Problems And Questions

[7an]

Well i've been smoking for quite some time, and I really want to get into this hobby properly.

Atm i've got just a shit pumpkin hookah, worse than several i've seen on this site.

Anyway, help me out, and i'm sure there are people in my situation, so hopefully this thread will be helpful to others.

Well, first up, cleaning. In the faq, the hookahwiki cleaning page does not exist anymore.

I think my cleaning is really poor, and i can't find much information. Basically all I do is rinse the stem and vase, and suck water up through the hose and get it carefully to my lips, then blow out contents. I do this 4 times. First few times disgusting brown water comes out, but eventually fades. The hose tastes bad just breathing air through. It's a poor quality hose, and always had a bad taste to it. The stem smells bad too.

Recently, the hose has been expelling shards of charcoal. Not good.

Also, i clean the bowl just by running water and scratching it clean with my thumb. The top of the bowl(which is 'rough') is very discoloured to brown, can't do anything about it. It is a ceramic bowl, and shisha always chars a bit.


Now some questions...
I'm gonna buy a quality hookah soon. I guess big hookahs get more smoke? And make it better for multi-stem sessions? There has been talk of Mya, Egyptian, Syrian... What is the difference between all of these? And then there are phunnel bowls, glass bowls, etc., bah I don't know the difference at all.

So yeah, I need to know more basics and some intermediate knowledge to get into this hobby thoroughly, that it seems everyone knows already. Help a hookah brother out. Edited October 23, 2007 by 7an

[ahwahoo2006]

Cleaning: Warm water with a touch of soap, scrup with a dish brush or scrubby sponge. Rinse with diluted lemon juice to remove smells (vinegar and vodka also work). I also like to run mine through the dishwasher (with no soap) once a month or so. Ceramic bowls will discolor over time, it is normal.

Hose: If your hose is as bad as you say, it is probably time to invest in a new one. Mya makes a nice washable hose, and many people on the forum will recommend a Nammor. You can also make your own hose out of vinyl tubing (~$0.25 a foot at Home Depot) which will be completely washable.

Hookah: MYA (www.myasaray.com) is a company, they mass produce very nice pieces. I, personally, am a big fan. Egyptian and Syrian are two types of hookah. Egyptians have a female bowl with a male stem and Syrians have male bowl with a female stem. They are both fairly comparable.

[iamscott06]

Hose:
http://www.hookahforum.com/Make-replace-Yo...res-t13233.html

Recently, the hose has been expelling shards of charcoal. Not good.

Rust? Is your hose washable?

Cleaning:
Alwahoo coverd that pretty well. At the end of the day all i do is just run warm water through all the parts and let it dry out over night, sometimes when im in the mood i do the lemon/soap stuff.. but not often.

Can't think of anything else plus its lunch time