Few questions for you all.

[Hookahnoob]

Hello from San Diego. My name is Chris and I am a Hookah noob. I forst for turned to a hooka from a friend. He smoked one at a club in Vegas and bought one for his house because he liked it. He isn't very knowledgeable about it and really onlt smokes it every few months.I found a good deal on a hooka, hard carry case, coals and two different seshia at a locak "smoke" shop. It's a smaller one person hookah and I think it's a nice begining one for me. So I have a few questions fo you regular/more experienced smokers.First, When using foil on my bowl, how many holes should I use? Are the screens better to use over foil? Any patern I should try?Second, Is all seshia a big wet gooey mix? I have read to "sprinkle" the seshia in the bowl but the stuff I have and the stuff my friend has (something name brand) is so gooey you almost need to spoon it in. I am going to check out Fumari for some more tasty flavors soon.Third question is how much of the seshia will be used/burned? I can puff and smoke my bowl for a good 50+ minutes using a large coal. I do rotate the coal to spread the heat and finish the coal in the middle of the bowl. It all taists very good  but when I am finished I take the foil off, the top of the seshia is burned and just under that the seshia is still new looking. Alittle dryer but still looks like I can get alot of smoke from it. Do you ever stir up the seshia while smoking?I really enjoy the relaxing experience with my new hookah. I have tried going to a place in San Marcos CA called Hubbly Bubbly and was VERY dissapointed. I have yet to visit Fumari. Anyone have any recomendations for a San Diego or Orange County hookah club? Something with a nice atmosphere?Thank you all to take time to read this and respond.

[Hookahnoob]

Small update/info from my last post.

The Hookah I bought is an "Inhale" brand.. At least thats what the
small letters said on the side. I know it's probably not the best but
for a beginer hookah it will suit me ok untill I can gpgrade.

Also the seshia I have is Fantasia. Got the triple apple and a cotton
candy. The stuff is gooey as hell. When I pack a bowl I need to wash my
hands off beacuse the goo gets all over. My buddy had  Al Fakher
and it was almost as gooey. The flavor is alright. I definately taste
the difference in the two I have. I have also tried to put ice in the
water and thought that was good.
Also noticed that when I take the bowl off to clean it, it's filled liquid (melted sugar?) and the water is kinda pink.

[nuschultz]

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum!Sounds like you picked up a nice beginning hookah.  Having a carry case is essential, especially if you travel with your hookah.When I smoke, I use foil.  Make sure you put the foil shiny side down.  This might sound odd, but look at the foil closely and you will see one side is certainly shinier.  As far as a foil pattern, experiment to see what works best for you.  I use a plastic fork with 4 tongs to make about 6 rows stright down my foil, then one on either side of the rows.  Diagram (Picture it as round.  sorry.):  ..... .... .. .... .. .... .. .... .  ....This works well for me, but experiment until you find what works.Most shisha is fairly wet, although this differs from brand to brand.  A few things on shisha...  1)  Let it acclimate to your climate by letting it sit open for 2 to 3 hours.  This prevents things like humidity shock, and will give you a better smoke.  2)  Also, it may help with some of the goopyness.  3)  When I am packing a bowl, I take my tongs and scrape it across the top of my shiska, to sort of "flake" some of the shisha off the main pile, if you can follow what I mean.  Then I sprinkle that into the bowl.  Never pack your bowl too tightly, and always make sure it isnt touching your top foil.When I was first starting out I would have trouble with an uneven heat.  Try this:  Start your coal on the outside of the bowl, on the rim, and give it a few puffs.  You are not looking for smoke here, you are trying to heat the bowl.  Rotate the coal around the rim so that you get the bowl heated nicely.  Then move it to your normal starting spot and start smoking.  If you continue to have problems, set a piece of foil under the shisha, shiny side UP, and poke the holes thru the bottom of it.  This should help you with your heat distribution, and give you a more even heat.Fumari tobacco is wonderful stuff.  My suggestion is to pick up their fruit punch and their cola.  Those are my two favorite flavors.  Since I live in NY, I can't help on the hookah bar scene out there in Cali.  Sorry!I hope this helps!

[ghostofdavid]

Hey man! Welcome to the forum! I'll be watching the responses as I have some of the same questions/problems. When I had a hookah, I would more often than not burn the top layer of the Mu'ussel. I can't wait until I find a new hookah so that I can experiment some more!

[SanguineSolitude]

welcome to the forum. I think you will find that the answers you get
will vary incredibly just because there are so many variables that can
affect things, and because everyone has their own special technique.

ive never heard of fantasia shisha, but ive had good experiences with
havana and tangiers, and pretty good experiences with al waha (good
cola) al amir and nakhla is ok too. people swear by al fakher but since
theyre having some US distribution problems right now its tough to get.


i find that the trick to not leaving unburned shisha is learning to
leave the coals alone. when youve been doing it long enough, you know
by approximate time and taste when theres no more shisha there, at
which point you move the coal. its all about learning to walk the line
between too much/not enough heat and moving the coals too much/not
enough. everything is a balance in hookah smoking. just stick to the
middle path and usually you will be ok.

[Alqoshnia]

If you're in San Diego, I believe Tangiers is also in San Diego somewhere. I would hit that place up and see how he fires up his m'assel first hand. Though I dont think the place is called Tangiers. I found the address tho;
[quote name='Tangiers']5795 El Cajon Blvd. Right near the corner of 58th and El Cajon. Coincedently, my next door neighbor is a liquor store (5739) and Alia Insurance (5799). The Catholic church is on the corner of El Cerrito and El Cajon (the 5700 block).[/quote]

[Hookahnoob]

Awesome! San Diego rocks. I have Fumari AND Tangiers! Yahoo! No shipping cost for me. =)

Anyways. I think my seshia is probably a poorer quality. The tabaooc os
very small and the baggie it came in is just filled with liquid goo. I
watehed a few videos on here and mine didn't look anything like there
seshia. It looked more like pipe tobacco to me.

When I start off I do put the foil shiney side down and I do rotate the
coal to heat everything up. Sometimes I will also rotate it while
smoking. I dont really have a huge complaint about the smoke. I just
want to know how much will not get burned up in the process? The top is
blact at times (still taists ok) and when I clean it out the seshia on
the bottom still looks like I could smoke it.

I am going to hit up Tangiers place next weekend and also fumari. I
would like to go talk to some people in person also and watch the way
they do things. I will pick up some flavors to try out.

Anyone know if you bring your own hooka and purtchace some new seshia
will they mind you using your hookah? Insted of "renting one"?

[Hookahnoob]

Also have another quick question kinda directed to Tangiers (or anyone else that might know)

Tangiers mentioned a full nicotine seshia in a past post. What does
this mean? The seshia I have is 0.5% nicotine. Is that the "norm" I
also read there are some that have 0.05%  Would the 0.5% be
considered a full nicotine?

Also a question about the Tangiers that has caffine in it.. Why would
someone want caffine in the seshia? Does it give you the effects of
caffine? Taist any different?

[Sonthert]

Yes, Tangiers, is in San Diego.For people lucky enough to find their way here, I sell 34" Egyptians for $35, 26" Nours for $45, 30" Nours for $60. I also have the best prices on my tobacco and heads (like, duh.)I can also teach you the basic, intermediate and advanced lessons about hookahs, if your interested. My address is 5795 El Cajon Blvd.   San Diego, CA 92115-3738   8pm-12am 365 days a yearI'm two blocks west of College on El Cajon. You can get to College from either the S.R. 94 or the I-8. If you want my phone number, send me a PM.Now THAT was a sales pitch. