Tangiers Issue?

[Zeaken]

I know a lot of people are tangiers fans on this forum which ended up me adding some to my cart when i made my next big shisha order. Normally i am used to smoking AF and only smoke once to twice a month as does my female companion who tried this with me. I tried it on a mya bambino with CH coconut coals.

As soon as i got it smoking became inable to smoke it. This was not due to the flavor (which was very strong and good) but rather my lungs shut down like i was having an asthma attack. the better it got smoking the less deep breathing i could do on it until it degenerated to me able to move less air then a normal breath. Thinking maybe my lungs kicked the bucket on smoking shisha i passed it along to my female companion. The hookah was going good so she tried to take a nice big hit off it and about half way through she came off the hose wheezing and coughing.

this meant either there was something amiss with my bambino, coals or the shisha. We opted to switch out the shisha for an AF grape mint and by comparison was like breathing clean air from the hookah and we had no problems from that point on sticking with the bowl of AF.

Is this because tangiers is known to be strong and because we are not big smokers or is possibly another culprit in play?

[ilikemyusername]

what flavor was it? horchata does the same thing to me. I just can't smoke it, it tastes like cough!

[Zeaken]

it was kashmir cherry. The flavor itself was not bad from what little i was able to sample but maybe the flavor does not agree with us

[fineout]

cut the coals in half if possible and try using less

[Zeaken]

I only used one coal, moving it around did not seem to stop the lung problem unless i backed it off so much i wasnt getting any smoke at all. I could try slicing the coal in half but i am not sure if it would help this probably but could possibly provide a more even cooking if i want to slice little coals into smaller pieces.

could it possibly be my packing job thats causing it? but i am fairly consistent so i doubt that in all honesty.

[Namenone]

Was it a like heavy feeling on your throat? or was it actually harsh? Ive got K cherry too and i find it fine.(with phunnel) Whats your setup? Make sure you pack Tangiers tight, its weird and i dont know how but it seems to make a difference with the harshness.

[PSU Smoker]

def try cutting the coal in half. It could also be since tangiers is a very strong tobacco. When I smoke at school and have straight Tang packed people usually starting coughing about half way through a pull. Trying mixing it as well if nothing else ends up working

[Travis]

I would go with a few hours of acclimation.
Just because the flavor itself is fine doesnt mean that its fully acclimated.
I smoked a bowl of k peach not too long ago that did the exact same thing that you are describing, to me.
3-4 hours of acclimation and it was back to normal.

[Arcane]

Tangiers does have a heavier feeling to it compared to AF, but nothing that should make you cough hard. i'm thinking it's most likely a packing issue. it could either be underpacked...or if you're using an egyptian, it's probably just not packed optimally...

could you provide details on your setup?

[Ralleac]

[quote name='Zeaken' date='15 March 2010 - 06:59 AM' timestamp='1268665171' post='457176']


As soon as i got it smoking became inable to smoke it. This was not due to the flavor (which was very strong and good) but rather my lungs shut down like i was having an asthma attack. the better it got smoking the less deep breathing i could do on it until it degenerated to me able to move less air then a normal breath. Thinking maybe my lungs kicked the bucket on smoking shisha i passed it along to my female companion. The hookah was going good so she tried to take a nice big hit off it and about half way through she came off the hose wheezing and coughing.


[/quote]

I've had this issue whenever I have tried Tangiers. I've had a few successful attempts via extreme overpacking and reacclimation, but at this point I'm pretty sure that it is just too strong for me. Most of the time when I take a pull from a bowl of tangiers I practically choke on it.

[Zeaken]

setup:

Hookah - mya bambino
bowl - mya bowl that came with the bambino (small)
coal - quick light coconut (one coal)
acclimation - none
shisha - cherry kashmir tangiers
hose - mya hose

next time i pack a bowl i will try and get some picks of it to see if its my packing but i will try exposing it for a few hours first to see if that helps things.

[fillup]

Yea, you want to acclimate it for at least 5 hours. That and cut the coals in half and use 1 half on each end (total of 1 coal). What your talking about happens when you put too many coals on the bowl. The thing will get really hot and harsh. It will cause you to cough uncontrolibly for a little bit.

[Travis]

[quote name='Zeaken' date='16 March 2010 - 12:03 AM' timestamp='1268715783' post='457332']
setup:

Hookah - mya bambino
bowl - mya bowl that came with the bambino (small)
coal - quick light coconut (one coal)
acclimation - none
shisha - cherry kashmir tangiers
hose - mya hose

next time i pack a bowl i will try and get some picks of it to see if its my packing but i will try exposing it for a few hours first to see if that helps things.
[/quote]

Acclimate it.
4 hrs open, stir every once and a while, then 20 hrs closed in a container. Do this until its fully acclimated, and then smoke it.

[PSU Smoker]

Ok since ur using an Egyptian I'll tell you how Jay told me to pack it. This method has worked flawlessly for me and a few others I've shared it with.

[list=1][*]Throw some shisha in your bowl so it like any other bowl you would pack, you wanted it filled to the brim.[*]Take your fingers and pack the shisha into a ring around the outside edge of the bowl. When this this is finished there should be no shisha left in the very center and the outside ring should have the consistency that Tangiers has in its package.[*]Throw some fluff in the center[*]Foil your bowl[*]Poke lots of holes, make sure all the holes go to the bottom of the bowl[*]Smoke and enjoy [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/Hookah.gif[/img][/list]

[dizzbizz]

[quote name='PSU Smoker' date='16 March 2010 - 07:43 AM' timestamp='1268750619' post='457408']
Ok since ur using an Egyptian I'll tell you how Jay told me to pack it. This method has worked flawlessly for me and a few others I've shared it with.

[list=1][*]Throw some shisha in your bowl so it like any other bowl you would pack, you wanted it filled to the brim.[*]Take your fingers and pack the shisha into a ring around the outside edge of the bowl. When this this is finished there should be no shisha left in the very center and the outside ring should have the consistency that Tangiers has in its package.[*]Throw some fluff in the center[*]Foil your bowl[*]Poke lots of holes, make sure all the holes go to the bottom of the bowl[*]Smoke and enjoy [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/Hookah.gif[/img][/list]
[/quote]
+1 I did this but stuck my thumb in the center and packed tightly around it. It smoked great for me. Make sure its packed tight and acclimated. I noticed with my Tan likes heat so I put 4 halves of coco's. Try that out. If its harsh just take a coal off and go from there.

[PSU Smoker]

id go the other way around...start with a low number of coals then after 2-3 min if your smoke is still thin add another coal. Just keep doing this until optimal smoke. If you start with too much you could char some tobacco and get a bad taste throughout the session. The thumb method sounds like it would work better than packing and pinching and repacking tho. Edited March 16, 2010 by PSU Smoker

[Zeaken]

alright i tried acclimating it to see if that would fix it and the answer is no. I then had a friend who is a smoker over and subjected him to it and he loved it. Upon testing everyone else in the group smokers handled it no problem and generally liked it but all non smokers just couldnt do it what so ever.

I think in the end it really is that tangiers is just to strong in its niccotine levels for people who dont smoke very much and have no prior smoking experience of other things. tangiers is just to strong

I am going to try and cut it with some tea leaf style shisha with no niccotine to balance the crazy high levels.

[foibled again]

Arcane is right, you are underpacking. Higher nicotine levels does not cause the problems you are describing. It should still smoke fine but with a more noticeable "buzz" if you are susceptible to it. Pack the tobacco as tight as you can and as full as you can. Pack until all you are doing is squeezing juice out. Don't be stingy with the tobacco.