Washing Shisha Before You Smoke

[kudomonster]

So I've been hookahing for years now, and I've never heard of washing your shisha before you smoke it. I have a friend who recently hookahed with another friend of his who comes from Iran. This other friend, when preparing a bowl, washes the shisha. My friends doesn't know what kind of shisha he is using, but he notes that it comes in a box (Real helpful ) Basically this other guy takes some shisha in his hand, runs water through his hand and then sets the shisha on a paper towel to get rid of the water. He then maticulously takes each peice and slowly packs the bowl, making sure no shisha touches the foil.

My friend says each bowl this guy has packed has been fantastic. I however, have never heard of this or seen this. I'm wondering if it's good shisha to begin with, or if washing away the glycerin (which I thought contained alot of the flavor..?) makes it so the shisha burns easier, and the shisha has absorbed the glycerin and that's where the flavor comes from?

So have any of you heard of this? Do any of you do this?

Either way, I have some Starbuzz guava that i feel is too syrupy (bad taste) and I'm going to try his method of packing and washing. I'll report back in a little!

[kudomonster]

Either way, I have some Starbuzz guava that i feel is too syrupy (bad taste) and I'm going to try his method of packing and washing. I'll report back in a little!

Oh... god. Either they were using tombeik/tombac, or they aren't too bright.

My friend says he knows nothing about this "tombeik/tombac" you speak of. It's a little offensive that you comment that my friend and his buddy aren't too bright, my friend has smoked from my KM with AF and coconaras and know what a really good smoke is. The other guy has packed bowls for him, time and time again, using this method and my friend has said it's spectacular. His buddy says this is the manner in which the majority of hookahs get packed in northern Iran. People aren't stupid simply because something you've never heard of works for them!

So I just packed a bowl, here's the setup I'm using:
Mya QT
SB Guava (was once unbearable)
MYA hose
Coconaras
Standard small MYA QT bowl.
Poked holes with a toothpick at random
Home made diffuser

Holy batman, stop the presses. This actually works. I'm getting TONS of smoke and the flavor has been reduced a bit, and is a little subtle, but tastes good. Before it tasted like soap. I'm going to hit "post" when I finish the bowl because I have a feeling that it might end fast, but we'll see. I normally place the coals on the outside, and rotate inwards over the course of the session, but for this to even start I had to put the two coals right in the middle. Yet, it's not harsh at all.

15 min and the flavor is actually getting stronger, the smoke is still powerful. My theory on why this works is that the excessive glycerin doesn't actually effect flavor (Unless perhaps you're using a phunnle, then the glycerin becomes more essential), since the shisha absorbs enough glycerin. When you wash off the excessive glycerin (i didn't wash it until it was totally washed out, just washed the glycerin off) it makes the shisha burn easier. I can't say that this is BETTER than GOOD shisha though, it's not like I haven't gotten smoke like this from AF or anything. But nevertheless there's something good happening!

It's been close to 35 min, and I haven't touched the coals. Here's a video of the smoke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07z2aXDXeXg
Crappy video from my crappy webcam, but this is just to prove that it works.

45 min in: Flavor is dying a little bit. Smoke is still strong, I've ashed the coals but pretty much just put them back in the middle. The coals are much much smaller and I'm thinking the reduction of flavor is due to the coals not burning as much shisha. I'm going to warm up another coconara and put it on to see if the flavor comes back.

New coal tastes horrible, so I'm going to say I got a good 45 min of flavor from this shisha. I'm going to pack some caramel macchiatoo, a flavor I like unwashed, and see how it goes. The shisha near the top is burnt crisp, but near the bottom it's still looking good.

Normally I like the CM flavor, but I want to see what happens when I wash it. Instead of using two fresh coals I'm using one new, and two tiny peices (The ones I used for the last bowl.)

Hmm, not as good. I would say washing flavors that are fruity would be better, come to think of it I had some AF double apple that was a perfect candidate for washing, as it was a little too powerful. The CM still smokes well, but the flavor has been muted to a degree that it's closer to "tasteless" than any other adjective.

I'll give this a go when I get my AF guava, that is.. if it's not good to smoke as it is. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

[ilikemyusername]

interesting, maybe tonight i'll gove this a shot with some nakhla

[Tyler]

I've heard of this, a lot. I tried it, I might have done it wrong but it didn't work well for me at all.

[Barnaby]

these seems to defeat the purpose of flavored tobacco. The reason I get Tangiers, and Nahkla is for the intense flavors. Last thing I want to do is wash my money down the drain. I don't care if it smokes better, if the taste is going to die, what's the point?

[Stuie]

I bet he is using Tomabac. You have to kinda soak it to break it apart. Mush has a great video on it. In the Video Section ^^^

Washing normal shisha tobacco seems like a bad Idea

[antouwan]

i have plenty of cousins from lebanon; i know plenty of egyptians, palestinians and syrians....none of them do this.

i don't believe this to be real.

[HsK BATES]

who cares if its real? you think hes lying about this? No he is prbly not. everyone has there own way of doing somthing and if it works for him then let it be. jesus.

that was some pretty good smoke tho man, keep it up

[newjacksm]

its probably traditional shisha. Not shisha that you get from Starbuzz / Nakhla / Tangiers etc..etc..

[ammoura1]

Long time ago, before the invention of the Phunnel bowl (yes yes, this invention needs a capital letter!) I used to wet the tobacco and then remove the excess juices since I did not want juice running on my hookah stem and finishing in the vase. I recall the taste was there but for a shorter period of time (compared to smoking with a Phunnel which can run 2+hours (6 coco naras)

I believe I did this with Nakhla Double Apple as well as AF grape.

[EvansLight]

Yea washing sounds like hes using a more traditional tobacco, or just using that method for it. With todays tobacco it would just water down the flavor, and maybe even some of the glycerin, killing the smoke. I don't know, Sontherts the scientific one.