Hookah innovators / engineers: Idea

[Glottis]

So I was thinking the other day about starting a thread with "so", then I thought about an interesting idea for a hookah. What if the bowl was actually upside down, with the coals below it? Then, the distance between the coals and the bowl could be adjusted for different temperatures. You could put a load of coals on the tray and heat the whole bowl (ordinarly, the spot where the coal is actually resting on the foil doesn't get air circulation because air intake is blocked by the coal itself). Clearly I am going insane, but any thoughts?

[Enima For Your Lungs]

A couple questions:
What mechanism would you use to keep the tobacco in the upside down bowl?
The coal requires a lot of air going past it in order to create more
heat, if it was far away from the bowl would it get this necessary fuel?

[web250]

Interesting idea...but i say don't fix it if it isn't broken

[TJ Perry]

Why not just jerryrig something to set the coal slightly above the bowl itself. ....Why not make deeper bowls?

[Alqoshnia]

im tryin to imagine what you are talkin bout but it just doesnt sound at all helpful (not tryin to put you down in any way). if this is what you are talkin about, then i dont think its at all a good idea;
 ________________
/ <-------bowl
    /
     ; /
 
O  O O   <-----coals
 
_____
l   l <--- stem
l   l

[Alqoshnia]

oops sorry i pressed post before i was done
 
 
anywho if thats what you are talkin bout then all you are doin is breathing in the heat from the coal and VERY little of the actual m'assel. the reason you have coals ON TOP of the bowl, is because you need heat to pass through the m'assel to cook it and the steam coming off the m'assel should be what you are breathing in.
 
Now you could do as TJ said and rig somethin up to have the coals sit further away from the m'assel or you could put a smaller piece of coal and either use a windcover or just place a sheet of foil right on top of the coal this will keep in the heat and cook not burn the m'assel. hope that helps

[Morphine7399]

I don't quite understand your idea or how it will actually be more useful however I did have an idea of my own, what if a metal clamp was made to put on top of your bowl after putting on the tin foil.  This clamp would create sort of like an X across the top of the bowl.  In the center of the X would be a peg which has a crank attached to it.  This crank would run close to the tin foil and could hold up to two coals.  So basically instead of having to use tongs to constantly move your coals around the bowl you could use crank to spin the coals around the outside of the bowl. Maybe even include a small motor that would slowly turn the crank for you at adjustable speeds.
Anyone understand what I am saying here?

[smokinshisha4life]

sounds a little too complex for hookah to me

[Glottis]

Okay, so I haven't really worked out the logistics, such as how exactly
the coal tray is held or the best way to connect the hose to a normal
system, but here's a diagram:
[url="http://imageshack.us"][img]http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/8451/hookahtardation4ym.png[/img][/url]
Main advantages:
1) No ash falling into the tobacco
2) Even heat over entire bowl (placement of individual coals becomes unimportant)

Just a thought. I declare this the official wacky hookah idea thread.



[quote name='Morphine7399']Anyone understand what I am saying here?[/quote]I do. I think that you might still have to take coals off to ash them, which is when I would normally move my coals anyway.

[Alqoshnia]

ooooooooo i see now. you meant to have the WHOLE thing upside down, not only the bowl but also the stem wil be at the top. that would make more sense now.

[Sonthert]

I'm with you...your idea occurred to me five years ago...I'm working on it, or something similar...OK it is really very different but the idea of flipping the bowl "over" ocurred to me, too.

[Yoner]

Hmmm...could it be possible to have an upright hookah (normal set up), however, instead of a lit coal heating the tobacco, how about an electric source of heat (almost like a much smaller version of an electric stove top, not flat surface, but the metal wire-thingy). It would heat the tobacco evenly, no ash, no burning, and can be adjusted via a knob for height and for power. Or a very powerful electric heating lamp. Although all ideas for even heat distribution are cool.
 
Yoner

[Glottis]

They make little electric heater thingies that you can put on top. I think people don't buy them because they are expensive.

[Enima For Your Lungs]

You can actually buy "electric coals" on Ebay for hookahs.  It's a
little device that sits on top of the bowl and plugs into the wall and
provides electric heat to the tobacco.  It seems overly-complex to
me though and plus I like to watch the little sparklies.

