Thermal Stone / Coal Replacement

[Ghelyoun]

Any thoughts on using stones, or other non-degradable material, instead of coal? My main concern would be finding a material that would retain heat long enough... Another problem is time, it would take considerable time to heat something like that.

Just a thought.... Edited November 4, 2008 by Ghelyoun

[fineout]

needs to be something that will heat up when air is passed across it, or can be activated...

[Ghelyoun]

Im thinking, the 'stones' should be in the same size and shape as coal discs and have small holes drilled through so that when you inhale, the air passes through the holes in the hot stones and thus creates the same effect as a piece of coal.

[modisess]

wouldn't the stones lose heat pretty quickly though? i've heard about some gas grills using some stones or ceramic to replace coals?

EDIT :

I've done some research and this is what i found out

Gas jets heats up ceramic or lava stone in the base of the barbeque, which then throw out heat to cook the food.

Really interesting, might give a good hard look at those stones they were talking about. Edited November 5, 2008 by modisess

[Mirus]

Could coral work? I have no idea about it's heat holding qualities, but it has many airholes and would be perfect.

[modisess]

ok googled about the lava stones that are used for cooking heres what i've come up with it, i'll just quote from the website

The stones, which are volcanic, are heated either in oven or on a gas hob. We sell oven especially designed for this purpose as well.

The standard heating time is 20 mins at medium heat on a gas or electric hob and 40 mins in an oven at 250 degrees. However, you can adjust this once you know how well you require the different meals to be cooked.

The stones retain there heat for forty five minutes after removal. The stones are loaded from the oven onto stoneware plates, which have been specially designed to withstand the intense heat. To serve, ingredients are placed directly onto the hot stones, which cooks and seals without the use of oils or fats, locking in the nutrients and juices.

After use your they should still be handled with care using oven gloves as they will remain hot for over an hour. The best way to clean them is to place in a sink with warm water and leave for around 30mins, by which time you should be able to wipe the surface clean.

The Lava Stone can be used as well for the conveyor plan of a tunnel oven to achieved energy efficiency and a better bakery product.

Really sweet, and from what I understand, you can adjust the heat you want on the stone.

Here's the link.
http://www.tradekey.com/product_view/id/14...rack=kss_ptitle

[Hippo_Master]

Those gotta be some hot stones!!

[Stuie]

20 minutes...and people complain about Coconara's

Well they are free, check any railroad track in Texas...tons of them.

[Ghelyoun]

Wow, that lava stone thing sounds great! I agree, 20min heating time is quite long but imagine not having to buy or run out of coal.

Any thoughts on sandstone? Texture-wise it's really close to coconara....

Let me know if anyone tries the lava stone, not so easy to come by here in London.

Cheers!

Oh by the way, just had another thought, those lava stones would work brilliantly on the glass phunnel bowls....

[indian_villager]

But the thing is when you cook with the stones you usually just let it sit there and allow the natural concentration gradient take care of heating the food in question. With hookah on the other hand the stone while sitting there is losing its energy to the air while you are not pulling. It's surface temp will drop dramatically while taking a hit only to find a lower equilibrium temperatue at the end of the hit. While a coal when you take a hit speeds up the combustion reaction giving it a higher surface temp which is need for a hookah. The stone will do the opposite of what is needed! Edited November 6, 2008 by indian_villager

[AKammenzind]

but imagine not having to buy or run out of coal.

Yeah, and just imagine having your oven run for 40 minutes at 250 degrees every time you wanted a smoke... and how ridiculous your gas bill would be...


On a second note some of you guys really might want to just try thinking for a minute about this. Stones do hold heat yes... but not that well, and the surface heat does dissipate pretty fast. If you're pulling cool air past it all the time this cooling would be sped up quite a bit. And you're not really saving money, hassle, or the environment by heating up a bunch of rocks every time you smoke hookah... unless maybe you happen to be baking a lot of damn cakes all the time.

