Hey Everyone! New To The Forum Could Use Some Suggestions Bad!

[Soeffinblack]

Hey everyone! I just bought a small 16 inch hookah off of ebay, seems to be working well besides a few things that dont have to do with the hookah itself.

Well, I tried setting up my bowl about 4-5 different ways today because when I went to smoke, it was harsh, didnt taste very good, I could taste the coal alot... I am used to going to the hookah bar and having great experiences with it so I decided to buy my own and not pay the 10 dollars per hookah session. Well i dont know if its somthing I am doing or if its the coals, I sorta suspect the coals. I havent read anything good about them yet and my own experience hasnt been a good one with them.

One of my questions is does hookah size make a difference in taste? the hookah bar and I both use hookah hookah shisha. Theres are about 10 inches taller though. any suggestions to someone just starting out? I am not having good luck at all. I could use the help seriously. The last hookah session with mine I got a headache for about 2 hours along with my friends. We ended up just going to the hookah bar out of frustration with it and thats the best experience I have had with one all day... please any suggestions at all.

[mushrat]

Well, i would suggest glancing up at the "New people, FAQ" stickied post for information. See if the way they describe is the way you are doing it....

[Allia22]

Describe your setup - screen or foil (one or two layers? heavy duty or regular?); water levels (how much above bottom of downstem); brand, size, and amount of coals; amount of shisha in bowl; size of bowl; hole pattern if you're using foil... anything you can think of, tell us.

[girlgeek]

Rollands are terrible. i have 2 rolls with my hookah stuff, they are my desperation coals, I won't even burn incense on them if I can help it. As far as quicklites go I've had the best luck with goldens, you might want to try those. I've also heard good stuff about 3 kings.

[metalhead209]

ya if we knew your setup it be way easier some things to keep on mind. it your using quicklites please make shure they burn all the way(glowing red) before you put them on the bowl. also it depends what type of shisha your using. differnt brands effect people diffrent ways. i get headachs from al waha sometime. find out what shisha the hookah bar you guys go to uses and start with that.

[Soeffinblack]

I bought that hookah. Me and my friends ran about 3 different setups with the foil. We even mad an aluminum ring to push the charcoal a little farther away thinking it might be burning it too fast. It has a wide bowl head on it thats not too deep.I heard some suggestions that lots of smaller holes are alot better then 10-15 bigger holes. also I am trying so hard to see if I can get refunded for the rolland charcoals I bought off of ebay since it ruined the taste of the tobacco or atleast thats how it seemed, I am going to try 3 kings theres a seller on ebay that has them for fairly cheap. Also the water only came up about an inch over the rod that sits in teh water I forget the name of it.

But are big hookahs better in taste or should small medium and large hookahs all have the same affect? The hookah bar the "firefly"(Yeah I know real manly hookah bar name) haha. The yuse hookah hookah tobacco as well as like 2 other brands but mainly teh hookah hookah. The other brands are just mixed flavors. The main ones are hookah hookah. I used cold water in mine by teh way, should I add ice? I really think it was the coals I used they tasted terrible.

any suggestions are really appreciated.

als oI think I MAY have packed the tobacco a little bit instead of keeping it light and fluffy in the bowl head. any pictures of what a good amount is or how it should look? It seriously just did not taste right no matter what we did it wasnt the hookah taste we were used too. Edited April 20, 2007 by Soeffinblack

[Soeffinblack]

?bump?

[HookahDuck]

Rolland coals should not be legal to sell or purchase in this country... They are your problem, I promise! I had a bunch of them sitting around a while ago and decided to throw one on to see if they tasted as bad as I remember them- I had to ditch the bowl and reload after about 5 minutes. Pick up some goldens or 3kings... anything really besides Rolland

[Soeffinblack]

I just ordered a 50 pack of 3 kings off of ebay.

My main question though is do big hookahs have better taste than small hookahs? The same tobacco tastes not nearly as good in mine compaired to at the local hookah bar. Even with the 3 kings charcoal, its just not as good for some reason, I cant figure out what I could be doing wrong or if its the hookah itself. Would a taller hookah make a difference?

[HookahDuck]

To answer your question simply, no. A larger pipe will provide a slightly cooler smoke- but pretty much anything that is 14+ inches will be about the same in this regard. A larger pipe will often have a wider down stem and will make for an easier pull, considering you have a hose that that is wide enough as well. There is no taste difference though, whatsoever.

[kornkitten42]

hookah hookah is a shisha most people on the forums dont like to use.

