This Is Agrevating

[fcbayern]

SO I've been smoking for a few months now. My first hookah experience was at a local hookah bar and it was heaven. I've been back a few times and I love it. I bought my own rig (KM SSR). THe problem I have is that I cant seem to get my rig at home to smoke like the HB.

I have been to 2 different HB's and both have provided great experiences. Nice crisp clean taste, and nice puffy clouds. THey both seem to use the same setup. A MYA acrylic, mya bowl, and QL's. THe experience is always the same, the guy comes puts 1 QL on the bowl, by the 3rd pull its smoking like a beast. They never touch the coal until 30-45 minutes later for a fresh one. Its like super low maintenance..BOth places serve SB and I have even watched them pack the bowl (just sprinkle it in there really).

I'm soo frustrated with the whole deal. I think I have tried to get the best stuff I can get my hands on and still cant smoke like the HB>

Like I said b4 I have a KM 40" SSR, I have tried a phunnel and reg egytian bowls, I have tried several QL coals including 3K, and coconaras. I have smoked Nak, Potion, SB, and AF shisha's in numerous flavours.. I have tried 1 coal, 2 coals, half coals and such. I have tried moving the coals around, not moving the coal around, windcover, no wind cover.. WTF MAN WHY CANT I GET THIS RIGHT..

Dont get me wrong I get decent smoke at times and decent flavor at times but never both. the most frustrating part is that at the HB it seems like the dude just slaps a coal on there forgets about it and it smokes like all hell..

Very frustrated, thanx for your help,, sorry to be long winded

[Zinite]

Is your rig air tight? Without water in it, plug your hose into the KM, place your thumb over bowl part of it, and suck in. You shouldn't be able to suck in very much if it's air tight.

[Hippo_Master]

Is your rig air tight? Without water in it, plug your hose into the KM, place your thumb over bowl part of it, and suck in. You shouldn't be able to suck in very much if it's air tight.

Yep that's what i would say.

[inino]

are you using SB too?

1. make sure hookah is very clean and then fill with water.
2. pack your bowl. use your phunnel and pack a little tigher than you are used to. poke little tiny holes over the outside staying away from the middle.
3. make sure there is no leaks (actually probably step 2).
4. put coals on. too harsh take coals off. not puffing good, put coals on.
5. sit back and enjoy. be happy damnit!

[chromecarz00]

Is your rig air tight? Without water in it, plug your hose into the KM, place your thumb over bowl part of it, and suck in. You shouldn't be able to suck in very much if it's air tight.

Modify; any air. Even a little air will compromise your smoke.
How much water you using?

[SuburbanSmoker]

honestly if there wasnt a leak somewhere, you would be able to just slap coals on a bowl of nak/af and go to town.

[Zinite]

Some info for you:
http://www.hookahforum.com/?showtopic=10119
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Ja5OUPeac...feature=related
Voski uses 2-3 layers of foil in that video, I don't find that does anything though.

[delSol_si]

One of the guys I smoke with said he went to a HB awhile back and they used like towels or something to extract the juices from the shisha as much as possible (trying to get the shisha dry) before packing the bowl. I tried this and it seemed to work decent, though the taste sucked (then again, I was smoking grape lemon Layalina which kinda sucks anyway).

I haven't been able to get my hookah to smoke that great lately myself, when I first got my small Tangiers phunnel bowl in, the first time I used it it smoked like a beast, but then after than I can't seem to get it to smoke that great anymore.

One word of advice: check your purge valve. I noticed at one point I was getting really shitty smoke and did the blowing thing to check for leaks. Turns out that my purge valve and bearing had rusted, letting air through. I use a KM Ice hookah, which I am assuming is similar to the SSR (SSR doesn't have ice chamber and is probably taller). So I just took the fucking valve off, threw some foil down the hold, put some more on top to cover it and problem solved, except I can't purge anymore unless I take the foil off then put it back on, lol. But seriously, check your valve and make sure the ball bearing is sealing correctly and isn't rusted.

[fcbayern]

Just checked my pipe, its tight as a drum.. Put my finger over the top of the stam and pulled,, no air.. purge works and seals again perfect..

