New Phunnel Bowl Not Performing Well

[Arcane]

honestly, it just sounds like you haven't gotten down how to use the phunnel yet. its cool though, whatever works best for you is what you should stick to.

[delSol_si]

Ok, now I see we ARE talking about the regular phunnels. I have a small Tang phunnel...it works much better than my egyptian. The only time I use my egyptian anymore is when I am low on baccy or am in a hurry and don't have time to pay the phunnel. I will agree, packing an egyptian takes less time and skill, but once you properly know how to pack one, they outperform the regular egyptian by a mile. It is true in my opinion that an egyptian will smoke better if the tang phunnel is not packed properly. But, I will say that I have NEVER gotten a good session out of a phunnel without using my mod, I feel the mod is necessary. I do know Eric is able to get it to smoke amazing well without the mod, but I am not as skilled as he is.

Logic does tell me that the mod is necessary to get a good session as it allows the air to flow through the baccy, but as you and I have seen, eric has proved this logic wrong.

I have noticed that one of the most common problems with packing the phunnel is not putting enough in or packing it down enough. When I figure started, I just sprinkled a little in and soon realized it doesn't smoke well. To get a good smoke, you have to pack it in pretty tight compared to the egyptian.

Also, a word of advice if you are using the tea light mod: After you have installed the mod and packed your baccy, do erics foil test to make sure there is enough baccy in there, use your palm to make sure it is packed nice and tight as well, but not too tight. Next, take the foil back off. Take your tongs and pull out the mod just a little, not all the way out, maybe a 1/4" at MOST. Then put the foil back on nice and tight, but try not to let the mod sink back down too terribly much, however the baccy should get in the way of the mod going all the way back down, which is good, perfectly fine for a little baccy to come between the rim of the mod and the bottom of the bowl. This allows the baccy to be tightly packed, but yet still able to breath a little, it also allows better airflow through the phunnel and the baccy.

Hope this helps, I am usually using layalina baccy with this method, btw.

edit: oh and from what i understand, you can take the unsmoked baccy from the bottom and smoke it later.

[twoapplesplease]

Sorry I gotta be the hater here but I smoked the phunnel enuff to get it smoking properly and to its full potential ,experianced no human error.It just doesn't smoke better than a standard egyptian.
And every time I see some one post that they can't get the phunnel smoking well and that they had great sessions with there egyptians, your damn skippy I'll be right there keeping them on the path.

[Arcane]

Sorry I gotta be the hater here but I smoked the phunnel enuff to get it smoking properly and to its full potential ,experianced no human error.It just doesn't smoke better than a standard egyptian.
And every time I see some one post that they can't get the phunnel smoking well and that they had great sessions with there egyptians, your damn skippy I'll be right there keeping them on the path.

it's obviously not to it's full potential, if YOU can't get it to smoke well...yet other people are raving about it.

just saying, if everyone was saying a phunnel is sub-par...then you probably have a valid argument. however, since a majority of people are saying that the phunnel performs better than an egyptian, then most likely there's something you're not familiar with in regards to the phunnel. you're probably getting better sessions out of your egyptian because you're more familiar with it...it doesn't mean the phunnel is sub-par.

[delSol_si]

Sorry I gotta be the hater here but I smoked the phunnel enuff to get it smoking properly and to its full potential ,experianced no human error.It just doesn't smoke better than a standard egyptian.
And every time I see some one post that they can't get the phunnel smoking well and that they had great sessions with there egyptians, your damn skippy I'll be right there keeping them on the path.

Haha, ok, now I know this thread will probably be dead by the time I get to smoke again, but I am going to make a vid, comparing the two. I may even be able to smoke them both at the same time. I bought some AFs awhile back, most of them are spoken for so I can't use them, but I will use the one I am keeping and then if my roommate decides to buy one off me, then I will use it as well and smoke both bowls simultaneously.

[hartwell778]

If you are smoking AF then there is really no wrong way to pack it. The only thing is that you need to make sure to get enough in the bowl. I have never been able to overpack AF in the phunnel. If you pack it up to the rim, filled really well, you should get huge clouds and about 3 and a half hours out of the bowl. As for the mod, I have never used one or felt it necessary. And to TwoApples, im sorry to tell you but the phunnel is far superior to the standard Egyptian bowl in many ways.

[LukeLukeLuke]

Okay I've been trying to smoke this thing all day and it's not getting any better. I found a video online that claims huge clouds from a phunnel bowl. The clouds in the video look exactly like mine. They suck. I get clouds three to four times this size from my Egyptian. Is this the best I can expect from my phunnel? If so, I'm switching back immediately.
THIS IS NOT MY VIDEO

[Sherwood]

Question for you, twoapples...

I prefer my crown phunnel (the newest phunnel, incidentally) to my Egyptians. I get thicker, tastier smoke and the bowl lasts longer. It's just as easy to pack as my Egyptian, which I used for years and bought after smoking from it in Cairo.

The phunnel is better in every way, even with "traditional" tobacco like Nakhla.

So clearly, one of us is doing this wrong. Why should I believe it is me?

[PalGuY]

The basic phunnel design is flawed to achive full flavor the heat must pass directly through all of the tobacco. The phunnel bowl is'nt some sort of amazing new technology If it really worked better I think the egyptians would have invented it ages ago.same goes for diffusers or should i say flavor killers

Not sure about egypt, but I was in Syria last year and a few cafes were using a phunnel type bowl. The only noticle difference is with the foil, they had only 1 big hole in the middle of the foil and had the coals around it.

