Somethings Wrong Here...

[Allia22]

Dude, seriously, two layers of foil.

[Boersnoes]

Just some sidenote: I once tried the minth and it just tastes horrible. I'm a minth lover, but it just ain't meant for smoking.
After that I had a real hard time convincing my brain that not all Hookahs are terrible.

Since I feel that your posts are getting more and more frustrated: don't push it. It's supposed to be fun at all times.
Otherwise you might totaly unhookah yourself.

[cafesaden]

ok first of all, dont worry about 2 layers of foil. the bowl is packed just o.k. needs to be fairly loose with an 1/8 inch airspace. make sure you stir the tobacco up in its juices and acclimate it(could be part of the shitty taste). only 2 rings of holes aroudnd the very outside and the middle. break up your coal in half and place them hanging off the bowls edges. make sure they are ashed of completely or your going to get the chemical taste. if you really want to see an improvement light up those stargate coals. id use one broken up into thirds but only put 2 pieces on there.


hope this helps

[barrenwizard]

Well, first of all, make sure the holes are not that big. I use toothpicks to poke those holes on Tinfoil. Than whenever I want to change coals (BBQ Coals) I would blow the ash of the coals trough the bottom of the clay. To clear out those ashes or else you will get chock or ashes in your mouth, and those are nasty stuff to be in your mouth.

Other than that, don't use SUPER HEAT COALS. I understand that coasl specially made for Hookah are fast burn coals and would burn in whole in a short time, thus creating too much heat for the tobacco and making it harsh to smoke. Break it up to ease the heat of the tobacco. Unless you want more smoke but that depends on your setting. Sometimes my smoke is just as thick as my 2-stroke Honda NSR (Bike, out of topic).

cafesaden, love your signature. It gave me a short burst of laughter. Edited August 12, 2007 by barrenwizard

[fusilier55]

Hello,

I think you will see that there is no right answer! This is why you are getting such conflicting answers here. Hookah smoking seems to be an art. What works for one doesnt work for another, or works differently with different tobbacco or hookahs.

My own thoughts, I think you still have to much heat if you are getting a burnt flavour. That seems obvious to me. Reducing your coals will reduce heat. I understand adding a foil can do that too (I only use one foil). I think the thickness of your foil matters here though. I use stargate coals, and with my Mya bowl, I often use only one third a stick (though two were suggested to me). I do use a windcover to help concentrate heat though. I remove it and replace it alternatlvly as I notice changes in my taste. I would put more tobacco in the bowl as well.

I have seen al sorts of different arrangements for holes, and have heard many people insist that theirs is the correct method. I don't know, haven't experienced much difference in experimentiong with holes. I would think that bigger holes would allow ash to fall into your tobacco. That can't help.

I think adding water is only going to make it harder to pull. Adding ice or a little milk to your water might increase the smoke and flavour though.

I would use the stargates, as quick lights do usually impart some flavor. The stargates are also very consistant.

I like mint tobaccos, though they can be overpowering. I would also suggets you try the starbuzz if you have it. Different shishas cause different problems. I find Nahkla dry, which inhibits its flavour. AW is ok. The less flavor in your tobacco, the less your going to get smoking.

Just my opinions, and I am no expert

Ron Carnegie

[tsm29]

Wow, thanks for the many replys guys and gals.

I have an opened tub of Layalina Orange which I think i'll give a try tonight, I think the mint just doesn't work with me. The Starbuzz is all unoppened and I rather get this down before diving into that.

I'm going to switch bowls to my other Mya (from the Floweret). Like I said I do have a Phunnel but I've heard that they can be tricky at times. I'll go for the toothpick approach with small holes. I've also decided to use the Stargates in 1/3's.

SafeSearchOff,

I've been filling the bowl to the rim, I guess I could fill it a little more and just pack it down?

cafesaden,

That's another problem, I havn't been stirring up the juices and tobacco. The AW had a bit of juice on the bottom but I took a drier chunk from the top and then broke that appart. The Layalina has a good amount of juice so I'll give that a good stir. Should the bowl actually have a bit of that juice in it?

Again, thanks people for all the help, I'm sure I'll get this down soon enough. Edited August 12, 2007 by tsm29

[Allia22]

Yep, your bowl should be pretty wet. From your pics, it looks dry as a bone.

