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Just won’t smoke the way it should


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purchased a 32" Egyptian from Social Smoke, 2 separate burners, 2 types of charcoal, 3 types of tobacco... I must be doing something wrong. I've read around this forum every place I could before posting so I can definately use some help.  My success has been limited, sometimes it smokes great, other times I'm frustrated with the outcome.  When I don't apply enough heat, my smoke is weak, when I add some it tastes like crap aka harsh charcoal.  I'm using both Golden and Three Kings, tried both same result.  I'm not packing my bowls tight, spreading it out especially towards the sides of the bowl, I'm leaving enough room between the foil, pinned a fair amount of holes in the foil, the stem is 1 1/2 inches into the water, everything is air tight.... but for some reason it's just so inconsistant that it's driving me crazy.  At certain points in my session, usually towards the end I'll get some good smoke and taste.  I've tried lighting one single coal and moving it around, then tried 2 coals which usuallay produces smoke but gets super harsh at times.  I've tried letting the coals burn through, no success there either.  I'm honestly stuck and frustrated so I figured I would come and ask the pros.  Any ideas? 
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Sounds like your packing your bowl just fine, but what are you using to
make the holes in the foil? I use a simple push-pin, and give my foil
about 40-55 holes, and I use a standard egyptian style ceramic bowl.

As for your heat, thats the way its supposed to work. If you're not
getting enough smoke, add more heat, and if it's too harsh, take some
coals off. Just gotta find a solid middleground. I know you're having
incosistency problems, but just keep at it. You'll get the hang of heat
managment.

But pretty much everything else sounds pretty solid, so it must have
something to do with your coals, packing or foil, so concentrate on
changing things around that area.
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Thanks for the reply Yashman.  I've tried two bowls, one being a wide but shallow ceramic, the other is a clay MYA.  I'm using regular foil but only punching 10-20 holes.  As for the holes, I'm using a sewing needle, very very thin. 
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Hmm, 10-20  holes with a thin sewing needle? Try using something
with a slightly larger diameter and putting more holes. Better airflow
could be just what you need to get things rocking. Like I mentioned
earlier, pushpins work great for me. They are still pretty small, but
they cut through the foil nice and clean. And just evenly space them
out over the whole bowl, with 2-3x more than what you're doing now.

Its worth a shot.
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I personally use 100-150 fairly good sized holes (~1mm dia.) on a ver
large Tangiers head. More airflow may be the key, like Yash said. If
you can't get a good hit, the smoke will be weak. Pulling through the
hose should be about as hard as drinking soda through a straw; pretty
easy.
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Thanks for the replies everyone.  I have a feeling you all nailed my issue, the amount/size of holes in the foil.Last night I used a pushpin to poke roughly 30-40 holes, pretty much doubling my normal amount on my MYA clay bowl.  I made the mistake of trying to smoke it with only one charcoal as at first the smoke was weak, but the minute I added another it started to hit just as it should.  Last night's session was by far my best, so thanks to everyone.  I'll keep trying to manage my heat to get best results going forward.I also noticed something last night,  it hits MUCH better when you can barely see the smoke in the base, normally I was seeing a thick cloud and pulling out harsh smoke, but the heaviest and cleanest smoke I was pulling was barely noticeable looking through the glass.Thanks everyone.
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[quote name='DougBurns']PK, that's sort of interesting about the vase.
Anytime I don't have much smoke in the base, my pulls are generally
pretty weak too.  
I'd be interested to see what others' experience with this is.[/quote]

Mine too. It doesn't really make sense to get the most smoke/best hits
when you can barely see the smoke in the chamber. Granted, when theres
less smoke in the chamber, there is less likely to be stale smoke
building up, but that shoud only happen if you leave the smoke in their
for a couple minutes with no activity...

Anyways, I like my smoke thick like chimney, and when I see that my
smoke in the chamber is pretty thin, I beef up my heat. After about 2-3
minutes, the smoke is nice and thick in my chamber/lungs :)

Could just be a fluke PK, but hey, whatever works best for you.
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[quote name='ataneja']I would say definintely try one and a half.  What I do with my hookah.  Is let one warm up the tobacco, and then place on another half, and this is usually when i get the best smoke![/quote]I don't think it matters, because the bowl gets hot and works on cooking the whole mess anyways, whether or not charcoal is on one side, the other or right in the middle.
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