Wtf Am I Doing Wrong

[dark_lord]

Equipment used:

1 MNH Jet Bowl

1 MNH Jet Scalli Mod

1 MNH Jet Standard Glass Screan

Coco-nara Natural Coals

Problem:

I was told to pack the bowl to the brim and to level it off with the screan. When I do that, I end up only burning the top part of the shisha while the whole bottom is left untouched and that's after 2+ hours of smoking. Packing it shallow yields similar results, it just takes longer to get any smoke. I've tried using less coal, but got little to no smoke. More coals and the above problem happens faster. When I pack it looser the stuff turns to carbon to quickly for me to enjoy it. Is there some kind of trick to this that I am not geting, or what? I've heard it said that the ideal result is to get the entire bowl hot, how do I make that happen? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[annual]

Your doing fine on the packing, the top is supposed to be burnt and the bottom fresh. How is the smoke when you smoke it? If your getting lots of flavor and smoke, then keep doing what your doing. Glass bowls are not easy to get hot quick (using windcover) so somtimes I'll use 2 coco's and a windcover if im using the glass screen. Try foil next time.

[inino]

foil it.

[Thermo]

Hey, can this be a sort of general 'wtf am I doing wrong' thread? I was tempted to post a thread of my own, and saw this one with the similar theme and all.

I am new to hookah with a capital "N." Two bowls into this new hobby, I am wanting to ask similar questions. I have read lots of informative stiff, (like the beginners wiki,) watched countless youtoob videos like 'how to set up, how to pack shisha" videos showing lots of coal configurations, etc... so what I began doing is a cross section of all of that I've learned from that.

My setup:

Saharasmoke 'obsession' 30-something inch hookah, wide-ish silver striped hose (single) common with that hookah - water (chilled, but all ice melted) exactly 1 inch above downstem. All checks out for tightness (save for a tiny leak somewhere in the hose itself, with a thumb over the end, the hose loses tight vaccuum in about 8 seconds.)

Bowl - 'regular"? egyptian bowl, packed (more like 'loosely filled') with shisha they way I've seen it done in lots of videos and pictures. I layer of foil, drum-tight, poked holes, as per (again) many instructional thinghies.


Coals: some sort of quicklites - with the convex and concave sides, 33mm? I'm guessing, usually two at a time, on the sides of the bowl, moved or rotated here and there every so often. I'm burning the coals down in the tray until no black is left before putting them up, then waiting another 8 minues or so

tobacco: Al Waha After Nine, chosen for a flavorful reputation, and also Fantasia Margarita the second time

That out of the way, the questions and problems: And I really hope I am not just expecting too much. - because many of my problems seem to be expectation related

I expected, from all I've read and seen and heard, for this setup to provide a very thick, extremely flavorful and pleasant experience, with lots of thick, almost overwhelmingly flavored smoke.

What I get, at least so far, is... hmm. I get clouds, and sometimes they're volumous ones (if I draw on the hose for a good long while anyway) but they're almost devoid of any sort of flavor. The shisha in comes out of the package smellign good enough to eat, but to smoke, it's about 1% of that flavor. I smoke and smoke, and then pick up a cracker, and marvel at how rich the bland cracker is in taste compared to the smoke. I don't even taste tobacco, just the slightest hint of what the flavor was maybe supposed to be.

As for the smoke itself: it's much more like empty vapor than smoke. Even after a big(ish) cloud, I feel like I might just as well have stood in the shower breathing steam. That's how 'un-smoke-like' what I'm getting is: instead of the richly flavored smoke I expected, I'm getting this weaksauce nearly bland 'steam' that doesn't even hang around long enough to make the room smell nice. It even almost looks like smoke?

So am I doing somethign wrong, or just expecting too much?

Wow, helluva first post, huh?

[inino]

for the guy right above me. pack loose and to the brim of the bowl filling all the sides up and use more heat. second before you do that though check for leaks. maybe the ball isnt in the purge valve.

[Thermo]

for the guy right above me. pack loose and to the brim of the bowl filling all the sides up and use more heat. second before you do that though check for leaks. maybe the ball isnt in the purge valve.

We'll give that a go tonight. I mean, there's no real leaks I can detect, save for a loss of vaccuum pressure on the detatched hose after a time. But I'll try 3 coals tonight and make sure it's right up to the brim. I'm also trying a diy 'ping-pong ball with lots of holes in it' diffuser


It it possible that with not enought heat, just the glycerine is cooking off without much flavor coming through? I know when I go into a tobbaconist and there's a guy in there with a briar pipe going, I can taste his from clear across the room better than I can taste anythign directly from my hookah sessions.