[kajon]

Okay I've been trying to smoke this thing all day and it's not getting any better. I found a video online that claims huge clouds from a phunnel bowl. The clouds in the video look exactly like mine. They suck. I get clouds three to four times this size from my Egyptian. Is this the best I can expect from my phunnel? If so, I'm switching back immediately.
THIS IS NOT MY VIDEO

I have a med phunnel and usually I am to lazy to set it up bc like most people said it does take more practice/ time. However the few times I have smoked from it I have had some very good sessions. Also, I would agree that those clouds in that vid are not "Huge" to be honest they arent even big clouds. Dont get your hopes up like everything with hookah it takes time and practice to get it right.

[twoapplesplease]

The basic phunnel design is flawed to achive full flavor the heat must pass directly through all of the tobacco. The phunnel bowl is'nt some sort of amazing new technology If it really worked better I think the egyptians would have invented it ages ago.same goes for diffusers or should i say flavor killers

Not sure about egypt, but I was in Syria last year and a few cafes were using a phunnel type bowl. The only noticle difference is with the foil, they had only 1 big hole in the middle of the foil and had the coals around it.

I bet thats the best way to use a phunnel if the is one.

luke-egyption small conservation bowl ftw.I get huge clouds from mine and lots o flavor.one coal bowls that last close to an hour burned perfectly.And if you got two you just do a bowl swap and blamo fresh bowl.And new flavor if you want.more fresh bowl ftw

[RingsMaster]

Sorry but i fail to see your argument, a std. egyptian smokes better than a phunnel? I never follow the hype until i prove it myself. I used 2 hookahs, with the same Tobacco, same hoses and the only differences were the bowls, the phunnel had better performances in flavor and longevity...

ill argue that i can get the same smoke and flavor out of my egyptions as i do my phunnels and actually i think i get bigger clouds out of my egyption, however my medium phunnel lasts about an hour longer, but it also has more tobacco and i can get it to last for 2.5 hours where my egyption that holds maybe 25g-30g can go for at most 1.5 hours

EDIT: this is all with al fakher by the way Edited August 12, 2009 by RingsMaster

[vqturbo]

Sorry but i fail to see your argument, a std. egyptian smokes better than a phunnel? I never follow the hype until i prove it myself. I used 2 hookahs, with the same Tobacco, same hoses and the only differences were the bowls, the phunnel had better performances in flavor and longevity...

ill argue that i can get the same smoke and flavor out of my egyptions as i do my phunnels and actually i think i get bigger clouds out of my egyption, however my medium phunnel lasts about an hour longer, but it also has more tobacco and i can get it to last for 2.5 hours where my egyption that holds maybe 25g-30g can go for at most 1.5 hours

EDIT: this is all with al fakher by the way

It's what i found personally, i have done it a couple of times just to see if were true. i reiterate I do not follow hype, i form my own opinion.

I'll throw on egyptian on my next session, just to test my own findings again.

[RingsMaster]

Sorry but i fail to see your argument, a std. egyptian smokes better than a phunnel? I never follow the hype until i prove it myself. I used 2 hookahs, with the same Tobacco, same hoses and the only differences were the bowls, the phunnel had better performances in flavor and longevity...

ill argue that i can get the same smoke and flavor out of my egyptions as i do my phunnels and actually i think i get bigger clouds out of my egyption, however my medium phunnel lasts about an hour longer, but it also has more tobacco and i can get it to last for 2.5 hours where my egyption that holds maybe 25g-30g can go for at most 1.5 hours

EDIT: this is all with al fakher by the way

It's what i found personally, i have done it a couple of times just to see if were true. i reiterate I do not follow hype, i form my own opinion.

I'll throw on egyptian on my next session, just to test my own findings again.

i love both bowls dont get me wrong lol, for solo smokes i go egyption for group smokes i go phunnel, thats just how i role lol

[redjako]

Most people have already addressed most of it...my few points:

Phunnels will last longer / assist the flavor because you (shouldn't if you don't overpack it) don't lose the juices, and there is a greater surface area (the center phunnel) for heat to diffuse too (my own theory).

Tangiers needs warm water.

Tangiers needs density.

Tangiers needs proper heat management.

However, my FIRST ever successes with Tangiers were with my Mya Egyptian bowl. See below video. If you follow the blog link, you will also find 3 or so FAIL video's of Tangiers (what not to do), and later video's of pure bliss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etN5looL2K4

The next video is my first PHUNNEL success, which sucks for 20 minutes, until I switch it up and FINALLY (after almost 2 packs of failed Tangiers) hit some goodness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_qYNJ7PXWU

[LukeLukeLuke]

I got a good smoke!
Yesterday afternoon I packed a new bowl: alfakher two apples packed tighter than usual and lower than usual to make completely sure it wouldn't burn. I also used a different hole pattern: mod in, outer ring had large holes spaced far apart, inner ring had small holes closer together, then four medium holes between the two rings.
I placed four more pieces of ice in the vase to try and keep it from burning.
I cut two al fakher coals in half and used three of the four pieces, placing them in a pinwheel formation on top of the bowl.
Then I went downstairs to help my friend move a mattress.
Twenty minutes later I returned to the apartment and took the first hit. Huge cloud, thick smoke. It was perfect. Just as big as my egyptian bowl. And it only got better with time. I smoked three more sets of coals in the same formation, each time getting just as much smoke. On my final smoke of this bowl I used two full al fakher coals, not halved. I got the biggest clouds I've ever gotten from my Mya Vortex.
Thanks for all the help everyone! I've officially made the switch to phunnel!
I'm going to try some coco coals in town somehwere and see if that will improve it even more.