Forum Newbie, Hiya.

[ExSmoker]

Hello all. Been lurking for a bit and learning from the wealth of knowledge here. I placed an order for a green Mya QT which should ship tomorrow. I have smoked hookahs at a few hookah bars and a friend's house, but this will be my first rig.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with (BANNED VENDOR) ? I had a bit of an odd experience with them. I don't want to go into a long bitchfest with my first post and get off on the wrong foot, but I had bafflingly unprofessional interaction with (one of, or the?) owner(s) of that site today over the phone when I called to add an item to an order I placed online. I won't go into detail until I see what is included in my order and how much I am charged, everything might be copacetic... but I'm wondering if they have a reputation for being highly inexperienced business people or if I just got lucky.

At any rate, I am excited to get my first Hookah. I am quite looking forward to exploring shishas and finding flavors that I like for cheap and at leisure, rather than paying $15 a session at a hookah bar and not even knowing the brand.

I bought a tangiers phunnel upgrade (medium size) and some Al Fakher and Black Label 50g flavors with the hookah. Wish me luck

[mitchard]

Welcome to the board. Also, welcome to the world where 15 bucks will give you many, many bowls. Haha.

[Hobbs]

There's been a lot of people registering lately, woo hoo.

Welcome to the forums man, I can't say I know anything at all about the vendor you listed and I don't know a list of the banned vendors.. so I'm of no help there, maybe you can post up a topic in the general discussion and others will know. (not a lot of people frequent this section of the site)

Phunnel is a way of life for me, you shall enjoy it.. QT's are great too.

[tinyj316]

Hello all. Been lurking for a bit and learning from the wealth of knowledge here. I placed an order for a green Mya QT which should ship tomorrow. I have smoked hookahs at a few hookah bars and a friend's house, but this will be my first rig.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with (BANNED VENDOR)? I had a bit of an odd experience with them. I don't want to go into a long bitchfest with my first post and get off on the wrong foot, but I had bafflingly unprofessional interaction with (one of, or the?) owner(s) of that site today over the phone when I called to add an item to an order I placed online. I won't go into detail until I see what is included in my order and how much I am charged, everything might be copacetic... but I'm wondering if they have a reputation for being highly inexperienced business people or if I just got lucky.

At any rate, I am excited to get my first Hookah. I am quite looking forward to exploring shishas and finding flavors that I like for cheap and at leisure, rather than paying $15 a session at a hookah bar and not even knowing the brand.

I bought a tangiers phunnel upgrade (medium size) and some Al Fakher and Black Label 50g flavors with the hookah. Wish me luck

Welcome to the forum. The vendor you ordered from is notorious for being shady. So much so that his site is banned from being brought up in order threads, etc. I'm sorry to hear that you've been having issues with him.

[ExSmoker]

Welcome to the forum. The vendor you ordered from is notorious for being shady. So much so that his site is banned from being brought up in order threads, etc. I'm sorry to hear that you've been having issues with him.

Wow that was a warm and quick welcome, thank you all! I didn't realize that they were a banned vendor. I remember seeing a 'banned vendor' thread by a mod somewhere, but I actually got their website off of a Poll on this site (god only knows where, I've read at least 200 threads here in the past 3 weeks) of favorite vendors so I didn't think they could possibly be banned. Must have been an ancient poll.

[Boricua]

Welcome to the forum. Only word of advice is: your medium phunnel bowl will take too much shisha, particularly when you just own 50g boxes and are learning how to set up everything properly. I would recommend starting with the regular Mya bowl included with your QT for now and later on experimenting with the phunnel. The QT smokes great though, so you'll have some great sessions.

Happy smoking Edited March 31, 2009 by Boricua

[ExSmoker]

Welcome to the forum. Only word of advice is: your medium phunnel bowl will take too much shisha, particularly when you just own 50g boxes and are learning how to set up everything properly. I would recommend starting with the regular Mya bowl included with your QT for now and later on experimenting with the phunnel. The QT smokes great though, so you'll have some great sessions.

Happy smoking

Thanks Boricua. Would the 'small' tangiers phunnel be appropriate for solo smoking?

