingers from the stash in my
palm.

[NERV]

how many grams would you say your bowl takes? mine takes 12.5 if i put
less itll actually be mro einclined to get harsh, i assume due to the
same amoutn of heat being applied to less tobacco, as i pack it now i
hardly ever get any damp tobacco when im done

[King Mo]

tbh I have no idea how many grams it takes. It is a pretty deep head
and will take a pic of it when i have time. It can probably hold 20-30
grams if I fill it, but I probably fill it around half way and it is
not densly packed. There is still a good amount of tobacco in there but
it is tough to describe which is why the photo will be much easier.

as long as there is a gap between the foil and the tobacco, then the
heat has to travel and the tobacco heats up better, rather than simply
the top surface getting burnt and destroying the flavour. Perhaps if
your bowl is a small one ,then filling it less is going to obviously
have a very little amount of tobacco left in the head. With smaller
heads you physically cannot leave too much of a gap as you'll end up
with nothing to smoke. This is why I prefer the freedom of the large
head. The coal discs are also easier to position on a large deeper
head. so you can experiment more.

[springs smoker]

Ok, I'm going to try and inject some sanity into this thread, by blowing your minds.

What makes you think you experience the same "taste" as someone else, when you smoke brand "x" ?

Have you ever heard the term "super taster"?

Our taste comes from 5 different types of taste buds, which pick out different components of what we experience as "taste".

It's often oversimplified into sweet, sour, salty, etc., but it's more complicated than that.

But - we don't all have the same number of each of those tastebuds, or
even the same ratios. From person to person, the number can vary by as
much as 10x, for any given type of taste bud. Some people barely taste
broccolli, others find it overpowering.

So, you may taste one component 5x stronger than me, and I taste another component 5x stronger than you.

What you experience is NOT the same as what I taste.

So get over it. Nobody knows what someobody else experiences when they taste any particular brand or flavor.

The best shisha for you, is the one that YOU like.

[John Deere]

You really cant go wrong with good old Nakhla.

[springs smoker]

Another thing to consider (especially regarding "thickness") is how you
prepare your shisha. How tight do you pack it, how many holes do you
poke in the foil, and how big? Do you draw fast or slow? How many coals
do you use? Every hookah is probably different, too.

I'm new to hookahs, but have been a traditional pipe smoker for years.
One tobacco will taste very differently in different pipes, or 
packed loose or tight, or drawn fast or slow. When I buy a new tobacco,
it's a learning process to find exactly how I best like to smoke that
tobacco. I may hate it in one pipe, but love it in another.

[cypress]

[quote name='John Deere']You really cant go wrong with good old Nakhla.[/quote]

I should send you some Nakhla Cherry and you can see how not wrong it is.

[MR Bubble]

That's funny Cypress, Of the different brands of cherry we've smoked here, it is still our favorite.  
Oh gang, speaking of wrongness, I got a package in today. I have a 50 gram sampler of Nakhla Fakfahina. I know the Fakfahina is a exotic flavor line of Nakhla (El Nakhla. I guess I can go ahead and use it's initials like everyone does with Al Fakher. So it is now EN) but this one uses it's Fakfahina name as the name of the flavor. It appears to be an exotic mixed fruit. Oh no! Nakhla mixed fruit! Hey, I opened the box and the smell was the best mixed fruit smell that has ever graced my nostrils. I will be reviewing it later tonight or tomorrow. The smell just blows me away! I can't get over this.
MR Bubble

[cypress]

What I can do is split the 250 I have between JD (if he wants to try
it) and you MR Bubble. I can send it out on Monday so if yall want it
send me info via PM. 

[MR Bubble]

Thanks Cypress! My package today included the new 250 gram can of EN Cherry. So, I'll pass. How old is your box anyway? If it's old the taste will be off somewhat.
MR Bubble
 

[cypress]

I didnt see a date on it when I bought the package. I got it from a
local middle eastern shop.  It had a floral tast that I didnt
like. It wasnt sweet at all.  Read my review on it. Its the last
thing i reviewed. 

[Mathazar]

I'll admit,  Nakhla Lemon & Double Apple aren't bad,  when you have nothing else to smoke.

But,  in my humble opinion,  Romman is the BEST.  And
I've been finding that Havana Special Grape is truly worth trying if
you haven't already.  It's very similair to Golden Seal Black
Grape,  except it has no currant flavor or smell to it.  Very
intense aroma and flavor.  Just the way I like it 

[mushrat]

Lest we forget EN Melon...
I may have to get a tub of the Sara Mixed fruit just because on monday when I get the XX apple. If they make  a XX this good, who knows what they might accomplish with a mixed fruit. Seeing as my only other Mixed fruit experience was with EN *shudder, twitch,blink* can only get better no?