I use hookah hookah quite often along with other brands and here's my set up that gives me great smokes every time.

My qt (small hookah ) and for my large Stargate (same set up for both)

Water level about an inch to 1.5 above the stem. (i put ice cold water in mine that has been chillin in ice for a while)

i shake up /mix up my jars of hh shisha to make sure it's as juicy as possible.

fluff tobacco into the bowl, do not pack it down, as it's a very fine shisha and will clog the bowls holes.

then leave a tiny gap between the actual shisha and the coals. Place shiny side down (aluminum foil)

make sure A.F is taught. I place three rings of holes in my foil. Outside, middle, and inside. I place one hole in the center.

I then take two ql 3k or golden , after they are glowing red and are ashing gray (about 5 min process) and place them on the edges of the bowl opposite each other.I let them sit there and heat up for another 30 seconds or so before i start smoking. then i rotate them around as the bowl goes on.

If you hear the shisha sizzling or smell it burning or see lots of smoke coming from the bowl, your shisha is probably getting to hot to quick and causing nasty tastes.

hope this helps.

[Soeffinblack]

I AM getting the sizzling noise you speak of and it just doesnt taste right, another difference in mine is my bowl head is alot wider and not as deep as others. I am going to try a few things before I just sell it which would be the case if the bad taste doesnt go away I will try and see what I can do before I do this though, anymore suggestions would be fine thank you again!

[The fabulous Ian]

I'm still relatively new myself, and I discovered that two of the biggest reasons my bowl wasn't smoking good and proper was that A) I wasn't letting my coals get hot enough and (oh ye gods preserve us) letting the quicklights spark while sitting atop the bowl, and B ) I was making lots of large holes and letting my coals sit smack-center of the foil, and never moved them around. Good luck friend, I hope that helps at all. Edited April 24, 2007 by The fabulous Ian

[MAKCuMG]

Bro....

I too just purchased a new hookah, with rollands and hookah hookah tobacco. I WAS IN YOUR EXACT SHOES A WEEK AGO!!!!! I blamed the hookah, my set up, my incompetance, etc. and was very discouraged; yet here I am, a week later, after a wonderful smoke session, writing this...

Listen to what a few others have told you and don't overcomplicate things.

Rollands should indeed be illegal, and if it were up to me, i'd do the same to hookah hookah. Maybe one or the other is bareable, but the combination of both is just awful.

I am 99% sure it isnt you, considering that you've probably read every post on this forum regarding set up by now.

My setup stayed the same from day 1:

Stick the base with water in the freezer before you start packing.
I am pretty sure you know how to pack a bowl. Nice and loose.
Double foil. Holes slightly larger than toothpick size. Still made them with a toothpick.

Here is what I did that got me out of my hookah nightmare:

Three kings 40mm. Just one. Rotated it around the outside of the bowl every couple of minutes. My session length increased greatly.

Threw out the chemically smelling hookah-hookah (peach and double apple). and got starbuzz.

It was SOOOO worth it!!!

You are not doing anything wrong! It is awful shisha and awful coal!

[MAKCuMG]

PS: The rollands almost had me thinking starbuzz wasnt all it was hyped up to be. IT SO IS!!!!

[KillZedKill]

I almost got that same hookah, with the teal base though. Along with the roland coals, another problem could be the type of foil your using? If your using a light foil, switch to at least a standard sized foil, or even heavy duty, and make sure you put the foil on your bowl shiny side down.

[Soeffinblack]

I almost got that same hookah, with the teal base though. Along with the roland coals, another problem could be the type of foil your using? If your using a light foil, switch to at least a standard sized foil, or even heavy duty, and make sure you put the foil on your bowl shiny side down.

not sure if I used the shiny side down or not but I'll look next time for sure. By the way teh setup isnt bad(the hookah that is) the bowl isnt very deep and the hose leaks around the mouth piece a TINY bit and I really cant express how small the leak really is, but its not worth the 40 after shipping. The hookah bar down the road has nice used hookahs for 60 bucks. I wanna snag one, but if it came down to it I would buy it again for maybe a little less probbably, but there are some for 20 dollars more around here that are worth way more than mine.

[Soeffinblack]

Bro....

I too just purchased a new hookah, with rollands and hookah hookah tobacco. I WAS IN YOUR EXACT SHOES A WEEK AGO!!!!! I blamed the hookah, my set up, my incompetance, etc. and was very discouraged; yet here I am, a week later, after a wonderful smoke session, writing this...

Listen to what a few others have told you and don't overcomplicate things.