[Victim026]

A small would be way more approriate, but be prepared for sessions that could last upwards of 3+hours with even a small phunnel.

[Arcane]

Welcome to the forum. Only word of advice is: your medium phunnel bowl will take too much shisha, particularly when you just own 50g boxes and are learning how to set up everything properly. I would recommend starting with the regular Mya bowl included with your QT for now and later on experimenting with the phunnel. The QT smokes great though, so you'll have some great sessions.

Happy smoking

Thanks Boricua. Would the 'small' tangiers phunnel be appropriate for solo smoking?

a small will still give you looooong sessions, even with 2-3 people on the bowl. if you want shorter sessions, make/invest in a scalli mod(do a search) or use get a small-med egyptian...i've never used the mya bowl, but i haven't heard many good things.

[ExSmoker]

a small will still give you looooong sessions, even with 2-3 people on the bowl. if you want shorter sessions, make/invest in a scalli mod(do a search) or use get a small-med egyptian...i've never used the mya bowl, but i haven't heard many good things.

Good gravy. I doubt I could last more than 60 minutes smoking alone. I'll look up that scalli mod and see if it's something appropriate for me.

Out of curiosity, are there any(many) hookah smokers here that very strongly dislike cigarettes?

[Zinite]

Unprofessional vendor? I can only guess who it is...

[Capt. Morgan]

Welcome to the forum. Good choice on the QT. Sorry your going through trouble with the vendor. And to answer your question about cigs I used to smoke em but now I really don't like them. I know a lot of who absolutely despise cigarettes but love smoking hookah.

[Hobbs]

Out of curiosity, are there any(many) hookah smokers here that very strongly dislike cigarettes?

There's quite a few I do believe... here are my (rough) statistics. You'll have to answer to view results I think.
http://www.hookahforum.com/?showtopic=27924

[evilded777]

Word of caution... careful with the Black Label.

It smells great in the jar, but quickly turns bad in the bowl.

Good luck with that QT, my friend... I swear I am going to have one soon.

[smokeytheclown]

Trust me, you'll love the QT. Hits like one of the big boys and it's totally cleanable. I've been smoking out of mine more recently, just to use up some of the 50 gram packs in my collection, and I need to pick up some more hoses for this little guy.

[Arcane]

Trust me, you'll love the QT. Hits like one of the big boys and it's totally cleanable. I've been smoking out of mine more recently, just to use up some of the 50 gram packs in my collection, and I need to pick up some more hoses for this little guy.

not totally cleanable...stick a stem brush down the stem and let me know how that goes. HAHA!

[ilikemyusername]

i'm smoking out of my qt now, i love this little pipe, welcome to the forum, sorry about the vendor, i can only guess who...

[Giant Ninja Robot]

Velcome velcome to zee forum...

You'll enjoy the QT, I love mine dearly, great for setting up outside or on a desk/table. I have a medium phunnel and it, my friend, is GINORMOUS. Arcane is right though, the damn thing eats stem brushes like Seymour from Little shop of horrors eats squares. It is def NOT a polished inner stem lol.

If I were you I'd try to trade for a small in the trade section or sell it off and get a small instead. Even with a scalli mod in a small you'll be having sessions that are longer than an hour, however since the phunnel is desigend to hold juices in, often you can leave the bowl for a day or so and finish the session at a later point.

[ExSmoker]

Yay; I have my hookah working


I (predictably) had some issues with my order, but I will not go into it any further for risk of further mod intervention... I have my QT packed with Al Fakher Peach. I have CocoNaras on top (2... is that too many? I tried breaking one in half to no avail). A few quick questions...

I am kind of nervous about heat management because of how much discussion I've seen on it.... How often should I be rotating the coals, do you reckon?

Purging... I read about what it is, I can make my QT purge... When should I purge? Do I do that when I haven't taken a drag in X amount of time?

Ashing the coals.. I have read that one should ash the coals (foil for now, glass screen soon!).. When do I do that? How?

Putting on a new coal... How do I know when to put on a new coal? Is it when the current coals are almost gone? Completely gone?

When I inhale, I see drops of water roll down from the top of the vase. Does this mean I overfilled with water, or is it normal?


Thanks! I love this sport.

