Tangiers (f-line)

[antouwan]

after my having given up on tangiers about half a year ago i figured i was done, but recently (maybe a few of you say the 'premium tobacco' thread) i have almost given up on SB and AF and was seeking a more real, legit flavored tobacco, and was smoking Nakhla almost entirely...but wasn't satisfied completely there either - don't get me wrong, i still think that Nakhla strawberry out of the jar is the shit, and will keep it in my stash. So, after reading and knowing everyone's massive hard-on for tangiers, i decided that i should give it another shot. I went to Texas Hookah (can't say enough good things about the folks over there) and picked up a small phunnel and some f-line red tea. so i let it acclimate for almost 24 hours and packed away. after getting alright results i decided to call eric up, to see how i could actually get the best out of his tobacco. Eric's knowledge continues to amaze me, and he's truly a legit guy, so i repacked and added a little bit more tobacco with some pretty good results. i stopped smoking and came back an hour or so later; threw some more coals on, but was still unsatisfied by the mediocracy. i did some more searching and found racemyghost's little tutorial on how to pack it, and i think he was using an oyster fork...anyway, not having an oyster fork (we aren't big shellfish eaters) i decided to use what i had - a salad fork. before this i swear i must have packed and repacked this head at least 10 times and figured that i didn't really have anything to lose so i'd give the fork method a shot, and it has yeilded the best results so far, i repacked with little to no improvement, as there's still a small amount of tickle in the back of my throat, not nearly as bad as my first attempts...but as this session goes on it is becoming less profound, but still annoying. so my question: WTF. let me tell you guys my setup et al.

KM precision
water in the base
Tangiers small phunnel
reynolds HD
lots, but not excessive amounts of sish kabob skewer sized holes

packing
i'm using a salad fork to put the tobacco in the head and arranging it and not compressing it down, but just keeping it orderly and pushing everything into place.
i'm overpacking maybe about a third of an inch, putting the foil on top and cmushing it down (not too much, just enough to see the outer rim of the head) and then wrapping it up tight and poking the holes

i got two coconaras up top

any input would be greatly appreciated so i can get some legit results...the smoke is there for the most part it's just that damn annoying tickle.

it's been acclimating now for over 30 hours

merci

[GreatPigHookah]

Two things I would suggest...It sounds like the amount of shisha you are using is fine - but I normally press it down farther when I put the foil on. I keep pressing until it's below the outer lip by about 1/8". It will expand back a bit on it's own by the time you put the foil on and go to poking holes, and that's OK. Basically, try packing it a little more firmly. The other thing I did was switching from HD foil to the thin shisha foil, and things got a lot better for me - now that was probably just due to my particular habits with heat management, but my sessions got better when I went to thin foil with Tangiers. I use HD foil on all the other shishas I smoke. It's worth a shot.

[antouwan]

yeah i mean i can get a few good hits with pretty legit smoke...and THEN the tickle sets in so maybe it has to do with the heat, i'll change it up, a buddy is coming over today and i'll try this whole thing, new foil, more compression

thanks

[Bulldog_916]

Half an inch over the top of the bowl. I never go less and have never gotten the tickle after that.

I got a video on it. It worked for voski and a couple of others who PM'd me with good results. Try it. What have you got to lose? lol

http://www.hookahforum.com/index.php?autoc...tails&id=61

[cb1021]

1. do not use too much heat. this means 3 coals on the edge of the bowl, and do not poke that many holes. holes should be big enough to provide sufficient airflow (fork is fine), but do not poke that many because you will heat up the coals a lot since you are pulling so much air through them.

2. when poking holes, poke all the way to the bottom of the bowl, through the tobacco.

3. tangiers is good when you pack it down.

4. also how does your tobacco smell? does it smell really good? if not, then acclimate more.

you should get a thick and moist cloud on first full. Edited December 18, 2008 by cb1021

[antouwan]

thanks guys, bulldog, you're right i have nothing to lose...i'll take a look at that link in a little bit

thanks for the advice cb1021; got a small cloud after the first pull, that kept building up...

my buddy came over today, and i packed it and we went to smoke. we had a very small but still noticeable tickle for about the first 20 minutes, and after that it was pretty much gone...red tea ins't my thing but i have some lucid on the way, and will definately be getting my hands on some more OG tangiers hopefully in mid jan. anyway, my buddy and i smoked for about an hour or so, and then had to go get our buddy and take him to the airport. so the head has been sitting untouched for about 7 hours. i wanted to smoke a bit more tonight, so i threw some cocos on there and BAM, no problem smoking and no tickle; i'll be messing with the configuration some more in the future. btw pig, reg foil ftw; helped a lot.

thanks all.

[GreatPigHookah]

Sounds like you're zeroing in it! I packed a bowl of Pink Grapefruit tonight, and I gotta say, listen to bulldog on the amount...go to 1/2" over the rim...looks like that is what I normally do as well, now that I stick a ruler up to it. I was using two 1/4 sticks of exotica and mine started a little hot/tickley then settled in nicely once they burned down a little...added some more coals when needed and ended up with at least 2.5 hours of really nice Pink Grapefruit that went great sippin' on some cold gin -no tickle, good clouds, great flavor. It was still goin' good but I had to stop before the gin made me stop. I may just run down and fire that bowl up again and see what happens...hhhmmm.

[Sonthert]

Try a little less charcoal...see if that makes a difference.

[nathan_Choi]

I like using Tangiers as a mixer. I generally avoid most of the problems of packing a bowl