Need Some Help

[roadie]

Lately I've been noticing that the smoke is alot more grey than white. Usually I have no problem with getting alot of smoke for a good 30 minutes. Here's my setup:

Stargate hookah
standard bowl
foil, spiral pattern, smaller-ish holes
Starbuzz or King Moassuel (usually)
Homemade hose (lowe's) with large diameter
verified no leaks at all
using QL's, usually one large, have tried breaking them up, using two, etc, no affect

My question is, I've tried adding glycerin, honey, to no avail, and shouldn't really need it anyway as the tobacco is not dry. It seems that there's a very fine threshold to where you can heat up the shisha just enough to get thick white clouds, then it follows with grey if it gets the slightest amount of too much heat.

How do you guys start your hookah? How quickly and how many puffs before you get white smoke? I'm pretty impatient, and had been using a compact air pump to get it going after just about 30 seconds or so, otherwise it would usually take about 8-12 long puffs to get her going. Does the shisha need to be heated up ever so slowly for the ideal conditions?

I've also noticed that there's a trade off of either white smoke, no flavor, or more heat and grey smoke with more flavor. Do you guys find this also? Thanks for the help! Edited June 25, 2008 by roadie

[Big Boss]

With Starbuzz, I get smoke of my first pull. What brand of quicklites are you using? Try larger holes in the foil. Experiement with different patters as well. I once tried a compact air pump to get my hookah going, but I soon learned that nothing is better than a set of lungs.

[roadie]

With Starbuzz, I get smoke of my first pull. What brand of quicklites are you using? Try larger holes in the foil. Experiement with different patters as well. I once tried a compact air pump to get my hookah going, but I soon learned that nothing is better than a set of lungs.

I can get smoke on the first pull easily if I use two coals, but it quickly goes grey and gets harsh as it's getting too much heat. One coal seemed to be perfect in the past. I'm using square QL's, no silver coating. I forget the brand, but they are basically a cube, maybe 3/4 inch.

I'm wondering if my hose is too big in diameter and am pulling too much smoke at once heating it up too much. Edited June 25, 2008 by roadie