Too Subtle a Flavour

[Mumbaikar]

Hi People,
Ive blown up a sh*t load of cash on buyingflavour - double apple, silver apple, strawberry, mint, banana, lemon, orange, cappucino & cherry. Ive put wine, vodka, coke, champagne, milk & regular water in the base pot but _
[b]I JUST DONT GET A STRONG FLAVOUR[/b] - Its almost like the flavour is very very very subtle no matter what i try. The coal just overwhelms the flavour no matter how carefully or Judiciously I use it.
Please Advise Guys - ThanX !

[dizzing]

hmm... try using a different type of coals.  if you're using three
kings charcoals, they could very well be your culprit.  golden
coals as well as any other disc coal can be the same, to varying
degrees.  also , if you are using the silver japanese-style
charcoals, the Easy-Lite ones are purportedly pretty bad
sometimes.  i recommend trying out some natural wood coals,
especially the compressed fingers like Nour or Vivi coals (among others
i'm sure).  you have to light these manually, but once they're red
hot they can go on the bowl and they impart virtually NO flavor to the
smoke.  plus, as they're lighting (at least the olive wood
variety) they smell like baking olive oil... mmm...

[dizzing]

edit:

also, as an afterthought, i might add that if your hookah is not
super-clean flavor can often take a backseat to.. other tastes.  i
recommend using a gun cleaning rod with around a .30 caliber rifle
brush (this may vary based on your stem diameter) to clean out the
entire stem.  you want it to be to the point where when you run
hot water thorugh it immediately after brushing, the water comes out
clear.  this can be harder than it sounds, i spent about 10
minutes doing it today and i still never got it clear ..... guess i put
off cleaning it for a bit too long

plus, old hoses , especially non-washable ones iwth metal inside, can
eventually become ruined and make EVERYTHING taste horrible.  if
you have a hose that you know is washable (pictures of them can be
found everywhere, try searching the forums), you can stick the end in
your sink faucet and blow hot water thorugh it.  then, after
expelling teh water, smack it on the ground a couple or three times and
repeat until the water all comes out clean.  then, go outside and
spin the hose around in the air for around 30 seconds to evacuate all
the water.  good as new.

if you have a clean hookah, a clean hose, and flavorless/odorless
natural coals, then there should be nothing standing between you and
flavor

[dizzing]

or if you're metric, a brush for a 7.62 caliber

[Mumbaikar]

Thank You Ill give that a shot !

[yashman19]

Also, what brand of ma'assel are you using? There are some brands that don't have as much flavor as others.

A clean hookah normally wouldn't make a difference in weak flavor. A
dirty hookah on the other hand will give you tastes from  previous
sessions, and only if those sessions had strong flavors, which sounds
like is the opposite of your problem.

So let us know what brands of coals/ma'assel you are using. Also, the
type of hookah and are you using foil or a screen. If foil, what is
your hole pattern. There are a number of different things that can
cause flavor loss.

Check to see if your hookah is air-tight. I know people who are new to
hookah, set up their first, and have your exact same problem ,and it is
due to not having an air-tight hookah. When the hookah is not
air-tight, regular air is being let into your hookah instead of just
smoke, and this can dilute the smoke going into your lungs. Once you
have a air-tight vaccum hookah, you will get nothing but smoke, and
should get better flavor.

Test to see if your hookah is air-tight by setting everything up
normally, but instead of putting on the bowl, take the bowl off and
cover the top of the stem with your hand. Then pull on the hose. You
shouldn't be able to pull any air through, and if you can pull air
through, listen to where the air is coming from. Then just patch that.

Test this and let us know, it could just be coals or a weak brand of ma'assel.

[dizzing]

yash, i disagree.  my hookah , unless it has been cleaned after
every session, has almost no flavor. and i have experienced this with
all my hookahs (i've had 4) and all brands of ma'assel.  if i
clean it , though, it's great.  hrm...

[yashman19]

I wash my hookah after every session, but this does not include
cleaning the stem. I only clean my stem roughly about once a month with
a long narrow brush. I do change the water between every session.



So when you say you clean your hookah after every session, does this
include brushing the stem? If so, that must suck to clean your hookah
that much. Like I said, I only clean the stem once a month if I'm
lucky, and I get plenty of flavor...And I have three hookahs, nothing
is done differently between them. Maybe you maintain your hookahs and
prepare them differently, and is causing your lack of flavor without
cleaning..

[mushrat]

we still don't know one important question. WHAT KIND OF COAL?

[zzzzzT]

 To get extra flavor I pack my bowls a certain way.

I prefer to use a
deeper bowl rather than a shallow one. I put the shisha in the bowl to the top.
Then I pack it down as tight as I can leaving some space between the coals.
Holding the shisha down with my fingers I then use a wooden barbecue skewer to
make air channels by poking it through the holes from the bottom of the bowl. I
then suck air though the bowl to make sure I am getting good airflow. I then put
on the foil and make a dozen of so holes with the skewer. I use two Japanese
coals to start then add one more when the coals are halfway down and another
later on.

I always get a nice flavorful smoke this way. I have heard some
brands of Japanese coals can leave some off flavors though. I light the Japanese
coals with a propane torch till both sides are nice and red and then blow on the
coal for a minute to get it nice and hot.

This method works well for me.

[yashman19]

[quote name='zzzzzT'] To get extra flavor I pack my bowls a certain way.  
I put the shisha in the bowl to the top.  
Then I pack it down as tight as I can leaving some space between the coals.  
Holding the shisha down with my fingers I then use a wooden barbecue skewer to  
make air channels by poking it through the holes from the bottom of the bowl.  

This method works well for me.  [/quote]

If you say this works best for you, then more power to you and you
should keep doing what works, but I just want to throw something out
there to you. When you pack the ma'assel in real tight, you arn't
burning the ma'assel to its full potential. Sure you might be getting
good air-flow because of the holes you have made, but the reason most
people recomend packing the bowl lightly is so the air can pass
throughout the whole bowl, not just through your holes. Give it a try
atleast once, and compare the foils after a session with light packing
and tight packing. See which bowl has burned better.

I think with packing it too tight, you are gunna have a lot of unused
ma'assel that didn't get used because of inefficient packing.

So yeah, I always say do whatever works best for you, but I was hoping
sometime you would give this way a try. You never know, you might like
the results. If not, eh, theres one bowl. Sorry

[oo11]

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