New to Hookah! Help me out!

[SoCalLove]

Hey,My friend just got a new Hookah and probably sometime this week I'll be heading over to his house to use it...for the first time. Now, I've never smoked Hookah before so I was hoping that you guys could help me out on how to use it. What's the basic method to use it? Proper etiquette to watch out for?Thanks!

[web250]

Basic method, just suck on the pipe, hold it in for a sec, breathe it out.In terms of ettiquette...take 1-2 drags, then pass the pipe. Just be relaxed, be social, be cool, and enjoy yourself.

[DrunkenWizard]

Use the search to look for the video that Cypress made.  It should help you out a lot.

[SoCalLove]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the help!

[Loumeer]

I
am going to assume that you have the most common type of a one hose hookah with
the glass base on the bottom.

Set-up: 

  Put the large foam or rubber grommet on the metal part of
the hookah, easiest way to do this is to coat it in a little water and slip it
on.  Then fill up the base with water, roughly 2-2.5 inches above where
the stem comes down (so the stem is submerged in the water.  Now put the
metal piece and the base together very tightly (again use some water to coat
the grommet).  Now put the ash tray (if it is separate) on the metal piece
and the bowl on top of that.  And plug in your hose.  The best way to
keep a seal, use rubber grommets for the bowl and the hose (can be bought at
any hookah store online).

Packing the Bowl:

  Take some tobacco and place it in the bowl.  Put the tobacco little bit at a time and don’t
pack it too hard.  I get best results
when I leave a space between the tobacco and the top of the bowl (1 cm space)
roughly.  Now take a square piece of aluminum foil and place it tightly on
the bowl (try not to rip it).  Once that is done poke some holes in the
top of the bowl with something sharp and not too big (a toothpick works well
for me).  Poke somewhere between 20-25 holes all the way around the bowl
(the pattern has never made a difference to me).

The Charcoal:
 
  I am going to assume that since it is your first time you
have the easy light charcoal.  Pick your charcoal up with your tongs and
light it with a lighter.  While it is sparking blow on the coal to make
sure it gets light all the way through (try not to breathe in the smoke the
coal first puts out, it hurts….).  Once your coal is light put it on the
aluminum foil and start smoking to get the tobacco light.

Etiquette:


Pass the hose around in a circle when you are done smoking, don’t rush
somebody.  If there is more than one hose plug the one that is not in use
at that time.  If there are multiple hoses only smoke one at a time.

Cleaning:

Take all the pieces apart. Throw away the
old tobacco and tin foil.  The best thing
to get is a brush that is thin and has bristles all around and you pull it
through the stem.  Then wash the bowl and
stem out with water using the brush on the stem.  And rinse out the base.  Leave out to dry and you are done cleaning.

 

////////////////////====================0[list]

 

Problems:

 

 
Smoke is not thick enough:

 
This could be caused by a few things.

1)
Not enough heat.

a.
Solution – Put another coal on the foil.  If 2
coals directly on the foil are making the tobacco too hot (or causing the
tobacco to taste harsh) then put one piggyback on the other.


i.  
= <===== So it looks like that.

1)  
The seal is not good.

a.
Solution – Make sure that the grommet is on tightly and
there are not leaks in the hookah.  The best way to test for leaks is to
blow into the hose and check to see where smoke is coming out.  If smoke
is only coming out of the release valve than the seal is ok.  Also having
all the grommets in place (on the bowl and hoses) really helps with the
seal. 

i.
WARNING:  If your release valve is broken or
covered up, water is going to shoot up into the bowl (so be careful).

2)  
The Ball bearing in the release valve could be stuck or
rusted.

a.
My old cheap hookah had a rusted ball bearing that
would not fall down so it did not keep a good seal.  The best way to deal
with this is either get a new ball bearing or just cover up the area with tin
foil.

 

Smoke is too thick:

1)  
Too much heat:

a.
Take off a coal.

2)  
Easier solution:

a.
If the smoke is not harsh but there is too much just blow into the hose
to make some smoke go out the release valve before you suck on the hose.

 

Smoke is too harsh / tastes ashy:

1)  
Too many coals:

a.
Take a coal off at a time if you have more than one.

2)  
The tobacco is packed wrong:

a.
I usually find that if the smoke gets harsh prematurely, it is usually
due to the fact that I packed too much tobacco in the bowl and the tobacco on
top that is touching the tin foil burned, making the smoke taste harsh or
ashy.  The easiest way to check to make sure you are packing bowls right
is to see after a smoking session if any tobacco sticks to the tin foil when
you take it off (there should be no tobacco sticking to the foil).

3)  
The tobacco is done:

a.
A bowl of tobacco should last on 45 mins to 1 hour on average.

  It is hard to suck on the hose:

1)  
The tobacco was packed too tightly:

a.
Open up the foil and break apart the tobacco.  If there is too much tobacco in the bowl than
take some out.

 

A
few pointers:

1)  
When dealing with finicky tobacco (Tangiers or instance).  Put the
rounded part of the coal on the foil until the smoke starts to die down, and
then flip it.  This helps to make sure the tobacco doesn’t burn.  When
I used to just put the coal on the foil, it would burn the tobacco.

2)  
Clean out the water in the base regularly.

3)  
Don’t wash hoses that are not washable (get a Mya hose, it is great).

4)  
Don’t give up.  It may take a while to get the technique down, but
once you have it down it will be easy.







Hope that helps.--Amichai Israeli

[c4r80n]

wow. nicely formatted. and long. :oi'd like to add, wait until the coal is all the way ashed over (gray and such) with no black spots. and do it in a well ventallated area or with the stove fan on.you can blow on it to make it go faster.

[SoCalLove]

Thanks guys!

[Donkeema]

in arabic tradition you never pass the hose on, leave it on the table for the next person to take it and smoke with.also they always smoke with their right hand and have the tip of the hose facing down towards the tounge.but i like to grab the pipe, smoke, smoke and never pass on until the coals finished