Packing Nakhla Exactly Like Tangiers

[Bulldog_916]

I dunno. Nakhla is a heat sink as far as shishas go. I would think that the more surface area you expose to the heat, the better. For example, when you sprinkle it in there, you open up all kinds of area for air to be, the coals heat up the air and the honey and molasses in the tobacco and produce smoke. When you pull, you move air and heat across the tobacco, the more shisha you pack in there, the less able the air is to flow across it. That means less heat is getting to the rest of the tobacco. I tried the tight pack method and it was good....as good as normal packing. So I'm skeptical. I think a lot of it is placebo effect, where you think that it's better because you believed it would be better and you dont want to have been wrong. This is just me though.

[Barnaby]

I tried this last night with sweet melon.. It did not work as well as my normal way of packing nakhla. I packed it in tight, foiled it up, and used a toothpick to make holes everywhere except the middle.. put on 3 cocos, and I was barely getting anything out of it. I poked holes all the way to the bottom. Used my windcover as well to get the heat up a few times, and even to the point it was starting to taste like it would burn, I got ok smoke at best.

I then got my kabob skewer out, and opened the holes some, and put some in the middle. Now it smoked closer to normal, but nowhere near what I would consider, amazing or any different than normal. If anything, it was mediocre at best.

Now, maybe my definition of tight is VERY different from what everyone of the forum thinks.. I'm thinking it was too tight, but it's pretty much the same as when I smoke Tangiers, which smokes fine. Maybe I'm packing that too tight too, and even it could improve. When I think tight, I mean put a clump in, and press it down, and go around the phunnel, pushing the clumps in against the previous, and pushing it down so it is very much compressed. Not to the point where juice gets squeezed out, but definately tight. I'd have to say, after stirring up the shisha, grabbing a clump with my fingers, without squishing, putting it in the phunnel, it goes up to the rim. Then I push it down, say halfway, and add some more.. That sound too tight? That is my Tangiers tight...

Normally with Nakhla, I sprinkle it in till the rim, then push it down maybe a quarter, and sprinkle it again to the top, and push down alittle to the inner rim.. This is alot less tight than tangiers for me, but definately packed vs. sprinkled. Edited May 9, 2009 by Barnaby

[TheShishaDoctor]

I am smoking a bowl of Nakhla Sweet Melon as we speak. It has been going for 20 minutes solidly, and it normally goes good for about 2 hours. I'm pretty quick to pack a new bowl when the flavor starts going downhill, and 2 hours is pretty impressive for me.

I'll explain exactly how I pack it.

Bowl: Tangiers Small Phunnel (no scallis mod)
Tobacco: Nakhla Sweet Melon (with about 3 tsp of glycerine added to 250g)
Coal: 2x 3K 33mm QL

Packing method:
1) Pack the entire bowl tightly all the way up to the inner rim. This should leave about 1 - 1.5 mm of spacer between the tobacco and the foil.
2) I use Reynolds regular foil. I wrap 2 layers of foil tightly around the rim. I find it helps with heat management.
3) With a thumb tack, poke 3 rings of holes about 2 -3 mm apart from eachother in rings, starting from the outside. No hole's near the center of the bowl.
4) Place the coals on, on opposite sides of each other.
5) Within 1 or 2 hits the smoke is great, flavor is great. Every few minutes for the first 15 minutes, I rotate the coals evenly around the bowl.
6) As flavor starts to die out 45min - 1hr in, add one coal at a time as necessary. Keep it going until you can't get more flavor. That's about 2 hours for me.

[mattarios2]

1.) I leave no space really between the foil and shisha
2.)I use HD foil and use one layer
3.)I use a toothpick and poke all the way down to the bottom of the bowl, so the size of the hole ends up being huge.
4.) good (i use 2 cocos cut in half, 4 halves)
5.)works, but i don't rotate the coals, just on the next set of coals put them in the spots that haven't been touched yet (helps from ash falling in the bowl and killing flavor.)
6.) good, but i get flavor out of my mini with nakhla for about 3 hours. Mizo even a bit longer. So i would think a small could get 5-6 hours, medium maybe 7-9 or so and then a large 15? I don't really know for sure but my mini is definitely ... MINI and i can get 3 hours out of it.

Not saying you have to take my recommendations, as it seems you are having good sessions with your set up but this is just the way i do it and i get phenomenal results. maybe give it a try and compare the 2 setups.

[taylor413]

I just got home from school and to start off the summer I added some glycerin to Sweet Melon and packed a head. It was excellent. I'm generally an Al Fakher fanboy but this blew my mind. A quick question though, for those of you who have added glycerin to Al Fakher how much do you add? I added 5 tsps to 250g of the sweet melon but that would surely be too much for AF.

[Balthazar]

Why would you add glycerin to AF? Is it dry?

