More Harshness Or More Flavor?

[rbyers]

Last night at a hookah session I hosted I used room temperature water in the vase of my 2 hose 28" hookah, (don't know what brand or company sorry) and I noticed that it was a lot harsher and i could barely get a nice lungful before feeling like coughing.

I have had sessions with ice that I could take entire lungfuls and not feel a thing, and now i'm wondering:

How much does the temperature of the water affect the flavor/thickness of the smoke?

The harshness also could be attributed to the shisha, which was Al-Waha raspberry as well as Al-Waha Double Apple. I think I'm going to stop smoking Al-Waha and just smoke fumari... But hearing your opinions would be good.

[L'Oignon]

Colder makes it smoother and thicker I believe. I've heard around here that using hot water would make a really smooth smoke, but you wouldnt see any clouds

[DrunkenWizard]

Sounds like a heat issue. Mess with the coal a little bit.

[Officer Rod Farva]

Cold water will allow more nicotine through. If you are using Al Waha, which contains nicotine, more will come through with the ice water. Companies may, although we don't at Tangiers, balance the flavor of the tobacco in ice water (which would be the best way to have a constant test temperature). Using different temperatures of water (higher) would torque the flavor slightly towards the less water-soluble flavors...which tend to be the obnoixous or harsh flavors.