Tangiers Issue...

[momatik]

I'm still fooling around with my 250g pack of Brambleberry, but I'm trying to narrow down the possibilities as to why its not working well for me.

I had the same issue that Stuie had, where I got good smoke but not any flavor. Eric said it was an acclimation issue, which is probably right because I am all the way on the East Coast.

But every time I put my coals (2 CH Cocos) on the bowl, I always see mad smoke coming out of bowl. I figured it was because I'm putting my coals on directly off of the burner, so I let them chill for a bit before putting them on, but still same problem.

When I pull, it's harsh, so I figure it could be that this is the problem, or that I'm packing it wrong. I don't think I'm packing it wrong though, because I follow Calibridon/Eric's method (Thanks for that vid btw). Plus I got it to smoke right once but no flavor..

I'm stumped HF.

[Moefasaaa]

How long did you acclimate the shisha for?

[momatik]

At least a day.

I'm letting it acclimate again right now. It's been 3 days so far. It's always smelled but I don't know what else to do. Edited June 10, 2009 by momatik

[Moefasaaa]

And you stir the juices throughout it periodically? I'm not sure what the problem could be, I just figured you maybe hadn't acclimated long enough. Because from what I've heard, you acclimate until the shisha smells like what its supposed to smell like. Does it smell like tobacco? Or brambleberry?

[momatik]

It definitely smells right. Yeah I stirred it up ever couple of hrs.

You know I don't know what else it could be. And I doubt it's a bad batch, because my friend has gotten 250 g Tropical Punch and 250 g shnozberry.

Both with which we got nice clouds, but no flavor. Edited June 10, 2009 by momatik

[Zyram]

This happened to me last night, with a choco-mint I've been smoking for a while now (ie, I've had 2 bowls prior and both were fine). I got zero flavor for the first 5 mins, but had thick smoke. Flavor came very strong about 10 mins in, but before that it was weak and for the first few mins non-existant. Have you tried giving it 10-15 mins since you are getting some smoke? Give it a shot because my flavor just seemed like it delayed but it did arrive. Never had this happen before last night, was strange. Or if it has, I was probly drinkin and didn't notice =p


-Z

[norcalsmoker]

This happened to my 250g of lucid sour grape. I got no flavor for the first two attempts. Then somehow on the third attempt there was flavor there but overall it was really weak.

[liquidglass]

Well here is my 2 cents.


Just a few side factors you need to consider

- if you ate anything hot (temp) or spicy it can fuck up the flavor before you smoke

- if your water is too cold from the ice or the temp outside it can rob you of flavor (I figured that one out after smoking outside year around and noticing a huge difference winter/summer lol.)

- sounds like you might be cooking the shisha too much which is giving awesome clouds but killing flavors. I've noticed before sometimes my best flavor is when the smoke is weak. So try to cut down your coals just a bit and give it a min to warm up before you throw any more on.


- Try some other packing methods, it's weird diff methods work for diff people so just try one till you find yours

[Rani]

It definitely smells right. Yeah I stirred it up ever couple of hrs.

You know I don't know what else it could be. And I doubt it's a bad batch, because my friend has gotten 250 g Tropical Punch and 250 g shnozberry.

Both with which we got nice clouds, but no flavor.

As surprising as it sounds your heat may be too concentrated. I used to think that breaking up coals into smaller pieces all over the foil was a ridiculous notion, yet when I tried it it works amazingly well. Seems to bring out the flavor without diminishing the clouds. I don't smoke Tangiers any other way now.

'Rani

[ryno]

I agree with too much heat. Try one coal and a windcover or as a few others said many small pieces of coal.

[momatik]

It very well could be a heat problem.

How do you guys recommend I cut the CH coals? Edited June 11, 2009 by momatik

[mattarios2]

score the middle with a knife, then place the knife over the score, and smack the knife with something heavy, should crack right in half (this is what i do for my cocos)

if spreading out the heat doesn't help the issue, then it is an acclimation problem.

[momatik]

I'm gonna try that. So you think I should just use 1 split coco?

[mattarios2]

start with 1 split coco, if not enough add a windcover, if not enough add another half, and so on and so on.

if still getting good smoke and no flavor, it needs to acclimate more.

[Moefasaaa]

The harshness is probably heat management..but the fact that you're getting -no- flavor can't be just heat can it? I think you should try and acclimate more, I've heard of it taking 36 hours or 2 days to fully acclimate correctly for some people

[bobrik]

Im having the same problem with my lucid brambleberry. Acclimated for about 24 hours, smoked out of a small phunnel with 2 cocos got huge clouds but no flavour.

Momatik please reply if using less/breaking coal in pieces made a difference.

[mattarios2]

Im having the same problem with my lucid brambleberry. Acclimated for about 24 hours, smoked out of a small phunnel with 2 cocos got huge clouds but no flavour.

Momatik please reply if using less/breaking coal in pieces made a difference.

crack your cocos in half, don't use whole cocos for tang. you want to use as little of heat as possible with good sized clouds. start small and then work your way up with coals.

I use a total of 2 cocos with nakhla in my phunnel, and nakhla can take way more heat than tang.

CRACK EM IN HALF!

[bobrik]

Im having the same problem with my lucid brambleberry. Acclimated for about 24 hours, smoked out of a small phunnel with 2 cocos got huge clouds but no flavour.

Momatik please reply if using less/breaking coal in pieces made a difference.

crack your cocos in half, don't use whole cocos for tang. you want to use as little of heat as possible with good sized clouds. start small and then work your way up with coals.

I use a total of 2 cocos with nakhla in my phunnel, and nakhla can take way more heat than tang.

CRACK EM IN HALF!

Thanks will try that^

[contristo]

eh, i live on the east coast and just ordered 6 250g's of tangiers lucid. all these issues make me fear for the worst...

any acclimation tips for lucid? should i only acclimate it when there is a certain humidity? should i acclimate it in my garage or outside (my smoking location alternates between those two)? use the tin foil method?

i just don't feel like screwing up $100 worth of shisha

[Arcane]

eh, i live on the east coast and just ordered 6 250g's of tangiers lucid. all these issues make me fear for the worst...

any acclimation tips for lucid? should i only acclimate it when there is a certain humidity? should i acclimate it in my garage or outside (my smoking location alternates between those two)? use the tin foil method?

i just don't feel like screwing up $100 worth of shisha

check out the acclimation process in the wiki. its best to acclimate it where you're going to smoke it. imo, lucid is really hard to fuck up.

OP: if you saw a lot of smoke coming out of the bowl, then you might have REALLY REALLY overpacked it. do the coals stick to the foil? if so, it's definitely too overpacked. also, make sure you compress the tobacco with your palm. also, i can't totally agree with the too much heat...seeing as how i use 3 CH QLs on my small phunnel. its probably your packing technique. just takes practice, man...

[HsK BATES]

same problem with me. have tried every thing. have asked many people on here. i really am quite sad

[newjacksm]

Ive gotten some flavor loss too with my tangiers and I leave my lid open all the time so it acclimates 24/7. Today I had no taste from my lemon blossom and thats certainly my favorite flavor when it worked.

[ilikemyusername]

keep us updated, I had rasberry out to acclimate for a month and it never did anything.it would start to smell like rasberry and then i'd stir it and it smelled like a wierd molassesy tobacco mix, next day started to smell like rasberry then back to funky. I baked it, I froze it, smelled like rasberry then back to funk.

[momatik]

OP: if you saw a lot of smoke coming out of the bowl, then you might have REALLY REALLY overpacked it. do the coals stick to the foil? if so, it's definitely too overpacked. also, make sure you compress the tobacco with your palm. also, i can't totally agree with the too much heat...seeing as how i use 3 CH QLs on my small phunnel. its probably your packing technique. just takes practice, man...

You could be right, I have been trying Calibridons method. Maybe I did overpack...

When you first put the coals on the bowl, do you see smoke whisping out? What about later in the session when you purge and stuff?

Unfortunately I won't be able to try this stuff out for a couple of days, I feel like I'm getting sick.

I'll definitely try all the advice given in the thread so far though. And it'll be acclimating the entire time.

[Bulldog_916]

First off, coconut coals in general put out a lot of heat. I would cut those out first. Or cut them in half. You're using way too much heat, I can tell you that much. You'll get flavor when you step off the heat peddle. :-)