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Why Does Me Phunnel Need So Much Heat On My Km?


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I recently bought a KM Exotica, and I've noticed that it takes 4 coco nara coals on my Phunnel bowl to get it going. On my Mya QT, it only takes 2 coals with a wind cover. I can't fit a wind cover on the KM, and I know it creates a lot more heat around the bowl, but TWICE as many coals?

Does this sound about right to everybody else? If not, is there anything I can do to get it to smoke with fewer coals?
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What size phunnel are you using? I have an Exotica and with most shisha's and a small I use 2 cocos, sometimes a windcover to help start it.

Edit- Have you made sure the hookah is air tight?
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QUOTE (ryno @ Mar 9 2009, 02:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
What size phunnel are you using? I have an Exotica and with most shisha's and a small I use 2 cocos, sometimes a windcover to help start it.

Edit- Have you made sure the hookah is air tight?


I'm using a small phunnel, which I got from mnhookah. I don't think it's one of those "big" small phunnels, since it doesn't seem anywhere near as large as some of the small phunnels other people have written about.

The hookah is definitely air tight (I just checked it this last time I used it).

Could it be that I'm putting too many holes in the foil? I usually make 3 rings around the bowl with the holes spaced about 1/2 inch apart.

I must be doing SOMETHING wrong if other people are only using two coals. If I take one coal off after it's gotten started the smoke thins out considerably, so it's not just a matter of getting it started.

Thanks for the replies!
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You're probably under or grossly over packing the bowl. From the sounds of your problem though, it sounds like there's definitely too little tobacco in your bowl. I tried to do a quick session with my Medium Phunnel and underpacked it, it was the worst session of my life.
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I actually have noticed the same thing with my exotica, it does take more heat for me as well, not 4 coals but 2 and windcover or 3 without. I have never been able to figure it out, cause it really makes no sense. I have even had my Exotica and Faridat side by side and done a test mid session to see if it was just in my head. Well it wasn't, it immediately got super harsh and I was hackin like crazy.

The only guess I could give as to why this would occur is this: since it is taller and has more airspace, you are not able to pull as much air across the coals, so they are not heating up enough to give good smoke. Where as with a shorter stem your pulling more air across the coals, heating them up more, which heats the shisha better.

just a guess.....
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QUOTE (voski @ Mar 9 2009, 03:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
What kind of tobacco are you using? Under packing shouldn't be a problem. My dad would do it all the time for his solo sessions and they would be fine.


I don't think it's under packing either. I'm using AF, and I pack it the same way I do on my QT. I actually used your video (thanks for putting it up) when I first got the phunnel.


QUOTE (dafunk5446 @ Mar 9 2009, 03:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The only guess I could give as to why this would occur is this: since it is taller and has more airspace, you are not able to pull as much air across the coals, so they are not heating up enough to give good smoke. Where as with a shorter stem your pulling more air across the coals, heating them up more, which heats the shisha better.


I like your theory. Makes sense to me. I just wish I could get it going with 3 coals too.
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QUOTE (dafunk5446 @ Mar 9 2009, 07:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The only guess I could give as to why this would occur is this: since it is taller and has more airspace, you are not able to pull as much air across the coals, so they are not heating up enough to give good smoke. Where as with a shorter stem your pulling more air across the coals, heating them up more, which heats the shisha better.

just a guess.....


wait... i was always bad at physics but that doesn't really make sense? the width of the downstem/hose would make the difference (smaller curcumference) but not the lenth of the hookah... at least not after the first few hits.
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QUOTE (erufiku @ Mar 9 2009, 07:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (dafunk5446 @ Mar 9 2009, 07:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The only guess I could give as to why this would occur is this: since it is taller and has more airspace, you are not able to pull as much air across the coals, so they are not heating up enough to give good smoke. Where as with a shorter stem your pulling more air across the coals, heating them up more, which heats the shisha better.

just a guess.....


wait... i was always bad at physics but that doesn't really make sense? the width of the downstem/hose would make the difference (smaller curcumference) but not the lenth of the hookah... at least not after the first few hits.


