Advice On Heat Management

[ganesha]

Hi all… I've been searching the forums reading all about heat management and such. (Hoping not to ask a question that has already been addressed.) I've said so in my other posts but I am really new to Hookah-ing and am still in the experimental stage. Basically learning how it works. I'm looking for some advice:

I bought a Mya last Saturday and it has a the windscreen,screen, and mod-bowl combo. I am currently using exotica coals. I usually break them into fourths (about an inch to an inch and a quarter long pieces.) I light two of those and save the others for later/next session. After they get cooked (they are glowing red with a "dusting of grey " all over) I place one piece directly in the center of the screen and close the windscreen. I let it sit for a minute or so lightly blowing a few times to get the coal hot. Then I put it on the stem and take about 4-5 good deep draws to get it going. After about 10 minutes or so I'm getting a really enjoyable smoke. I don't get the clouds I've seen some pics of but I think that's more because I am a newb and my lungs can't inhale that a gallon of smoke yet.

So far so good... but now here is where I run into troubles. If I leave the coal alone and don't touch it I get a good hour or so session. I read somewhere on here that after 15 minutes or so I should move the coal to the side. When I do that I usually get a harsh taste. (I believe it's because the sheesha actually ignites.) Also, I've read that for more smoke you should add more heat… When I do this I always ignite the sheesha and I get that harsh taste that ruins the session.

Here's my questions:

1. If I'm not trying to get the huge clouds, should I just leave the 1 coal in the middle and not bother with it? Or should I break them into smaller pieces and put the one in the center like I have been at first, then moving it to the side and adding the second smaller coal across from it after?
2. Is there a trick when you add more heat to keep it from igniting the sheesha?

Sorry for the newbie questions and thanks everyone in advance for your help…

[paiintballa182]

Dont place a single coal in the middle, instead break it in halves and place and rotate around the bowl

[Ninjalex]

You said you used 1/4's in the center. Have you tried maybe 2 or 3 1/4's spread around the outside edge of the bowl without using the windscreen? The windscreen will keep a lot of that heat inside. I usually use around 1 3/4 of the 33mm coals on a standard bowl to get it perfect.

[Anxiety]

buy 40 mm coals dice them into 4 then have 1 on each side but not one touching the mid...it's perfect

[paiintballa182]

gallons of smoke would be quite impressive, by the way

[mathuv]

dont use a screen. use foil, much easier to manage heat

[mathuv]

gallons of smoke would be quite impressive, by the way

i got gallons of smoke when i filled a 4 gallon container with smoke

[*HOT&SMOKING*]

gallons of smoke would be quite impressive, by the way

i got gallons of smoke when i filled a 4 gallon container with smoke

HE HE HE LOL LOL LOL

...anyway back to the topic at hand

I would also swap to foil.. and if you are talking about the windscrren bowl combo then I would stop using it because I have only ever heard bad things about it relating to heat management and such...

-H&S

[ganesha]

Thanks everyone that's made suggestions... I've tried several of them:
1. I have stopped using the screen and went to foil.
2. I cut the Exoticas coal into 8th's instead of 4th's.. I place two of the coals on the edge across from each other.
3. I am not using the wind screen at the moment.
I've already noticed a huge difference. I didn't have to "hoover the hose" to get it to start like I used to... instead I only had to take 2 good draws.... The flavor was good from the start (I'm smoking Fantasia Strawberry Banana Split) And I am getting much better clouds. Nothing picture worthy, but I also don't fill my lungs completely... being an old man I'm trying to work my way up to the killer clouds that I see posted.
On a side note, I think I'm even getting used to the nicotine because I'm not getting the sick feeling anymore...
Thanks again for the help...
Bill

[NickReppinThe909]

my personal setup that i like best is

1: loosely packed starbuzz
2: heavy duty reynolds foil
3: somewhere around 45-50 safety pin holes with one toothpick sized hole in the middle
4: 1 exotica split into 1/4s using 2 1/4s of the finger
5: run the coals parallel to eachother and after ashing rotate them to perpindicular positions of where they were befor ashing
6: use a wind cover IMO it works wonders
7: just room tempature bottled water in the base IMO it gives better flavor than tap water