Tangiers Knowledge Base

[pinky]

Hi there!

I became tired collecting Links in my browser with single bits of Tangiers information. So I collected the importend ones in this thread to get a knowledge base from the help Sonthert gave us in the past. I added the topics and links so that you can lookup where it came form.

Please help me adding things that you find worth beeing in this thread.


Packing a bowl:

Topic: Rehash: Tangiers Tobacco + Phunnel + Scalli Mod, How to make it rip thick but not harsh??!!
http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showtopic=7501

Here's my tips on smoking Tangiers Well:

1. Open package, empty tobacco and juice into clean container. Squeeze as much juice as you can into cointainer.

2. Let acclimate for a day. (Optional)

3. Stir tobacco and juice well.

4. Lay tobacco in bowl. Don't spread it, separate it or mash it down! The density of the tobacco in the tub is the density the tobacco should be in the bowl as opposed to most brands that are ground up smaller that you have to separate out in the bowl (spread it out in the bowl).

5. Add foil/screen. More airflow is better. I like to use a 100 or so squarish holes formed by a seafood fork. Don't use something like a pushpin or needle. Two 1/4" holes don't allow as much air through as one 1/2" hole (not that you should be putting holes that big in the foil....just a rule to be understood).

6. Invert the bowl and, while holding the foil/screen so it doesn't blow off, blow through the hole that will be connected to the hookah. The air should pass through easily , not effortlessly, it should feel like there is something in there (The tobacco).

7. Put bowl on hookah. For a large Tangiers bowl, I use about 1 33mm 3 Kings quicklight (broken into thirds or quarters and then lit, individually) or four Japanese style coals.

Most common problems why Tangiers doesn't smoke right:

a. Too little tobacco in the bowl...makes the smoke thin and harsh.

b. Too few holes in the foil (not an issue with a screen)...also makes the smoke thin and harsh.

c. Too much charcoal...flavor dies quickly or smokes harshly and then dies...use less charcoal.

If you're getting good smoke, but its harsh, take some charcoal off. If you aren't getting much smoke, its too little tobacco or too few a holes in the foil.

The tobacco will smoke a little harsh for the first five minutes or so frequently, but once the bowl gets up to temperature, the whole thing will smooth out into smoking mode.

Pictured Tutorial:

Topic: How to pack a Standard Tangiers Bowl
http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showt...amp;hl=standard

Finding the right amount of tobacco

Topic: Omfg!, Tangier's is smoking!
http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showt...oking&st=20

Usually adding a bit more tobacco reduces or eliminates the tickle.

On a 0-10 scale, ten being way too much tobacco, 0 being way too little, 5 being a perfect amount, this is what you can expect:

0-Smoke is thin and harsh. Tobacco tends to scorch quickly. Burnt, rubbery awful flavor. Smoke is little more than a wisp.
1-Smoke is thin and harsh. Smoke is too thin, less than would be expected. Flavor varies from rubbery to harsh, vague flavor.
2-Smoke is thin and harsh. Flavor slightly peeks through, but overall generally harsh.
3-Smoke is medium, somewhat harsh, flavor is good.
4-Smoke is good, slightly harsh, flavor is well developed.
5-Perfect! Smoke is smooth, a very slight twinge from the nicotine, perhaps, depending on flavor.
6-Smoke is a little thicker, flavor is good, but often gets harsh an hour or two in and gets worse through more smoking. Juice may leak down sides of phunnel bowls an hour or two in to smoking. One or two streaks of juice.
7-Smoke is good, flavor is pretty good, slightly off and bitter, smoke becomes slightly erratic and gets thin when charcoal aren't flipped regularly. Coal may stick slightly to foil or screen. Several streaks of juice will stream from under foil and down the sides.
8-Smoke is fair, flavor is barely distinct, dominated by a bitter plastic flavor. Charcoal sticking to foil/screen. Juice may be apparent on top of foil., some leaking down sides.
9-Smoke is weak, flavor is only "sweetened plastic". Charcoal nearly impossible to remove from foil. Juice prevalent on foil. A little juice leaking from sides immediately.
10-Smoke is non-existent or very slight. Coal sticks to foil immediately. Flavor awful and soapy. Juice leaking from foil, top and sides.