Plus, the smaller the rock, the quicker it will lose its heat... and you really don't want to be putting half a brick on top of your bowl, that's just a recipe for disaster.

Edit: Whoever mentioned sandstone should make a large campfire and get a bunch of sandstone pebbles from the ground around ya and toss them right on in... sandstone will absorb moisture very well, and will often explode after a while of being heated. But seriously, try it. And stand very close to the fire while you're at it. Edited November 6, 2008 by AKammenzind

[jordanneff]

Any thoughts on using MEAT, or other ORGANIC material, instead of coal? My main concern would be finding a material that would retain heat long enough... Another problem is time, it would take considerable time to heat something like that.

Just a thought....


/ridiculousness

[indian_villager]

Go buy some coals or invent some form of electrical heating element!

[Neil's butt boy.]

Go buy some coals or invent some form of electrical heating element!

1 of the smoke shops nere me sells electrical heating element for hookahs ( not cheap at all )

[Akkbar]

I tried smoking using rocks from a fire once.

It tasted like... rocks.

Rocks do not taste good.

[roux58]

Well I'm a chef and have used slate to cook pizza and other times of dough on. I'm guessing that the heat distribution would be awesome but the taste....not so much.

[Bulldog_916]

What I would do is make an electric element. Place a sensor in a drilled hole in the stem. Once it detects lower air pressure, it sends an instruction to the heating element to heat up. After pressure returns to whatever normal is, the element cools off a bit.

[VDDZ]

Nice idea, good thinking.

But I was thinking something moare of a leaf switch. A light peice of metal (the leaf) sits on top of a contact point, when you pull air down, it pulls the leaf, connecting the switch and heating up the rocks

[indian_villager]

Or to save yourself the technical hulabaloo just put a freggin switch on the hose. Hold it down while taking a hit. With the leaf switch and the pressure detection unit it is going to make cleaning a bitch or easily damaging to your setup.

[antouwan]

a buddy of mine at BC told me about a friend of his up there who actually has a set of lava rocks to use as a coal replacement. he says they're pretty nifty, they don't affect the taste, don't ash (obviously) andwork pretty well. he says the guy puts a few on the burner (or heating element) and then after a while, puts a certain amount on the head (while leaving another set on the burner), and then when the ones on the head loose heat he switches them out. my buddy says he does this like every 20 mins or so...

i mean it'd be nice to try at least once, i know i can buy a few rocks for nothing....or just find some. you wouldn't have to put up with ashing, coals breaking, no taste, sparks or anything else (i doubt they smell while lighting).

[AKammenzind]

a buddy of mine at BC told me about a friend of his up there who actually has a set of lava rocks to use as a coal replacement. he says they're pretty nifty, they don't affect the taste, don't ash (obviously) andwork pretty well. he says the guy puts a few on the burner (or heating element) and then after a while, puts a certain amount on the head (while leaving another set on the burner), and then when the ones on the head loose heat he switches them out. my buddy says he does this like every 20 mins or so...

i mean it'd be nice to try at least once, i know i can buy a few rocks for nothing....or just find some. you wouldn't have to put up with ashing, coals breaking, no taste, sparks or anything else (i doubt they smell while lighting).

Yeah but you would have to deal with switching the rocks a lot, and re-heating them the whole session, which besides adding to your energy costs (running a stovetop for an hour isn't free) would also be pretty annoying, even if you usually smoked near a stove.

[Bye bye now have fun]

it would be lightly better if you had a cool or wood stove but still seems like a hassle

[hookah_hoop]

I'm no scientist but I just don't see the "hot rock" thing working.

[VDDZ]

Me too, or either, whatever.

If the rocks were hot enough to get the tobacco smoking, it would have to burn it between puffs. it needs to be able to heat up and cool down with the smoker, like a coal

[VDDZ]

hey, has anyone tried to use a vaporizer? as in one of those things used for what we do not speak of?