[Giant Ninja Robot]

1 - rotate the coals whenever. I usually do it every 10-15 minutes or so, I feel it uses more of the surface area more evenly that way so as not to overcook a specific spot

2 - Purge when you have harsh smoke and have removed a coal or moved coals to the edge of the bowl to relieve of excess heat - this will clear harsh smoke from the chamber and you can start anew

3 - Ash coas when they have a decent ammount of grey built up on them, so a few times an hour usually depending on the type of coal. What I do is take the coals off the bowl and gently drop them on the ashtray to shake the extra ash off. It doesn't hurt to blow the ash that may be building up on your foil off either so as not to clog up holes

4 - put on a new coal when the old one(s) die out unless you can't stand a few minutes of whispy smoke then change them a little earlier.

5 - it's normal when using a QT, happens to me too.

6 - laziest sport ever.

7 - Try not to overthink it man, this place will get you crazy with "strategy", trial and error are the best teachers. Use what advice you get here then tailor it to what works best for you.

[An1m]

Yay; I have my hookah working


I (predictably) had some issues with my order, but I will not go into it any further for risk of further mod intervention... I have my QT packed with Al Fakher Peach. I have CocoNaras on top (2... is that too many? I tried breaking one in half to no avail). A few quick questions...

I am kind of nervous about heat management because of how much discussion I've seen on it.... How often should I be rotating the coals, do you reckon?

Purging... I read about what it is, I can make my QT purge... When should I purge? Do I do that when I haven't taken a drag in X amount of time?

Ashing the coals.. I have read that one should ash the coals (foil for now, glass screen soon!).. When do I do that? How?

Putting on a new coal... How do I know when to put on a new coal? Is it when the current coals are almost gone? Completely gone?

When I inhale, I see drops of water roll down from the top of the vase. Does this mean I overfilled with water, or is it normal?


Thanks! I love this sport.

You will learn heat management from smoking. But here's some general guidelines:

Purge when the smoke gets harsh, move the coals when the smoke get's harsh. If there's water coming through your hose or dripping out of your vase then there's definitely some possible water level issues there. The water on a Mya should be about 1 inch - 1.5 inches above the bottom of the down stem.

I don't get water coming out of my QT vase and you should ash the coconaras whenever the bottoms of the coals become blackened. You can notice a drop off in smoke density as the coals will be insulated with ash, and the bowl will cool down because the bottoms are no longer red hot. At this point drop the coals into a coal carrier or coal tray and flip them over on to your bowl.

If your coals don't become black on the bottom, then just flip them when there's a decent amount of ash built up on them and you notice a decline in smoke density.

Some people prefer to move the coals around a lot, I keep them in the same spot for a LONG time, so that I completely bake one area of a bowl before moving to a new sector. This way you smoke ALL off the bowl. I'm referring to a Phunnel bowl btw, if you're using a mod/ egyptian / mya bowl then you may have to move them a bit more. Edited April 7, 2009 by An1m

[delSol_si]

An1m, good idea on coal rotation, I think I may try that myself as I can never seem to cook an entire bowl.

Ashing- if you are using CH coals, they will need to be ashed quite often btw.
As far as heat management, I usually add heat (by ashing or rotating coals or adding another one on) when the smoke is lacking, then take away heat (remove coal or rotate) when the smoke gets harsh. BUT, from what others have said, I don't quite think I am doing this 100% correctly.
Packing less shisha-I just made a thread about using both scalli's shisha saver and tea light mod, but from the responses, I think it may have been a bad idea...we will see tho. The tea light mod is GREAT, just not so sure about the shisha saver...most of the experienced hookah people are advising against it.

Anyway, welcome to the forums! Not trying to be a dick (meant to be friendly advise), but I would suggest reviewing the rules and banned vendor list again to avoid hassle later. Forum rules and banned vendor list

[Rani]

Everyone is giving you great advice - the main thing is not to over-think it. Trust your instincts and what you observe from smoking and adjust acordingly. Every pipe and every environment is different. For instance, almost everyone says CH coals need ashing more often yet I never have to ash them. They're still in the perfect little cubes when they're dead. Just something about the airflow and heat where I happen to smoke I think. Funnels are great, but they are a bit more temperamental I think until you get them down. And for certain shisha I happen to love Mya bowls because they're nice and deep for those tobaccos that are really heat sensitive. They give you the option of having more space under the foil. I'm not a Mya fan otherwise but I hear very good things about the QT and if I were buying a pipe for a friend that's probably what I'd go with.