Rollands should indeed be illegal, and if it were up to me, i'd do the same to hookah hookah. Maybe one or the other is bareable, but the combination of both is just awful.

I am 99% sure it isnt you, considering that you've probably read every post on this forum regarding set up by now.

My setup stayed the same from day 1:

Stick the base with water in the freezer before you start packing.
I am pretty sure you know how to pack a bowl. Nice and loose.
Double foil. Holes slightly larger than toothpick size. Still made them with a toothpick.

Here is what I did that got me out of my hookah nightmare:

Three kings 40mm. Just one. Rotated it around the outside of the bowl every couple of minutes. My session length increased greatly.

Threw out the chemically smelling hookah-hookah (peach and double apple). and got starbuzz.

It was SOOOO worth it!!!

You are not doing anything wrong! It is awful shisha and awful coal!

whats starbuzz? I LOVE the hookah hookah rasberry flavor and get sick off the taste of double apple even though the head buzz is great. any suggestions on flavors from different shisha brands? While watching videos of people packing bowls.... I have yet to see a hookah hookah type of shisha to be put into anything, I liek the taste, especially at the hookah bar, is there really that big of a difference!?!? =)

[MAKCuMG]

Starbuzz is a premium American made tobacco. I think they are Cali. based. They are the most expensive brand, as far as I know, and generaly go for $20 for a 250g jar. I know its pricey, but this shisha is on a level of its own in regards to smell, flavor, smoothness, and ease of heat management. I haven't tried much: Nakhla, Hookah-Hookah, Al-Waha, and Havana. Starbuzz is literally out of their league (IMO, but I am sure others will agree).

There is a very good deal at socialsmoke.com now, where you can get 5 sealed 100g bags for 39.95+ shipping. And you could use the forum discount (hookahforum) to make it 33.96+ shipping.

Also get a box of 3 Kings. I am sure people will agree with me that you wont regret that purchase.

[Dudeman]

dude get some 3 kings. the hookah hookah tobacco isnt a bad smoke, but smileys sexy shisha is my favorite so far. prickley pear is awesome.

[misterbeetz]

whats starbuzz? I LOVE the hookah hookah rasberry flavor and get sick off the taste of double apple even though the head buzz is great. any suggestions on flavors from different shisha brands? While watching videos of people packing bowls.... I have yet to see a hookah hookah type of shisha to be put into anything, I liek the taste, especially at the hookah bar, is there really that big of a difference!?!? =)

Not many people I know like HookahHookah tobacco. I think it tastes like chemicals and i'm not alone in saying that. Its also the only tobacco that consistently gives me a bad headache after smoking it. Theres some people who like it. I highly suggest trying out some other brands though.

- misterbeetz Edited April 24, 2007 by misterbeetz

[hookahhippo]

dude get some 3 kings. the hookah hookah tobacco isnt a bad smoke, but smileys sexy shisha is my favorite so far. prickley pear is awesome.

It is my experience that hookah-hookah shisha tastes good but the flavor doesn't last long and there is no buzz. I have been hearing a lot about smiley's, I haven't tried it yet but i need to.

[ASUSEAN1]

whats starbuzz? I LOVE the hookah hookah rasberry flavor and get sick off the taste of double apple even though the head buzz is great. any suggestions on flavors from different shisha brands? While watching videos of people packing bowls.... I have yet to see a hookah hookah type of shisha to be put into anything, I liek the taste, especially at the hookah bar, is there really that big of a difference!?!? =)

Not many people I know like HookahHookah tobacco. I think it tastes like chemicals and i'm not alone in saying that. Its also the only tobacco that consistently gives me a bad headache after smoking it. Theres some people who like it. I highly suggest trying out some other brands though.

- misterbeetz

+1 hookahhookah and al amir taste like chemicals and the flavor dies out quick

[manntis]

I've been happy with Nakhla

[Soeffinblack]

I ordered a 50 pack of 3 kings off of ebay for 11 bucks a few days ago and that included shipping price with faster shipping. Not bad if you ask me, Now I just dont know what to do with 100 rolland coals I'll have sitting around...

Will anyone for a little bit of cash send me some of this shisha like say 15-20 grams of a few different types in zip lock bags and label them as well? I wanna try before I buy. =) someone help the new kid out when it comes to this I dont want to be at the bottom of the barrel for months or years. All the hookah shops around here only sell hookah hookah. So yeah anyone? I'll send it pay pal. please dont screw me over i would be sending almost every penny Igot haha and I promise its not much, help me out pleeeeeeeease...