I Have Found My Best Hole Pattern

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

first for the hole patern..im using a vortex bowl and i have been experimenting with different hole patterns..and i believe i have found the best so far..in my opinion..with this hole pattern i noticed bigger clouds and i was using al fakher and i dont usually get big clouds with them..just average..but this really surprised me..the pattern is nothing special i used a tooth pick and has you can see they are not really close together..kinda spaced out apart..by the way the tobacco was packed loose..i just let it drop into the bowl itself i didnt really push it in with the fork which is what is..but back to the holes..this so far has yielded the best results for me..another thing im sure the pros know but for us noobs, after about 40 minutes i take the foil off and remove the top layer of tobacco that is burned and then put the foil back on and coals back on and i get another 30 minutes out of it and even with less in there i still got the big clouds and flavor..now secondly..i was looking into old threads and a member named MAKCuMG (keep your mind out of the gutter..lol) posted this on how he does it..so i give full credit to him on this part..once you light the charcoal and set it on your bowl take 3-4 short pulls then move the coal 1/4 to the right or left which ever way you want to go..then do it again take 3-4 short pulls and move again...do this in a north,east,south,west formation..once you've done this move the coal back to the orginal spot and then start smoking has you normally would..from my second pull the cloud amazed me including the flavor i was using af banana..so anyways this is mostly for us noobs trying to get the best smoke out of our bowls..or maybe even some pros can give it a try..here are some pics of the hole pattern and a example of how to place the coals during start up..im using a cap in place of the coal..



a closer look


now this is the rotating i was talking about

then i move it to the right side

then down to the bottom

then last to the right


after each area has atleast 3-4 short pulls..move back to original spot at the top



i cant wait to try this with nak since i already get big clouds with it..basically i got nak clouds with alfakher doing this..so i can hope my clouds and flavor with be more enhanced doing this

[K1024]

seems like to much work to me...but who am i to verify, what with the being drunk and what not.

seems like the holes would get clogged easier? i agree with the knife long cut method myself...though i most often use my poker tool since thats whats most available...

also i use more coals, so the whole rotating thing doesnt make much sense. like if you use 3 coals on your bowl what then? your rotate them slightly or something? idk seems wierd to me..

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

seems like to much work to me...but who am i to verify, what with the being drunk and what not.

seems like the holes would get clogged easier? i agree with the knife long cut method myself...though i most often use my poker tool since thats whats most available...

also i use more coals, so the whole rotating thing doesnt make much sense. like if you use 3 coals on your bowl what then? your rotate them slightly or something? idk seems wierd to me..

well for al fakher no worries there for me they only like 1 coal..for nak or others that take 2 coals just do the same put a coal on top and 1 on bottom..take 3-4 short hits..and rotate them put 1 coal on the right and the other on the left..3-4 more short pulls and move the coals to orginal position and your done..it even works with 3 coals say 2 on the bottom and one on top like a triangle..then after the 3-4 short pulls just turn it up side down, move the 2 coals from bottom to top and move the 1 coal from top to bottom so your looking at a up side down triangle..do your 3-4 short pulls and put them back to original postion..and your good to go...

[Johnny_D]

Yes,

lots of holes. Rotate the coals.

Then when you get really good you can dispense with all that stuff, put holes how you want
and leave the coals to burn out. I regularly get 2 hrs out of a single traditional bowl
by not moving the coals.

It's just a question of practice really.

JD

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

Yes,

lots of holes. Rotate the coals.

Then when you get really good you can dispense with all that stuff, put holes how you want
and leave the coals to burn out. I regularly get 2 hrs out of a single traditional bowl
by not moving the coals.

It's just a question of practice really.

JD

i guess we just have to stick with what works for us..id love to leave them sitting there for 2 hrs..the most i can pull is about 50 minutes without any movement...but for now im really liking this new technique

[K1024]

also using quicklights and moving them around a bunch is going to ash them into all of your nice tiny holes...

ash on the coal helps it maintain its core temp and thus last longer.

[Johnny_D]

50mins to 1hr is so much as i would expect out of any coal.

When I then do is place a fresh set on the areas that were previously uncoaled!

JD

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

also using quicklights and moving them around a bunch is going to ash them into all of your nice tiny holes...

ash on the coal helps it maintain its core temp and thus last longer.

lol, this whole procedure takes about 2 minutes...your coals will not ash in 2 minutes..keep in mind your doing this soon has you put the coals on your foil..so ashing is not a issue..since it takes over 10-15 minutes to start ashing..

[wilarseny]

I did the lots-of-tiny-holes thing for a while, but what I've found easier and better lately is using a corncob holder to make slightly bigger holes and not quite as many of them, probably 40 total of a decent size, somewhat in between pushpin-sized and fork-sized holes. Makes the draw much easier than all these little holes that don't feed air/heat to the bowl as easily.