Nakhla Tutorial

[mattarios2]

Thanks for the tut mattarios2! I've been experimenting with other brands in my phunnel (besides Tangiers, that is) with moderate success. I will give your method a try tomorrow as it looks promising.

Thanks for sharing!

ever end up giving it a try?

[dakur001]

Just a quick question here; my understanding was that you are never under any circumstances to poke holes over the opening in the middle a phunnel bowl because it prevents the airflow from adequately reaching all the shisha, so are there certain conditions in which doing so is appropriate? I'm not challenging your method by any stretch of the imagination, obviously it works wonders, I'm just wondering when it is and isn't appropriate to do so, or if I've just been wrong this whole time and it doesn't make a difference. Thanks.

[mattarios2]

it is all based on preference. some have luck with the holes, some don't. So some put holes in the middle and some don't.

i find it to hit smoother with holes in the middle of the phunnel

i know Eric (the creator of the bowl) pokes holes in the middle of the phunnel as well.

My recommendation is try it with and without, and see what works better for you with your method of packing.

Goodluck!

[MWlax00]

whered u find mizo watermelon? local shop?

[mattarios2]

nah the east coast nakhla distributor has it along with mizo guava already.

the watermelon is better than AF's but tastes a lot like it.

the guava is the best flavor on the market! heh

[MWlax00]

id kill for some watermelon.
theres nothing here in omaha but af and hh

[dakur001]

it is all based on preference. some have luck with the holes, some don't. So some put holes in the middle and some don't.

i find it to hit smoother with holes in the middle of the phunnel

i know Eric (the creator of the bowl) pokes holes in the middle of the phunnel as well.

My recommendation is try it with and without, and see what works better for you with your method of packing.

Goodluck!

Awesome, thanks for clearing that up!

[mattarios2]

not a problem

[thehelios]

Going to have to try this out. Smoked Nakhla for the first time in months last night and didn't get huge clouds but I was using the sprinkle method.

I want to know for future reference, is it ever a good idea to underpack? I keep having this idea in my head that if the tobacco is touching the foil, it will straight up burn badly.

[mattarios2]

Going to have to try this out. Smoked Nakhla for the first time in months last night and didn't get huge clouds but I was using the sprinkle method.

I want to know for future reference, is it ever a good idea to underpack? I keep having this idea in my head that if the tobacco is touching the foil, it will straight up burn badly.

nope not a problem at all. after your session, the entire bowl should be stuck to the foil, with nothing left in the bowl.

the idea is that the heat gets sucked through the holes of the foil past the burnt tobacco stuck to the foil, and down to the juicy section at the bottom of the bowl.

pack it tight for nakhla, tangiers, and romman, everything else can use the sprinkle method.

[thehelios]

Going to have to try this out. Smoked Nakhla for the first time in months last night and didn't get huge clouds but I was using the sprinkle method.

I want to know for future reference, is it ever a good idea to underpack? I keep having this idea in my head that if the tobacco is touching the foil, it will straight up burn badly.

nope not a problem at all. after your session, the entire bowl should be stuck to the foil, with nothing left in the bowl.

the idea is that the heat gets sucked through the holes of the foil past the burnt tobacco stuck to the foil, and down to the juicy section at the bottom of the bowl.

pack it tight for nakhla, tangiers, and romman, everything else can use the sprinkle method.

Sir, I must thank you. This works perfectly for me from my mod bowl and you have converted me to Nakhla. I just bought 1.5 kilos of Nakhla from Nazar and can't wait. Always felt Nakhla was a sub standard brand to AF but I was terribly wrong. Again, THANK YOU! Edited August 18, 2009 by thehelios

[mattarios2]

my pleasure, my pleasure.

[Frankay]

I think i have a problem ...... loll

I usually pack my Nak like you says, with the exact same method blabla
Got excellent taste but small clouds ...

This afternoon i tried with 4 halves and the clouds weren't big at all ...

Is it normal to smoke Nak with 3 Coconaras on the top ?!!

Oh and BTW! I smoke in a medium funnel ! Edited August 18, 2009 by Frankay

[mattarios2]

for a medium that seems completely normal, in the tutorial i use a mini so you are using a lot more tobacco than me.

[joytron]

is there any way we can have this stickied or do i just gotta bump it every week or so?

[mattarios2]

ummm, not sure, ask an admin, i think they said no to the same type of thing but for a tangiers tutorial sticky ... b/c it is favoring a brand of shisha or something like that.

I also have another way i pack my nakhla i needa make a tutorial for that too. Usually depends on what mood im in.

[Frankay]

This thread make me so envy to smoke Nakhla
Can't wait after my work hehe ! Edited August 19, 2009 by Frankay

[newjacksm]

this is the way I pack my nakhla too except with out the fork. Good stuff! I get great taste and good clouds with Cola and DA from this ever since I changed my packing methods.

[mattarios2]

this is the way I pack my nakhla too except with out the fork. Good stuff! I get great taste and good clouds with Cola and DA from this ever since I changed my packing methods.

good to hear

[Genie]

After reading this I couldn't wait to try it in my medium phunnel. It didn't go so well. Smoked great for about 50 minutes and then just petered out. Extra coals didn't improve the situation. When I opened it up, the top layer of shisha had done what baked shisha does but underneath it there was still a lot of nice, juicy, wasted Nakhla.