Humidity Shock effects

Topic: Which Tangiers Flavors undergo the most changes in Humidity Shock
http://www.hookahforum.com/Which-Tangiers-...ock-t12931.html

Flavor-wise, strawberry and blueberry seem the most prone to "lose" or change flavor. Peach seems to suck nicotine out of the tobacco and kick ass when in humidity shock. If you want to get some beat-down, smoke Juicy Peach right after the weather gets damper (Or cheat and put it in the freezer for a day). Lemon blossom fluctuates, being lemony or flowery depending on the weather, Green apple and watermelon will change a little, the flavor becoming stronger or weaker, Kashmir Apple is pretty damned stable, as is mint. Cocoa seems to be pretty stable, too. Cool Strawberry gets weaker in shock, Blackthorn seems pretty stable, grape, as mentioned above, is very sensitive. Cinnamon and clove get stronger and weaker, Kashmir Peach will get slightly more kashmiry and harsh. Marigold gets weaker, Vanilla will fluctuate wildly, but its hard to notice. Pear will get lighter, Raspberry is pretty sturdy. Apricot is pretty solid Lime and orange soda are pretty solid, Guava will do real well, taking a lot to make it change, but when it goes into humidity shock, it will taste awful. Passionfruit will get lighter. Red tea will kind of taste heavy when in humidity shock. Blue Gum ball, being a blueberry flavor will get lighter, too. Tropical Revenge! is pretty stable. Summer Solstice will fluctuate some, getting lighter, the guava predominating, the guava fading behind the watermelon. Horchata seems to get a little harsh in shock, spearmint varies a little brambleberry kind of fades into a raspberry like flavor. Kiwi becomes very tart in shock, nectarine seems to hold up well, new raspberry is a little sensitive.

Packing HowTo's

RaverX Video Tutorial

Topic: Packing A Bowl Of Tangiers Tobacco
http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17067 Edited February 5, 2008 by pinky

[Allia22]

*applauds* Very good job

I request this to be stickied. Edited October 6, 2007 by Allia22

[racemyghost]

very nice pinky.

i award you the Tangiers medal of honor!

[Sonthert]

Yes, well played. Well played.

Quick Edit: I posted a series of pictures of some guy that looks like and farts like me packing a head (I believe it was a head of experimental black currant although the pictures don't say so.) See if you can find them, that would be a good series.

A madman attacking with an oyster fork!
Man protecting himself, using tub of tobacco.
It so wet, now. Oh, baby.
A scientist, trying to repulse an alien attack develops a miracle cure at the last minute, but then loses his grip and destroys the only sample!
Whomever left that stem in there is so fired!
Protecting your tobacco from the government's orbital mine control lasers. Use foil. Thick foil...impregnated with Niobium and Erbium...maybe a little butterscotch ripple, too.
Doctors try to operate, to put an appendix back in, using nothing but a sheet of foil and an oyster fork.
God, what a sexy leg. The charcoal...its so photogenic.


Sorry the format is hinky. I found them.

Edit: Look at the two pictures when I'm stirring the tub and its wet and the tub after I have the bowl ready to go. Look at the amount of tobacco "missing". The foil picture is instructive, too. I press the foil down with the palm of my hand and rotate lightly, not pushing down hard...that amount of divot in the foil is about right...more of a divot and it will be harsh...less and it will be too tough to draw air/smoke through.

I believe phunnel bowls only add about 20% to the performance of the tobacco, but make it 40% easier to get to smoke right. If you see what I'm saying. We consistently get great results using standard heads.

More
Man plays Uruguayan game involving a coin. Coin is to show the scale of the holes. Edited October 7, 2007 by Sonthert

[MechAnt]

What bowl is that? The standard tower bowl? I don't see the inverted part

[Sonthert]

What bowl is that? The standard tower bowl? I don't see the inverted part

Large, standard grip, actually. Cut edge.

LCG is the ordering code, the colors are black/castille blue.

[ASUSEAN1]

your host for these pics are hella slow.. but overall this jus gave me motivation to get off my ass and smoke some more tangiers

[cymptom]

Why is the tobacco so dry before you stirred it? Mine has never looked anything like that...