Good luck and welcome!

'Rani

[antouwan]

Yay; I have my hookah working


I (predictably) had some issues with my order, but I will not go into it any further for risk of further mod intervention... I have my QT packed with Al Fakher Peach. I have CocoNaras on top (2... is that too many? I tried breaking one in half to no avail). A few quick questions...

I am kind of nervous about heat management because of how much discussion I've seen on it.... How often should I be rotating the coals, do you reckon?

Purging... I read about what it is, I can make my QT purge... When should I purge? Do I do that when I haven't taken a drag in X amount of time?

Ashing the coals.. I have read that one should ash the coals (foil for now, glass screen soon!).. When do I do that? How?

Putting on a new coal... How do I know when to put on a new coal? Is it when the current coals are almost gone? Completely gone?

When I inhale, I see drops of water roll down from the top of the vase. Does this mean I overfilled with water, or is it normal?


Thanks! I love this sport.

with coco naras, you can rotate the coals whenever the hell you want. sometimes i find myself not touching the coals after i put them on the phunnel until they just about die out. other times, if i'm feeling rather ambitious, i'll ash them and rotate them frequently - whatever works best.

purging...with a mya . you're right you can make your qt purge, and i can drive a drive a nail into a board with the spine of a book. my point is that although possible, the results will be sub par and your efforts will mainly be fruitless. I'm a big fan of purging very often, and this is my main beef with all myas - and the reason i sold two of the three i had, and don't use the one i have left. once again, purge whenever you want; i've gotten into the habit of purging a lot. but do it whenever the smoke gets harsh or you just feel like it.

ash the coals whenever they go out on the bottom (for me this happens minimally, and like i said before, cocos will last the whole session for me without touching them. for some reason, others have a problem with them going completely out...i'm still baffled as to why.) or when there's a lot of ash around the coal. methods of ashing: if i'm outside i just pick them up with the tongs and blow the hell out of them. if i'm indoors, i carefully drop them from about 2 and a half inches up from the plate/tray and then if there's any residual ash i just rub the coal along the side of the bowl with the crumpled foil to scrape it off...it works pretty well.

new coal (fa7hm jdeed, as the arabs would say). put those on when you know there's still life left in the head and the current amount of heat isn't enough, mainly because the smoke is too thin, or the current coals are not producing enough heat. in a small phunnel i use 3 cocos for just about every tobacco. those die, and then i put on three more. repeat. i also usually purge after i put new coals on the head.

water droplets. this is normal with all pipes, and because of the shape of the base of the qt, it does it exponentially more than bell shaped, genie shaped, pear shaped, or any other bases. as an1m said, with a qt, you should submerge the qt downstem about 1 - 1.5 inches with water. droplets are okay, but water in the hose is never alright. it will make your hose shit out rather early, and lead to a horrible draw with a bubbling feeling in the hose and a bad session.

this is a nice 'sport', the best is its combination with the beautiful game. for me, there are few things in this world more satisfying than watching madrid kick the piss out of another team while the pipe is next to me and the fragrant smoke fills the air. it's also the perfect amount of time, halftime comes, put on the coals and when it's just about over, replace, and enjoy 45 more minutes of the most beautiful game ever played on a field.

cheers.

p.s. victor valdez is awful; casillas is brilliant.

[delSol_si]

a small will still give you looooong sessions, even with 2-3 people on the bowl. if you want shorter sessions, make/invest in a scalli mod(do a search) or use get a small-med egyptian...i've never used the mya bowl, but i haven't heard many good things.

Good gravy. I doubt I could last more than 60 minutes smoking alone. I'll look up that scalli mod and see if it's something appropriate for me.

Out of curiosity, are there any(many) hookah smokers here that very strongly dislike cigarettes?

I am a hookah smoker who very strongly hates cigarettes. I think they are nasty pieces of fuck.