[taylor413]

Well I have a couple of ziploc containers of Af that seem to have dried out a bit and I'm just curious how adding a tsp or so of glycerin would affect smoke volume.

[TheShishaDoctor]

You should be fine adding a couple tsp of glycerine if you think it needs it. Keep in mind that glycerine tends to cut down on flavor a bit, so I would only add some if it actually needs it.

[mattarios2]

i have no idea why people say that ... i have never EVER had an issue with adding glycerin. Even the first time i added it, i added way too much and the shit looked like fantasia, still smoked great, still tasted awesome.

Maybe it depends on what brand glyc it is? I don't know, but never had the issue many of you speak of.

[Sonthert]

I tried this last night with sweet melon.. It did not work as well as my normal way of packing nakhla. I packed it in tight, foiled it up, and used a toothpick to make holes everywhere except the middle.. put on 3 cocos, and I was barely getting anything out of it. I poked holes all the way to the bottom. Used my windcover as well to get the heat up a few times, and even to the point it was starting to taste like it would burn, I got ok smoke at best.

I then got my kabob skewer out, and opened the holes some, and put some in the middle. Now it smoked closer to normal, but nowhere near what I would consider, amazing or any different than normal. If anything, it was mediocre at best.

Now, maybe my definition of tight is VERY different from what everyone of the forum thinks.. I'm thinking it was too tight, but it's pretty much the same as when I smoke Tangiers, which smokes fine. Maybe I'm packing that too tight too, and even it could improve. When I think tight, I mean put a clump in, and press it down, and go around the phunnel, pushing the clumps in against the previous, and pushing it down so it is very much compressed. Not to the point where juice gets squeezed out, but definately tight. I'd have to say, after stirring up the shisha, grabbing a clump with my fingers, without squishing, putting it in the phunnel, it goes up to the rim. Then I push it down, say halfway, and add some more.. That sound too tight? That is my Tangiers tight...

Normally with Nakhla, I sprinkle it in till the rim, then push it down maybe a quarter, and sprinkle it again to the top, and push down alittle to the inner rim.. This is alot less tight than tangiers for me, but definately packed vs. sprinkled.

Then you have too much now. Nakhla is a little trickier to pack since its cut is a little too fine...Tangiers is harder to overpack.

[jeremyk]

i have no idea why people say that ... i have never EVER had an issue with adding glycerin. Even the first time i added it, i added way too much and the shit looked like fantasia, still smoked great, still tasted awesome.

Maybe it depends on what brand glyc it is? I don't know, but never had the issue many of you speak of.

what color glycerin do you use i have this stuff in a purple bottle

[MrMoodz]

I use the glycerine from Michael's (Craft Store). I forgot the brand name but the label is purple and white and its intended use is for cake icing.

[mattarios2]

i have no idea why people say that ... i have never EVER had an issue with adding glycerin. Even the first time i added it, i added way too much and the shit looked like fantasia, still smoked great, still tasted awesome.

Maybe it depends on what brand glyc it is? I don't know, but never had the issue many of you speak of.

what color glycerin do you use i have this stuff in a purple bottle

I use the glycerine from Michael's (Craft Store). I forgot the brand name but the label is purple and white and its intended use is for cake icing.

I use the same stuff!

[ahwahoo2006]

Interesting. I shall have to try this tonight.

[Barnaby]

Then you have too much now. Nakhla is a little trickier to pack since its cut is a little too fine...Tangiers is harder to overpack.

Ok, I figured as much. I'm thinking my normal way of packing nahkla might be closer to how everyone is packing it, tangiers tight..

Man, I wish someone who is affluent with the way everyone smokes on this forum was close by, to show how its done, and critique my methods. There is only so much you can get from watching vids, and reading about it.

[momatik]

It's confirmed that all washed shisha's smoke better when packed tight like tangiers.

It's also been said that unwashed shishas even smoke better when packed tight.

So here's my question:

What makes tangiers so sensitive to being packed any other way?

[TheShishaDoctor]

So here's my question:

What makes tangiers so sensitive to being packed any other way?

I think Eric's the best guy to answer that question, but here's my basic understanding:

Tangiers is a bit tricky when it comes to heat management, and by packing tightly, an optimal amount of heat will travel through the tobacco. Too light a pack, too much heat going though and you will get a harsh smoke.

From what I've seen from my cashed bowls of Tangiers/Nakhla, it seems that after the upper layers become crusted, the air is able to flow deeper and deeper, reaching fresh tobacco as it needs. Packing tightly allows the tobacco to be burned at a correct temperature, and gives the heat access to just the right amount of tobacco.

I could be totally off with my assessment, maybe somebody can clear this up a bit more.

[Sonthert]

If you don't get enough heat flow, the bowl doesn't get hot enough to develop flavor and clouds...it just vaporizes nicotine.