Help Improve My Smoke!

[Hadjisofi]

Hey everyone. I've been smoking for a bit now, albeit inconsistently. My biggest problem is burning the tobacco and getting a harsh smoke or, when I break up the coal, not getting a thick, enjoyable smoke at all. Most time's it's harsh some of the tobacco will stick to the foil when I lift it up. I've tried near everything and it's starting to drive me insane. I'll break down my materials / process to open myself to critique and suggestion, both of which are greatly appreciated.

I've got a Mya Saray single hose; I love the hookah, it's substantial, looks great, no breaks or anything, excellent service. Etc.

I mostly smoke Al Fakher, though I tried Romman for a brief moment. I use quick starts... I was using three kings, the standard sized, but now I'm using golden.

I normally break up the tobacco and fill it to about the rim. I use aluminum foil, shiny side down. As for hole patterns... I've alternated between the sorta-H pattern I've seen floated around here and just randomly poking holes. I use a standard size needle for all of this.

Sometimes I'll use a whole coal and move it around, and sometimes I'll break it up and use a few pieces (breaking it is messy and a lot of time some pieces break so small as to be unusable). Using the whole coal sometimes gets an OK smoke at first, but certainly burns, while using small pieces will sometimes burn, sometimes not burn, but never result in a decent smoke.

Please let me know what I can do to improve on all this!

[OBY]

Man wish I could know exactly your problem... hell I just load a new bowl if it isn't right.... Most of the time I fill it half full to three fourths with shisha.... One layer of foil... random holes where the coal sits....

[Hadjisofi]

Man wish I could know exactly your problem... hell I just load a new bowl if it isn't right.... Most of the time I fill it half full to three fourths with shisha.... One layer of foil... random holes where the coal sits....

What's crazy is that most of the techniques I read here involve using TWO quick start coals at once, which apparently doesn't burn the shisha, while my use of one quick start coal does. Not sure.

[chinamon]

heres how i pack my regular bowls...

i sprinkle in the shisha and lightly press down with my finger to pack is in a tiny bit. i fill it to the rim.
wrap one layer of foil over the head and poke about 25-30 random holes with the poker that is attached to my tongs.
i light one 3king quicklight and put it right in the middle of the bowl when its ready.
it doesnt get harsh for me at all but the top layer of shisha does become black and sticks to the foil when im done smoking.

[MechAnt]

I generally use two 3Kings on my MYA bowl and its fine, never harsh nor does it burn. I always alternate one sitting flat on the foil while the other is half-stacked on the other. Check out the FAQs and the third or so post for a pic of the coal setup. As for packing the bowl, I just do it like everyone else. Leaving about half a centimeter between the shisha and the foil, poking the holes, but one thing I do is after that's done, I blow short hard puffs into the bottom and fluff up the shisha. All the packing and coal management is second nature now.

[HookahCulture]

See my post in the "thicker smoke" thread.

[Hadjisofi]

See my post in the "thicker smoke" thread.

Excellent, after utilizing what everyone said, I got a much better smoke. Incidentally, using the larger, 40mm coals worked much better for me too.