[cafesaden]

i like my bowls to have as much juice as possible but go ahead and use your phunnel! your going to end up trying it and never switching back to your regular bowls.



see how the bowl has an airspace, make sure the top of the tobacco is even all around (not like mine )

and here is how i poke my holes for natural coals, with japanese i poke smaller holes (i think they are hotter because i burn my bowls easy with those)



GL

[tsm29]

Cool, cool.

I have a mod with the Phunnel, should I use it? I was informed it smokes better with non Tangiers tobacco's. I'm in the process of cleaning this fella out right now, I'll post up tonight how it came out. Edited August 12, 2007 by tsm29

[ASUSEAN1]

double apple is an anise flavor.. that is probably why you tasted very little apple and a lot of licorice..

fill up your base with some lemon juice (its like 99 cents), fill the rest up with some water.. let it sit for a few hours.. shake it.. noo smell. you can clean mya hoses.. run water through.. spin it, then hang it up to dry after each use. dont leave it on the hookah, it will last a lot longer if you do it this way


you will have a lot better smoke when you give the hookah a good scrub down

So will the water take the smell out of the hose? I don't think the cleaning brush will go through the hose...

Also, about the shaft, just run lemon juice through it and scrub, then run water through an scrub?

well you can run some lemon juice through the hose as well. Soak the shaft in a lemon juice/water mixture for a couple hours and then clean it with the brush.. thi doen't work then you could always buy some 420 cleaners

[ASUSEAN1]

the tobacco shouldn't be sticking to the foil.. take cafesaden's advice and pack the bowl evenly but leave a space between the foil and the coal. from your pic you can tell you burnt the shit outta it. also when you start smoking don't tear up the bowl.. you dont have to keep taking crazy hits to get it going. if you take long slow drags the bowl will eventually heat up and you will get good smoke after about 5 minutes Edited August 12, 2007 by ASUSEAN1

[tsm29]

well you can run some lemon juice through the hose as well. Soak the shaft in a lemon juice/water mixture for a couple hours and then clean it with the brush.. thi doen't work then you could always buy some 420 cleaners

Oh shit, I've just been pouring a bit of lemon juice through the shaft and then scrubbing that. Then, pouring water down the shaft and scrubbing that. It's taken most of the smell away; or should I just mix the two and let it sit in there? It seems fine, the smell is almost completely gone...

[bigmac2201]

From your pictures, your coals look like they are old, not burning evenly or with a nice warm heat. I too had this problem that you speak of, but only when I smoked outside. I found that in very humid weather, my coals woulud burn erratically and with a lot of ash and look just like yours about half way through (which pissed me off), I would let your coals acclimate to the humidity outside for 4 to 5 hours before you smoke, that is assuming you are smoking outside, and light them with a butane torch lighter. These steps have worked wonders for me.

Cheers,

Big Mac

[tsm29]

Tonight, I think, was my first success.

I started off with packing the Phunnel and mod with the Layalina Orange. I packed it nice and neat and not EXACTLY to the rim. As said, I gave it some airspace. I picked peices from the bottom, not dripping, but wet.



Now here's where shit got crazy...

I put a full Stargate on my gas burner. It's a old one so it just has six rows of circular coils and a medium sized gap in the middle. The coal was pretty much all white with some cracks in the forming ash. I turned the burner off and picked it up with the tongs. The son of a bitch coal decided to break in half and fall down the gap on the stove. Upon seeing this I nearly shat myself as the hole is rather deep and gas + fire = shitstorm. I miracliously grabbed one half and then snatched the other and put them into a pie pan. Instead of getting two halves, I got like six small chunks. I know, I know, I'm retarded. So I put on four of the small chunks in a square design, like the Japanese formation.

The Hookah at start...


The coals...


I noticed that the Stargate's ash is very smooth, WAY better than the Golden Quicklights. I drew little drags to start it up. The smoke wasn't half bad, better than the AW or Nakhla. The Orange taste was real nice aswell although I still got that horrid burnt taste. I did run water through the hose and blow it out throughly but it seemed I was getting some water through it. It made a wierd sound every draw I took, not horrible, but it was present, like there was something in it other than smoke. However no water made it's way into my mouf.

Here's the coals half way, as you can see I added on another small chunk...


They lasted a good 45 minutes +/- 5. Around the 20 minute mark the smoke got a tad harsh so I took a coal off. It got better after 5 minutes so I put the coal back on and it was smooth from then on.

