Sonthert Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 Electric heaters don't work well, from what I understand. My engineering analysis would suggest that the control problems would create an underdamped system, ie it would run too cold and then too hot since the delay between twisting the knob and increasing heat (decreasing) would be slow.In practice, from what I read, they tend to burn to hot and then too cold, confirming my engineering analysis...engineering wins again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 Tangiers have you considered an electric heater with adjustable height? In essence when its too hot you could just increase its distance from the bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 A convection heating unit would be highly inefficient, although the control problems would be reduced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruddigger Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 So all the heat transfer through convection would be removed, leaving only a small amount radiated heat transfer to cook the tobacco. I don't think that would be enough heat to really smoke with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 Exactly. Radiative and convective heat transfers suck. Thats why if you leave gaps between the tobacco and the bowl, it doesn't smoke as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glottis Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 It's a shame that Tangiers is right and electric heaters don't work well, yet. The advantages would be immense - no ash, no having to burn coals (which may improve the healthiness of it, as well as be less annoying)How about heatpipes? We could use those, for sure. I'm talking about the kind of heatpipe in [url="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106056"]here[/url] (nerd alert). You could have a small copper box near the top of the hookah, which would run heatpipes into a coiled shape right above the bowl. You'd put coals in the box, then take them out if it got too hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alqoshnia Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 well since the m'assel should be "cooked" rather than "burned", would having some kind of coil embedded into the bowl work? can it get hot enough to cook and not ruin the bowl itself?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukasa Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 [quote name='Tangiers']Exactly. Radiative and convective heat transfers suck. Thats why if you leave gaps between the tobacco and the bowl, it doesn't smoke as well.[/quote] Is that why you advocate direct contact between foil and tobacco? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glottis Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 As far as I know, the advantage (or disadvantage, depending on your POV) of having the foil touch your tobacco is that the tobacco is being heated constantly, even when air is not being pulled through. If there is a gap, this is not the case, because air isn't good enough of a heat conductor to continually keep the tobacco hot like a coal can. [quote name='Alqoshnia']well since the m'assel should be "cooked" rather than "burned", would having some kind of coil embedded into the bowl work? can it get hot enough to cook and not ruin the bowl itself??[/quote]This would probably work, but another aspect of what is causing the whole smoke effect is that the coals are heating the air around them, and if you are pulling in at a reasonable rate, that air will be hot enough to create smoke. You could certainly make a bowl of porcelain or some kind of ceramic that could withstand that kind of heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Lukasa: exactly.Glottis: wrong direction. By increasing the spacing and response time of a system, you increase the control problems and leave the critically damped area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe.lipinski Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 ok, here is a different take on this idea... instead of burning the coals on top of the bowl, burn the coals under the bowl. the main objective of the coals are to heat the bowl so that the tobacco can smoke. If another tray (small in size) was placed between the bowl and the coal tray. The heat would rise (naturally) and heat the bowl evenly. I think the idea related to adjusting the position is not applicable in this situation since shisha burns fine when the coals are put at the same level the whole smoke session normally. Note: this setup would be based upon the current setup, only differing in that, the coals would me below the bowl, resting on a small tray above the coal catcher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiberianKiss Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Back to whoever mentioned the coiled stem idea, you could pretty much fit the quality smoke of a three foot hookah in to an 18'' package. That would definitely be a cool idea.~SK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauldavis Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 what about if the bowl itself was heated from an electric source... like a clay bowl that had heating couls in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glottis Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 I think the problem with heating only the bowl is that every time you breathe in, you are drawing in cold air that would basically put out the flame. Or maybe not, what do I know. We should actually try some of this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauldavis Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 i mean have the bowl cast around a heating element, then plug in the bowl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain Soph Aur Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Would you really wanna have to plug in your hookah to smoke it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Yeh, exactly, Ain Soph Aur.The problem with the coal on the bottom is the ceramic material you are heating is a thermal insulator...once it gets hot, it stays hot...foil cools off much faster. So, heating the bowl is problematic, if/when you overheat it, the cooling off response is going to be way too slow, making a more poorly controlled system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now