The only thing I don't think I did properly was to make sure there was plenty of shisha high enough to be touching the foil. None of it stuck to the foil at all. I had used a toothpick to poke holes through the foil and all the way through the shisha.

Is the secret to make sure there's no space between the shisha and foil?

I hated to waste so much Nakhla trying this out. Loaded another bowl right after, light and fluffy like usual with a gap between it and the foil, it smoked great for an hour and no wasted shisha.

My method is great for a 45 minute to 1 hour smoke, but I'd love to pack a bowl that lasts two hours!

Do I need to risk another big bowl of shisha and make sure it's packed in high enough to be against the foil? Seems counter-intuitive but I'm no shisha goddess.

[c-f0o]

wow thanks for the tutorial. i bought some nakhla sweetmelon and was so frustrated by the sessions. i was using the sprinkle method and it would start tasting nasty around 20-30 minutes. (would find out there was still a grip of shisha on the bottom whilst the top was heavily burnt). was about to toss it all out! i will retry my packing methods before i give my final verdict on nakhla tobacco (big AF/SB user)

[mattarios2]

After reading this I couldn't wait to try it in my medium phunnel. It didn't go so well. Smoked great for about 50 minutes and then just petered out. Extra coals didn't improve the situation. When I opened it up, the top layer of shisha had done what baked shisha does but underneath it there was still a lot of nice, juicy, wasted Nakhla.

The only thing I don't think I did properly was to make sure there was plenty of shisha high enough to be touching the foil. None of it stuck to the foil at all. I had used a toothpick to poke holes through the foil and all the way through the shisha.

Is the secret to make sure there's no space between the shisha and foil?

I hated to waste so much Nakhla trying this out. Loaded another bowl right after, light and fluffy like usual with a gap between it and the foil, it smoked great for an hour and no wasted shisha.

My method is great for a 45 minute to 1 hour smoke, but I'd love to pack a bowl that lasts two hours!

Do I need to risk another big bowl of shisha and make sure it's packed in high enough to be against the foil? Seems counter-intuitive but I'm no shisha goddess.

definitely try it again, and pack it tightly like i do in the tutorial, but up to the edge of the rim. Also are you poking holes with a toothpick all the way through the bowl?

[Genie]

definitely try it again, and pack it tightly like i do in the tutorial, but up to the edge of the rim. Also are you poking holes with a toothpick all the way through the bowl?

Yup, toothpick all the way through to make sure I've poked holes through the packed shisha. The pack was just below the rim. Not because I was purposefully not following the instructions, but because I couldn't remember where I'd read them so I couldn't double check! So you are saying up to the rim. Literally? Or should it be up to the rim and then up some a little (then gently compressed with the hand after foil is applied) or just nice and level with the rim?

I usually use two layers of HD foil--that works great for me (on my normal bowls) for some reason. Any reason why I shouldn't do that for this pack?

[chinodos]

After reading this I couldn't wait to try it in my medium phunnel. It didn't go so well. Smoked great for about 50 minutes and then just petered out. Extra coals didn't improve the situation. When I opened it up, the top layer of shisha had done what baked shisha does but underneath it there was still a lot of nice, juicy, wasted Nakhla.

The only thing I don't think I did properly was to make sure there was plenty of shisha high enough to be touching the foil. None of it stuck to the foil at all. I had used a toothpick to poke holes through the foil and all the way through the shisha.

Is the secret to make sure there's no space between the shisha and foil?

I hated to waste so much Nakhla trying this out. Loaded another bowl right after, light and fluffy like usual with a gap between it and the foil, it smoked great for an hour and no wasted shisha.

My method is great for a 45 minute to 1 hour smoke, but I'd love to pack a bowl that lasts two hours!

Do I need to risk another big bowl of shisha and make sure it's packed in high enough to be against the foil? Seems counter-intuitive but I'm no shisha goddess.

I think you had the same problem I had been having before with Nak. I was skimping on the tobacco because I didn't want to use so much at one time. Just remember you can use that unbaked tobacco on the bottom next time, as long as next time is not more than a week or so. I reuse unbaked tobacco all the time and it still comes off great.

[mattarios2]

definitely try it again, and pack it tightly like i do in the tutorial, but up to the edge of the rim. Also are you poking holes with a toothpick all the way through the bowl?

Yup, toothpick all the way through to make sure I've poked holes through the packed shisha. The pack was just below the rim. Not because I was purposefully not following the instructions, but because I couldn't remember where I'd read them so I couldn't double check! So you are saying up to the rim. Literally? Or should it be up to the rim and then up some a little (then gently compressed with the hand after foil is applied) or just nice and level with the rim?

I usually use two layers of HD foil--that works great for me (on my normal bowls) for some reason. Any reason why I shouldn't do that for this pack?

Use one layer of foil, nakhla is a high heat tobacco, it likes heat. 2 layers makes the tobacco harder to heat.

Pack it right below the rim, when it is packed down it should be just a hair below the rim.