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Packing A Bowl...


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Ok, I have come to the conclusion I have 0 know how on packing and setting up a proper bowl.

I'm using Roman tobacco, coconaras coals, foil, toothpick, and phunnel bowl from H-S.

I pack the bowl with only about 30g of tobacco (I use about half the 50g pack I had, but the 2nd bowl I use for it is always less tobacco, so that's how I'm guess-tamating the amount). I take the toothpick and fluff the tobacco up and to keep the tobacco leveled with the rim of the bowl. I take the foil, shiny side down and wrap it up. I take the toothpick and start on the outside rim of the bowl and make a ring, move in a little make another ring and then make a ring around the hole in the bowl. Then I place 2 or 3 coals on the bowl (I srill don't know how much to put on) and when I put them on I can hear the bowl sizzle and the tobacco burns onto the foil (is this supposed to happen?).

I have about a 45min session, but by 30min I start to get sick and when I try to take a hit, my mouth starts watering up. I never seem to get great flavor even when I start (I'm comparing the taste I usally get when I go to a lounge). When I decide to just give up on the session, I take the foil off and the top layer of tobbaco is completely burnt with a little ash in it.

What am I doing wrong? I finished off the roman 50g samples and my next bowl will be using af, will the af work better for me or am I jsut doing something wrong?
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QUOTE (HighQuality @ Jan 9 2009, 03:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Ok, I have come to the conclusion I have 0 know how on packing and setting up a proper bowl.

I'm using Roman tobacco, coconaras coals, foil, toothpick, and phunnel bowl from H-S.

I pack the bowl with only about 30g of tobacco (I use about half the 50g pack I had, but the 2nd bowl I use for it is always less tobacco, so that's how I'm guess-tamating the amount). I take the toothpick and fluff the tobacco up and to keep the tobacco leveled with the rim of the bowl. I take the foil, shiny side down and wrap it up. I take the toothpick and start on the outside rim of the bowl and make a ring, move in a little make another ring and then make a ring around the hole in the bowl. Then I place 2 or 3 coals on the bowl (I srill don't know how much to put on) and when I put them on I can hear the bowl sizzle and the tobacco burns onto the foil (is this supposed to happen?).

I have about a 45min session, but by 30min I start to get sick and when I try to take a hit, my mouth starts watering up. I never seem to get great flavor even when I start (I'm comparing the taste I usally get when I go to a lounge). When I decide to just give up on the session, I take the foil off and the top layer of tobbaco is completely burnt with a little ash in it.

What am I doing wrong? I finished off the roman 50g samples and my next bowl will be using af, will the af work better for me or am I jsut doing something wrong?


How big is your bowl? You don't want to pack it too tightly. Also, you shouldn't need 3 coco's. Even 2 is a bit much unless you're using a fairly large bowl. You might want to try 1 and a half. Start with less coal, then add some little by little until you get it right.
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The phunnel bowls frm H-S are all mediums so you may actually be underpacking the bowl. All the medium phunnels I've had have all taken close to a full 50g pack to pack it right. Your coal usage sounds right, 3 coco's on a medium phunnel with a windcover is my normal usage for that size bowl. Give your hookah a deep cleaning too, you should be able to get good flavor like at the lounge and your hookah may be dirty or your hose may need to be replaced, it could also be the tobacco the lounge uses. I'm not to sure about the mouth watering thing, it almost sounds like some sort of weird allergey, I would try the AF and see if you get the same results.
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well firstly i think you should get some different tobacco. romman is not so good in my opinion. holes sound pretty good the way you are doing them. make sure your hookah is very clean and your hose is clean too, this could be the reason you are getting sick. put your coals on the very outer edge and rotate them every few minutes. if your smoke isnt harsh then the amount of coals you are using is fine. oh and sizzling noise is normal dont worry about that.
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I'm about to pack a bowl of af, after I give this thing a good cleaning. The hookah and hose are only 2 days old and have been cleaned after ever session. When I smell each part they have a slight nasty scent to them. I try to scrub this thing with bling, a brush and hot water... usually spend like 15minutes cleaning it and never seems to get clean. How should the hose be cleaned (namor hose), I have been just blowing it out. Should I fill it with water and see if that helps?
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I agree, 30 grams sounds a little light for a medium phunnel. Also i would agree with trying something other than romman. Out of the tons and tons of people i know that have tried romman i only know 2 who can smoke it. Im thinkin those may be the biggest issues.
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i usually put some warm water in the hose then cover both holes and tip it to swish the water around in it and that usually does it if that doesnt add a drop of liquid dish soap then re wash it till you get no bubbles
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QUOTE (HighQuality @ Jan 9 2009, 06:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'm about to pack a bowl of af, after I give this thing a good cleaning. The hookah and hose are only 2 days old and have been cleaned after ever session. When I smell each part they have a slight nasty scent to them. I try to scrub this thing with bling, a brush and hot water... usually spend like 15minutes cleaning it and never seems to get clean. How should the hose be cleaned (namor hose), I have been just blowing it out. Should I fill it with water and see if that helps?