The finished coals...


The finished bowl...


When I first saw the finished bowl it seems the shisha was ashed on top but I think that might be actual ash from the coals, I don't know, I'm a bit confused on that. I poked smaller holes using a toothpick, one ring around the edge and one a little closer to the mod. Maybe some of the ash got in? The shisha on the bottom was pretty moist, it seems I had only smoked 1/3 of the bowl. All in all it was better than my last three attemps. It still tastes burnt as hell even though I don't think I burned it this time. I'm cleaning the hookah pretty damn well but that smell still remains even with the lemon juice. I will say these phunnel bowls are quite nice. I'm going to order another small and a medium one right after I finish this post tonight.

I don't know how many more tips will help at this point, I think its a matter of me getting down the heat management properly. My friend is coming down from NH soon so I'll have some help, he has a small hookah himself. I would just like to thank all of you that have helped, it means alot. Whereas it's still not great, it's getting there. Just need some good ol' practice Edited August 13, 2007 by tsm29

[barrenwizard]

You just did what to your hose? Run water trough it? I did that and now I'm smoking RUST. I didn't know that there's metallic stuff in there.

[The King]

Yeah, practice makes perfect, but I remember my first experience going way better than my fourth and fifth... the difference for me was while I was settin up the hookah pretty sloppy both times I had starbuzz the first time... I always find starbuzz to just not be so sensitive to heat management and such. Seems to smoke well easier than other brands.

[tsm29]

Yeah, practice makes perfect, but I remember my first experience going way better than my fourth and fifth... the difference for me was while I was settin up the hookah pretty sloppy both times I had starbuzz the first time... I always find starbuzz to just not be so sensitive to heat management and such. Seems to smoke well easier than other brands.

Yeah, when my friend comes down hopefully I'll pop some X on the Beach into my Floweret. Is Starbuzz alot harder to burn than Layalina or AW? That last thing I want is to have that burn and the Floweret to smell like poop.

[The King]

Yeah, practice makes perfect, but I remember my first experience going way better than my fourth and fifth... the difference for me was while I was settin up the hookah pretty sloppy both times I had starbuzz the first time... I always find starbuzz to just not be so sensitive to heat management and such. Seems to smoke well easier than other brands.

Yeah, when my friend comes down hopefully I'll pop some X on the Beach into my Floweret. Is Starbuzz alot harder to burn than Layalina or AW? That last thing I want is to have that burn and the Floweret to smell like poop.

Well if you want to be cautious two layers of foil does help prevent burning by reducing heat obviously but then sometimes its not enough heat so you have to add more coal and just end up burning it anyways.... just make sure you mix up the SB well, get moist pieces in your bowl, and add coal gradually untill you find the right set up... you'll need a little more coal in the begginning tho to get it started right...good luck, I've never had X on the Beach enjoy

[SafeSearchOff]

what other layalina flavors you got?

i smoked some layalina peach yesterday in my phunnel, peach snapple in the base + ice, drinking peach snapple. oh man, it was just... peachy. your should try it.

next im gonna try al amir orange filtered in orange juice, and layalina rasberry filtered in rasberry snapple, with a shot or two... or three... or more... of rasberry vodka.


pretty much its all trial and error, learn from your mistakes sort of thing. good luck with it, the floweret looks like a real nice pipe. enjoy man. as always if you have more wuestions just post, this place'll set you right.

[JoeLipinski]

Another cleaning solution (which I have not tried, but will) is to put your finger on the bottom of the stem covering the hole and then pour in some coke (no, not the drug) and then put your finger on the other hand on the top of the stem and slowly turn the stem up and down allowing the coke to get all the nasty stuff from the stem, then dump the coke out, brush, repeat with vinegar, brush, run some water through the stem. The acid in the coke should take out any residue from previous sessions, and the vinegar should take out any kind of smell.

I have also found that when I get a new hookah, it usually takes about 3 or 4 sessions to break-in the hookah to the point where you experience a very good session... It might just be me, but that is my experience. In regards to the coals... I am a stickler for natural coals to the point where I usually refuse to smoke with quick-lights. I think they taint the flavor and are a mess (ash and stuff). The mya bowl is ok but I prefer the small glass funnel bowl (from MN). hope some of this helps you.