I just smoked.. When I finished I notice 2 things when taking the aluminum foil off the bowl..
#1 the top shisha was black burnt
#2 there seems to be a lot of ash getting down the holes of the aluminum foil

Are my holes too big? I use a toothpick and I push all the way down through the shisha..

[Zinite]

Just checked my pipe, its tight as a drum.. Put my finger over the top of the stam and pulled,, no air.. purge works and seals again perfect..

I just smoked.. When I finished I notice 2 things when taking the aluminum foil off the bowl..
#1 the top shisha was black burnt
#2 there seems to be a lot of ash getting down the holes of the aluminum foil

Are my holes too big? I use a toothpick and I push all the way down through the shisha..

Try using a thumb tack. Are you poking a hole in the center of the phunnel? If you are, try not doing that. Just do a bullseye pattern but leave the center holeless.

[fcbayern]

Just checked my pipe, its tight as a drum.. Put my finger over the top of the stam and pulled,, no air.. purge works and seals again perfect..

I just smoked.. When I finished I notice 2 things when taking the aluminum foil off the bowl..
#1 the top shisha was black burnt
#2 there seems to be a lot of ash getting down the holes of the aluminum foil

Are my holes too big? I use a toothpick and I push all the way down through the shisha..

Try using a thumb tack. Are you poking a hole in the center of the phunnel? If you are, try not doing that. Just do a bullseye pattern but leave the center holeless.

I dont put a hole in the center, just a couple rows of rings,, maybe I should take some pics

[Zinite]

How high do you put the water above the bottom of the downstem?

[inino]

smaller holes. less coals. and coal movement.

[EternalSoil]

Make sure your hookah is clean too...

if you inhale with no shisha in the bowl there should be no taste.

use 1 or maybe 2 layers of foil (2 seems to be a little more forgiving but can require more heat) and poke tack sized holes all over (except the middle)

with your phunnel (small i assume) you should be able to use AF, or SB with just 3 half pieces of a 3K QL.

break them in half, and put them equally spaced towards the edge of the bowl.

You shouldnt need to move the coals at all.

if it's a heat management problem, try breaking your coals into small pieces. then add pieces till you have good smoke and flavor.
then figure out what those pieces is equivalent to so you can condense and have longer sessions. (small coals burn out faster)

[Anxiety]

2 words...water level

When i got my Km nakazit (sp) it was 40 inches, about 8 inches taller than my tri metal, and had a much larger vase. My first couple of sessions with it i did the standard 1 1/2 inch above the stem and got good flavor but very little clouds. After that id id ane expermint were i would fill it up alot higher, talk a draw from the stem with my mouth (no hose yet) and see if any water shot up. If it was a tight pull, and no water came up she was good to smoke : )

[judgeposer]

An air leak seems to me the only explanation for a lack of smoke. Even taking those things you've noticed about a burned top layer, or hole sizes, those things wouldn't explain why you're not getting good smoke on your initial pulls.

Perhaps you shisa is just drier - contains less glycerin - due to age, or over exposure to the air. And, even within brands, different flavors have differing "wetness." If it's not too much trouble, just add some glycerin, some drops to a teaspoon, depending on how much shisha you're adding it to. It's a cheat way, so to speak, of producing more clouds...but...if your rig doesn't have a leak, and you have adequate heat, then...to me, that's the only thing left.

[judgeposer]

An air leak seems to me the only explanation for a lack of smoke. Even taking those things you've noticed about a burned top layer, or hole sizes, those things wouldn't explain why you're not getting good smoke on your initial pulls.

Perhaps you shisa is just drier - contains less glycerin - due to age, or over exposure to the air. And, even within brands, different flavors have differing "wetness." If it's not too much trouble, just add some glycerin, some drops to a teaspoon, depending on how much shisha you're adding it to. It's a cheat way, so to speak, of producing more clouds...but...if your rig doesn't have a leak, and you have adequate heat, then...to me, that's the only thing left.

[Zinite]

If nothing here has worked, you should videotape yourself setting up your hookah from the very beginning, and putting your coals on.. maybe we'll notice something.