Holes...do They Really Matter?

[drerodz]

Im pretty green to smoking hookah but I've gotten the gist of it. I hear people on here talking about "it's too hot" "its not hot enough" when they talk about getting a good smoke. Now as with most newbies to hookah smoking I use the the round quick light coals, and put tons of holes in my foil when I smoke. I get an "alright" smoke session which lasts about 15-20 minutes and then the flavor gets ashy and bitter which means the tobacco is burned and i'm done. At the same time, I hear people here saying their bowls last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour plus. So it must be something i'm doing wrong.

Am I putting in too many holes on the foil? Are the holes too big? Am I not placing them on the right spot? Do the holes to be in a certain pattern for smoking with round coals? Does the coal have to be broken up? Do I need more then one coal?

Some folks might even go as far as saying that it could be the tobacco I use. But I have used Al Fakher, Al-Amir, Starbuzz and Layaina (sp?) which from what I've read on the reviews are all GREAT for nice thick clouds. So what's my problem here? I need help

[shisha fan]

have a look in this topic: http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?showtopic=10119

it`s got a lot of useful info.

[ZenSilk]

Yes they matter.

Too big of holes = ash in your shisha (and maybe into your hose or mouth), too much heat at once (burning shisha), weak foil (the foil will bend inwards more and burn shisha)

Too small = Not enough airflow to get a good hit, heat can't be eveny transfered

Mess around with different sizes and patterns and eventually you will get what you want.

[pavlakos]

man, my seshes last up to 3 hours. everything matters. different equipment, different moassel, different coals and hole patterns, different foil, how you manage the heat. just mess with it, and experiment a little bit and soon enough youll be having nice long,flavorful seshes too.