[Yoner]

Can you provide any links to the electric coals? Has anyone ever tried it? I live at home and my parents don't enjoy it when i smoke indoors only because of the coals. That would be sweet
 
Yoner

[Bondal929]

Isnt one of the main advantages to having the coals on top, to keep the carbon monoxide away from the tobacco when someone isnt pulling. Wouldnt the smoke go up into the bowl and then when you pull you'll get a lung-full of carbon monoxide and die 5 years later of lung cancer?

[gunsboy]

The upside down idea sounds really good but cannot be used with wet/drippy kinds of shisha because it would just put out the coals or lose alot of the flavor too quick with a nasty burning smell too.
It a genius idea and could be a start for a new kind of hookah.

[TJ Perry]

[quote name='Glottis']Okay, so I haven't really worked out the logistics, such as how exactly
the coal tray is held or the best way to connect the hose to a normal
system, but here's a diagram:
[url="http://imageshack.us"][img]http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/8451/hookahtardation4ym.png[/img][/url]
Main advantages:
1) No ash falling into the tobacco
2) Even heat over entire bowl (placement of individual coals becomes unimportant)

Just a thought. I declare this the official wacky hookah idea thread.[/quote]Whacky. I'd say. Why are you using smoked sausages to heat your tobacco?

[Glottis]

Since when were sausages perfect cylinders?

[TJ Perry]

[quote name='Glottis']Since when were sausages perfect cylinders?[/quote]Havn't you ever opened a can of vienna sausages? Some are. He could pick and choose

[Glottis]

[quote name='Bondal929']Isnt one of the main advantages to having the coals on
top, to keep the carbon monoxide away from the tobacco when someone
isnt pulling. Wouldnt the smoke go up into the bowl and then when you
pull you'll get a lung-full of carbon monoxide and die 5 years later of
lung cancer?[/quote]

I'm pretty sure that carbon monoxide just kills you if you inhale too
much (because your body uses it instead of oxygen) and isn't a
carcinogen.



[quote name='gunsboy']The upside down idea sounds really good but cannot be
used with wet/drippy kinds of shisha because it would just put out the
coals or lose alot of the flavor too quick with a nasty burning smell
too.
It a genius idea and could be a start for a new kind of hookah.[/quote]
You are right, that is something I hadn't thought of. I guess you'd
just have to dry out the tobacco a bit before putting it in. Maybe
there's a solution, hmm.

[Lakemonster]

I am intrigued by the notion of this.
I dnot want to sound like I am poo-pooing the idea.. I simply see some details that may need to be addressed with the idea. Since there has been no testing that I know of ion the matter... or results from any such experiments..... I can only speculate some issues that would at least need to be addressed at attempting a sccuessful use of this idea.
1. How to easily control or address issues with:
a. Heat management
b. stem to bowl security
c. drippage
d.The altered stem shape may pose cleaning issues ( I assume there is a needed curvature of the stem)
e. coming up with a way to KISS the idea so that it doesnt make the useage "fiddley" or be too pricey to really be able to hit the market headlong?
With that said... I enjoy reading threads of this nature... and am excited to hear news and views in the realm of hookah smoking improvement.
I'd like to see where this goes... I would love to look into aspects of this myself.

[Glottis]

Those are all things I have been working on, and I know that they don't work yet. It's kinda discouraging trying to think of something innovative when you already know that in hundreds of years the device has been functionally unchanged.

[Tessai]

 Drip,drip,drip and coals are out. Heat and smoke rise so charcoal  management would be even more difficult to deal with along with leaving a bad taste in your mouth. Although, if someone actually came up with something that worked, I'd give it a shot. 

[great glavin]

Some of the best ma'assel out there runs with juice, making this idea kinda goofy. (think of AF grape, or any other fumari flavor)
You'd die within 5 minutes of smoking this way. My friend, if you've ever smoked a coal with a bit of tobacco juice on it, you'd know...
Without the coals sitting directly on top of the foil/metal barrier, airflow-heat management would be a pain also, lowering the coals efficency.
The best idea ive thought of as far as hookah modification (sans incorporating electric heating methods) would have the hookah stem actually coiled and submerged in water, with the water capacity and "jar" size accomidated for the ideal water-to-optimum smoking volume ratio. I doubt there'd be much of any difference though.