Solved My Burning Shisha Problem.

[Genie]

I am a total hookah noob. Haven't had my Bambino for long. My problem was that the top layer of my sheesh kept burning but what was underneath that layer still looked good and moist--yet tainted by the burned taste and therefore unusable. It was frustrating the crap out of me and searched for every packing method I could find and tried nearly all of them.

It didn't matter whether I was using my phunnel bowl, windcover combo bowl, or the stock Mya bowl. It also didn't matter whether I was smoking my usual herbal shishas (Hydro or Saalaam) or regular shisha. I kept trying to use less coal but then my stuff just wouldn't bake.

My fix was to first use a tea candle holder turned upside down with little triangles cut around the edges to allow air flow, turned it upside down over the hole in the Phunnel bowl (homemade Scalli) and to use a double layer of HD foil. Wish I could remember who to give credit to for the tea candle mod. I can't believe what a difference that made. I really didn't think HD would need to be doubled but, in my case, it's a must.

With the doubled HD (for noobs like me, HD means heavy duty) foil, I laid the pieces gently on the bowl and pressed lightly to get the outline of the bowl then laid the pieces (layered together) on a pot holder and poked the holes and THEN wrapped it over the bowl so it would be really good and tight and not pushed down when I punched the holes. The sheesh is packed loose and fluffy and even shaken a bit to ensure looseness.

It's been working great, no more burned shisha, the flavor is lasting longer, and I'm SO happy!

Also, using a little bit bigger foil pieces than I need allows me to wrap quite a bit of it tightly and messily around the neck of the bowl. This as been great for ashing the coals because I can scrape one side of them against the rough foil to expose the nice, hot, red HEAT!

Hope this "burned shisha" tip helps someone else out there.

[bungiman]

Nicely done! Glad you are getting good bowls.

How many coals do you use? What kind? I personally have never had to use 2 layers or anything. Possibly heat management could be an issue to be worked out later. Anyway I am just curious. Don't change if you don't have to and are getting good bowls.

[ilikemyusername]

what kind of coals are you using?

[Genie]

My coals are Shishaco or Cocos on a Phunnel bowl. I use a triangle of coals on the edges of the bowl. Once the coals have burned down and it's time for more, and the bowl is good and hot, two coals maintain it just fine. Smoking indoors, if that makes any difference.