I had the same sort of stench/taste in my hookah too but I managed to get rid of it. Here's what I did - take the hookah apart as much as you can and soak the pieces in a heavily concentrated bowl of baking soda/water. This removes all the smell and taste, run a bit of the mixture through your hoses, and fill your base up with it and let it soak as well.

Make sure you rinse the pieces off thoroughly though because baking soda has a pretty bitter taste and would defeat the purpose, it rinses out very easily though.

If you have a brush scrub your stem and such while it's soaking.
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Packed the bowl with AF watermelon and problem solved. Taste was kinda intense so I thought putting some orange juice in the base to mask it a little would solve the case and it is now amazing. Thanks for all the tips.. I'll try using that baking soda soak after this. I can't express how chill I am right now... just me, my hookah and fast and the furious on tv.
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I'd say just experiment until you get it right. I use four starlight coco coals on a small phunnel, why? because I can without burning it.

Less/more holes, less/more coals, wind cover, amount of tobacco, how fluffed it is, different types of coals, type of bowl, modded/unmodded phunnel.
There are a ton of different things you can try, so just keep at it.

Also, If your new to hookah and are smoking alone the reason your probably getting sick after a half hour is because your body isn't used to the nicotine.
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For cleaning, I use baking soda and tapwater. For cleaning the vase, I will let a mix of tap water, baking soda, and lemon juice sit in it for 15 mins afterwards to remove any odors. Usually during that time I am slamming glasses of water mixed with lemon jiuce as well smile.gif

For packing the bowl....the key is sprinkle. Clumps are evl....un-clump them. Don't "pack" the bowl so much as fill it with fluffed shisha. Use a fork if you have to. My shisha fork is one of those tough clear plastic forks with one outside tong snapped off...perfect size for loading phunnels and regular bowls as well.

And you will find that some brands of shisha are just not for you....I can't stand some of the stuff out there. AF is a very newbie friendly shisha....most folks like it. Edited by mustang_steve
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QUOTE (SimplexCoda @ Jan 9 2009, 07:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (HighQuality @ Jan 9 2009, 08:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
My session has been going for about and hour and a half so far and I'm not sick and have not watery mouth... I guess I just not a roman kind of guy.


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I dunno. I myself probably belong in the "underpacker's club" . Using a regular bowl, I've found sometimes putting fluffed up naklah to about half was enough for me. Then I would single foil ( with a small depression ) and use a single 3king and get full flavor out of that. Might not be extremely smoke heavy ( altho you can bend the foil a little more to get the coal closer), but this is the only way i've been able to get DA to taste acceptable.

And apricot using this method ? like breathing delicious sweetness.
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also, you mentioned earlier that you washed your hose with hot water.. id suggest using warm water at the most. i use cold water and lemon juice to clean mine. ive just heard too many stories of people's hoses breaking from using hot water because it could destroy the glue keeping it together.
glad to hear your sessions are going better tho
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