[iamscott06]

your host for these pics are hella slow.. but overall this jus gave me motivation to get off my ass and smoke some more tangiers

yea it is pretty slow... and unless its just super slow but only 2 of the pictures are trying to load, the rest just have a small red x..

edit: nvm i just had to refresh the page after two pics fully loaded then 2 more would start loading. Think i might buy one of those bowls depeding on price and color selection..

edit 2: is this the bowl you where using? http://www.hookahcompany.com/tangiers_larg...d_1132_prd1.htm

Thanks Edited October 8, 2007 by iamscott06

[pinky]

Maybe someone could sticky this post. This could help many of us. The Pros with optimizing tobacco amount and dealing with humidity problems and the others to figure out how this tobacco should be handled.
What I couldn't find anymore where some informations on difference between packing a standard Tangiers bowl and packing a funnel. And some information about different charcoals dealing with Tangiers. Sonthert said some words on this. Maybe you could give us a few words on this.

[Foos]

I agree, this should be stickied if not for the reasons pinky stated then for the sole reason that theres new "cant smoke tangiers" threads at least 3 or 4 times a week. At least this will give em something to read before they make another thread about it.

[HookahCulture]

Blowing into the inverted bowl will cause some moassel to stick to the foil and in turn be BURNED.
Just fill it a few mm below the rim. Looks like that bowl is WAY overpacked.
As for the foil, try to avoid sag. Have it nice n tight across the rim.
I don't think you're supposed to block the hole with moassel? I would place holes as a donut AROUND the bowl hole by a half inch.
The packing and hole pattern is reminiscent of a hookah lounge around here. Even though they're middle eastern, I wouldn't say this is a correct method.
If you hear a sizzle when you place the coals, you already know the moassel is too close to the foil!
Also, moassel "fluffs" upwards during the smoke - even though you might pack it below the rim, you'll still end up with some stuck to the foil.
In these photos I'm willing to bet that the foil swells like the old Jiffy-Pop popcorn on the stove!
I think you'll get much more favorable results using half the amount of moassel.

As for images, use imageshack.us --- reliable for bandwidth and fast loading time.
I've got HSI and those pics are taking AGES to load! Looks like imageigloo is for the birds.

[HookahCulture]

Why is the tobacco so dry before you stirred it? Mine has never looked anything like that...

Cuz the moisture settles toward the bottom in the container.

[MechAnt]

That's Eric, Tangiers, packing it himself. Its not a phunnel either, its a standard bowl but tangiers style.

Blowing into the inverted bowl will cause some moassel to stick to the foil and in turn be BURNED.
Just fill it a few mm below the rim. Looks like that bowl is WAY overpacked.
As for the foil, try to avoid sag. Have it nice n tight across the rim.
I don't think you're supposed to block the hole with moassel? I would place holes as a donut AROUND the bowl hole by a half inch.
The packing and hole pattern is reminiscent of a hookah lounge around here. Even though they're middle eastern, I wouldn't say this is a correct method.
If you hear a sizzle when you place the coals, you already know the moassel is too close to the foil!
Also, moassel "fluffs" upwards during the smoke - even though you might pack it below the rim, you'll still end up with some stuck to the foil.
In these photos I'm willing to bet that the foil swells like the old Jiffy-Pop popcorn on the stove!
I think you'll get much more favorable results using half the amount of moassel.

As for images, use imageshack.us --- reliable for bandwidth and fast loading time.
I've got HSI and those pics are taking AGES to load! Looks like imageigloo is for the birds.

[mdl]

Holy large photos Eric!

[HookahCulture]

That's Eric, Tangiers, packing it himself. Its not a phunnel either, its a standard bowl but tangiers style.

Ah OK....
Still, I would've MADE a hole through the moassel to the holes on the bottom, maybe about a dime wide, and still made the donut of holes in the foil.
(And packed it only half full.)

[Allia22]

That's Eric, Tangiers, packing it himself. Its not a phunnel either, its a standard bowl but tangiers style.

Ah OK....
Still, I would've MADE a hole through the moassel to the holes on the bottom, maybe about a dime wide, and still made the donut of holes in the foil.
(And packed it only half full.)

Ok then, have fun with your horrible Tangiers session. We'll stick with the tried and true method of loading that thing up

[olooko]

Oh hell, yea. The pics are great. I found only one problem with using a STD bowl, but it's not major. It's all the juices flow into the bowl so there is alot more scrubbing to clean the hookah. I'm gonna buy a funnel soon. Tangries Rock. Thanks for the post and thanks Eric for making such great shisha.

[cymptom]

Why is the tobacco so dry before you stirred it? Mine has never looked anything like that...

Cuz the moisture settles toward the bottom in the container.

Well yeah, no terds, but I could let mine sit still for a year and it would never look like that. Have you ever seen/smoked Tangiers? The leaves are so light in color... I've never seen them that dry.