[cafesaden]

looks like your holes were too big i use a toothpick or a pushpin. and i dont put the toothpick down to the fattest part.. also did you stir the tobacco up it still looks a tad ddry

[Sariél]

This may help, it may not, your mileage may vary...

I have found that the foils made especially for hookah work better for me; they are thinner, and Transfer heat more directly, with less latency.

While others may disagree, I have found that whenever the smoke gets harsh, I take the foil off and find tobacco sticking to it. I carefully scrape off the hardened, black tobacco, and replace the foil. When I pack a bowl, I tamp it down a little, making sure that the tobacco does not touch. When I don't use a phunnel with mod, I take a japanese (pointed) chopstick, and poke a hole through the tobacco (before I put the foil on) down to the center hole in the bowl, providing better airflow.

I also have a problem with unwashed tobaccoes, sticking to AF, Starbuzz, and occaisionally AW, Al Amir. I've found Starbuzz to be the easiest to manage. Eric thinks I may have a nicotine allergy, I'm still trying to make it down to SD to see if I can handle Tangiers as set up by The Master. I hope I can, I have tubs of TG that smell incredible, but make my lungs, head, and stomach explode. Nahkla too, to a lesser extent.

I always dig down in the tub to use the wettest sampling possible.

With the Phunnel, I always use the mod.

After putting the foil on, punching holes with the tongs (sharped with a bench grinder or dremel) I break a 3kings (or golden quicklight disc) in half, lighting them with butane torch or butane lighter. I put them on the bowl flat side up, and immediately cover them with a windcover, letting things heat up for a few minutes. Then I take a few drags on it, and as soon as I get big clouds, I take the cover off. If the coals aor completely grey, I turn them over on to their flat sides, moving them 90 degrees around the bowl to the surfaces that were not covered before. If it gets harsh, I take the coals off, carefully peel up the foil and scrape off any burnt bits that are stuck to the foil, put the foil back on, and keep smoking. Moving the coals around this usually lasts arounf 30 minutes. Every 10 minutes or so, I drop the coals in the tray, dislodging the ash covering the coals.

When these coals are down to almost nothing, I break off 2 pieces of diamante finger coals 1" to 1.5" in length and put them on my electric stove or hotplate turned up to full. I turn the coals over, and let them cook until there are small flames around them. Put them on the bowl. When they get too small, I put the windcover back on, getting another 10 minutes or so. By this time, I've been smoking for about an hour and a half or 2 hours, and am ready to quit.

I hope this helps, I've haven't had a bad smoke in 2 years using this method. Of course the phunnel is a recent addition, before that I got to like the bowl with the attached lid, or the standard clay bowls.

[Benji]

You just did what to your hose? Run water trough it? I did that and now I'm smoking RUST. I didn't know that there's metallic stuff in there.

I have the same mini Mya that came with my large order form H/S and I wash the hose that came with it atleast 30-40 times with just warm water and it smokes just fine.

I use a push pin to make a bunch of tiny holes with one 40mm Golden quicklite broken into 4 peices with a wind cover and ice/water mix.

Try sprinkling the tobacco into the bowl about 1/8 below the rim without packing it down; the mya bowl seems to be a bit deep. 1 layer of foil works just fine for me.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b353/bpn...-08-07_2320.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b353/bpn...-08-07_2321.jpg

-Benji

[tsm29]

Little update, just finished with the Starbuzz Tropical Punch, EXELLENT smoke. Just as it should be. I packed the Phunnel a little less and used a pin to poke 3 circular rows of holes in the foil. I ended up using the Stargates in 1/4's, putting on 3 at a time. Whenever it got harsh, I'd take one off, worked perfectly. Since I was outside I popped on the windcover. The smoke was fantastic, thicker than any of the clouds I've seen at the shisha lounge. The taste was bit more on the bubblegum side, but still, the flavor was there without the burnt taste. At the end it got quite harsh so we put out the coals and popped back inside. I found that most of the shisha was cooked well, the bottom still had a good amount left. I'd say we smoked 2/3's of it which took 1 hour 25 minutes between two people. All in all it was great, I put a review in the review section aswell. Thanks to all you guys for you help. I look forward to trying out X on the Beach tomarrow!

[ASUSEAN1]

You just did what to your hose? Run water trough it? I did that and now I'm smoking RUST. I didn't know that there's metallic stuff in there.

you need a washable to hose to wash it with water!