Leaks When Setting Up A Hookah

[fr3kvent]

Hello guys!

I started to smoke hookah like 3 or 4 years ago. I lived together with some of my friends and of them had a hookah. This guy was very careful when settin up a hookah, always made sure everything is clear and fresh and his hookahs was close to perfect. Very thick smoke, when you were inhaling the smoke, feeling was like all your body is full of it. Tobacco never burnt and the taste was fantastic!

I had a hookah something like year ago and when some guy broke the glass base. Week ago after not smoking a year I went to the local store and ordered a new one. I can`t set up a hookah anymore, thats frustating, I`ve been experimenting with everything lately but smoking is terrible! I tried out three kind of coals, tobaccos..I even bought a special foil for hookahs (this guy I told about used just some simple foil what you can buy at every grocery store)...I have watched like millions of videos on youtube.com "how to setup a hookah" but nothing works..I`m confused, cant find any leaks ( I used to make a good hookahs too). The problem I actually have is that tobacco always use to burn, what makes the taste terrible, even after 4-5 smokes it starts to burn. I usually used two layers of foil but nothing has changed, when I make three layers of foil it is ok, but there`s another problem, theres less of smoke, they are not that thick anymore, and thats not fun. Smoke is that poor like you are smoking a cigarette. I`ve tried out mixing with foil holes, sometimes make them a little bigger than usual, sometimes I make more holes than I make usually..still nothing works - either the taste is terrible after some smoking or theres no smoke at the glass at all.After some smoking tobacco gets all black (burnt) and it sticks to the bottom side of the foil .I clean out the hookah after every smoke time..I really dont know wjere`s the problem. How to avoid burning tobacco and that bad taste and still get smoke out of it?

There`s one question about tobaccos, where is the best place to keep them? After some time my tobacco gets a little too dry and it even makes it burn faster..

Now I`m gonna order some qualitative stuff from the internet, hope it works..

I would aprreciate any advice about most common leaks when tobacco gets burn too fast (4-5 smokes).


Thanks!

[staygone]

If juice leaks out the bowl, check out a phunnel bowl. Storing your tobacco in an air tight container or ziplock bag should do the trick for keeping it juicy. If the tobacco's burning, that can be a heat management issue.

Keep trying, figure out what went wrong, and adjust. You'll get smoking in no time.

-QM

[joytron]

put the hose in the hose port and put the stem in the vase but leave the bowl off. Now place your hand tightly over the hole on the stem where you would place the bowl and inhale. This will tell if there are any leaks.


What tobacco and coals are you using:


Make sure you pack your bowl light and fluffy and make sure the coals are fullly lit.

[modisess]

stop worrying about the foil, that doesn't matter much. see how you pack your bowl, try not to underpack or overpack the bowl. keep the tobacco slightly dense yet fluffy in the bowl.

keep your tobacco in an airtight container, most people usually do that. don't store the tobacco in the fridge though.

what bowl are you using? a standard egyptian bowl? the amount of coals needed to be used depends on the size of bowl.

[Dirk Skene]

Do you have a grommet helping to seal between the top of the hookah tube & the bowl itself? Do you have grommets at the end of the hose where it fits into the stem?

[fr3kvent]

put the hose in the hose port and put the stem in the vase but leave the bowl off. Now place your hand tightly over the hole on the stem where you would place the bowl and inhale. This will tell if there are any leaks.


What tobacco and coals are you using:


Make sure you pack your bowl light and fluffy and make sure the coals are fullly lit.

Yesterday I talked to some guy who`s been smoking all kind of shishas like forever..It seems there`s no problem with my shisha and the way I set it up. He said the problem might be either a bad tobacco or bad coals. I`m from Latvia , only stuff we can buy here is 50g El Nahla tobacco, I dont know is it good or bad, but the guy said that when buying a tobacco in Latvia it hasnt that quality, he suggested me to order it on the internet.

Maybe problem is coals, again..there`s not that big of a variety when buying coals here. At the moment I have three kind of coals, the first ones is some kind of Belgium Charcoal (40mm tablets) at least thats what it says on the etique. And the other two , I dont know even know what they are called, one is in golden package (40mm) i guess, the other ones in silver package wihout any brand names or something on it.

Like I said , I already checked it out, theres no air escaping or something..

This is like my shisha, mine just got two hoses

http://www.shishapipe.net/shopcart/product...at=0&page=1


Yeah, sure.. All the grommets seem fine!

[fr3kvent]

also I found this page , it might be useful if someones having some problems!
http://www.hookahculture.com/hookah_setup_smoking.htm

[Zinite]

put the hose in the hose port and put the stem in the vase but leave the bowl off. Now place your hand tightly over the hole on the stem where you would place the bowl and inhale. This will tell if there are any leaks.


What tobacco and coals are you using:


Make sure you pack your bowl light and fluffy and make sure the coals are fullly lit.

Yesterday I talked to some guy who`s been smoking all kind of shishas like forever..It seems there`s no problem with my shisha and the way I set it up. He said the problem might be either a bad tobacco or bad coals. I`m from Latvia , only stuff we can buy here is 50g El Nahla tobacco, I dont know is it good or bad, but the guy said that when buying a tobacco in Latvia it hasnt that quality, he suggested me to order it on the internet.

Maybe problem is coals, again..there`s not that big of a variety when buying coals here. At the moment I have three kind of coals, the first ones is some kind of Belgium Charcoal (40mm tablets) at least thats what it says on the etique. And the other two , I dont know even know what they are called, one is in golden package (40mm) i guess, the other ones in silver package wihout any brand names or something on it.

Like I said , I already checked it out, theres no air escaping or something..

This is like my shisha, mine just got two hoses

http://www.shishapipe.net/shopcart/product...at=0&page=1


Yeah, sure.. All the grommets seem fine!

Nakhla is fine tobacco, and the type of coal really doesn't matter in this situation. It sounds like you're using too much heat (coal) and maybe too much or too little tobacco. The tobacco should loosely fill the entire bowl, up to the top, or just a few millimeters below the top. For holes to poke in the foil, try three or four circles (each one inside the next one). If it's smoking too harsh, take a coal off.

Try breaking the 40mm coals up in to halves with a knife. You should be able to better spread the heat out with halves instead of an entire coal.