No what I was getting at was the fact that there is more volume in the hookah (vase and in the stem, purely from the fact that it is larger). This could have an effect, its like saying a 50 cc engine compared to a 100 cc engine, which is going to take more gas to run?

When you smoke out of QT you are pulling a lot of air through it since its really small, which heats up the coals. You might be able to (this is a guess) empty/refill the volume of air 4 times in a single hit. Now that air is going to be constantly going over the coals at a rapid rate since you will create a strong vacuum in the small vase, which would heat up the coals alot more.

Now with a large hookah you are only pulling, say, whats in the hose and a 1/4 of the vase worth of smoke. This is not creating as much of a vacuum and not drawing as much air across the coals as rapidly. It may be the same amount of air, but it has to do with how quickly it is passing over the coals. For example, lightly blow on coals then blow really hard on coals, they will heat up a lot more when you blow harder on them.
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i always use a lot of coals during my sessions. might be because i only smoke outdoors and it's cold and breezy, but i use 2.5-3 coals on an MNH mini phunnel and 3-4 coals on my tangiers small phunnel. any less and there's weak smoke. i also have to replace the coals about ever 30 minutes.

oh, CH QLs btw.
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Pictures of how much you're packing in your bowl imo...

Sounds like you're just not filling it to the foil with tobacco, plain and simple. It takes me 2 coconaras on a med phunnel without a windcover to get it going strong, on both QTs and KMs... If you underpack and don't have tobacco all the way to the top, you need considerably more heat to get it going.
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QUOTE (erufiku @ Mar 9 2009, 08:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (dafunk5446 @ Mar 9 2009, 07:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The only guess I could give as to why this would occur is this: since it is taller and has more airspace, you are not able to pull as much air across the coals, so they are not heating up enough to give good smoke. Where as with a shorter stem your pulling more air across the coals, heating them up more, which heats the shisha better.

just a guess.....


wait... i was always bad at physics but that doesn't really make sense? the width of the downstem/hose would make the difference (smaller curcumference) but not the lenth of the hookah... at least not after the first few hits.


Assuming the hookah is airtight and the downstem's are similar in diameter the height of the hookah is pretty much irrelevant.

Unless the difference in total length is huge, for instance:
QT stem (12") + hose(~60") + the little extra to account for in the base (~3") = ~6.25ft
KM stem (40") + hose(~60") + the little extra (~6-8") = ~9ft
not very different
EX stem (48") + hose (96") + extra in the huge made up base (18") = 13.5ft

The difference between the QT and the EX (EXample) hookah is more than double the length of smoke travel.
Thus if it took smoke 2 seconds to get from the head to your mouth on the QT it would take 4 or more seconds respectively.

/crazy physics moment.

The only things I can think of would be that you mistakenly pack them differently or that the KM has a leak.
You checked the leak so I would try having both out like i said before and get the QT smokign good then move the bowl to the KM.
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Holy crap, I am having the same issue. I was using a standard clay bowl and 1-2 3kings QL would be plenty. I just got some Chronic Natural QL and a phunnel bowl in the mail a couple days ago. First session I tried 2 coals and lit a third just in case. I put all three coals on and it still wasn't at maximum pull. Next session I used 4 whole coals and it still doesn't seem like enough. I get good smoke for about 30 min and then it dies off. I use cheap-ass thin generic foil. Shit rips under stress half the time when I am just trying to cover the bowl. I have never had good luck with thick foil. I'm also getting tired of wasting so much shisha because the bottom shisha never gets used. I'm not using a scalli mod either, so maybe that is part of the problem. I was expect my cloud size to increase substantially with the phunnel but have been rather disappointed with it so far.
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Scalli mod=problem solved! Holy shit!! Instead of packing like 40-50 grams of shisha and wasting like 80-90% of it, I only had to pack like about 20 grams and got an insanely awesome session!!! I am not officially impressed with the phunnel+scalli mod!! I used Scalliwag's tealight candle idea and it worked wonders, and was cheap! Edited by delSol_si
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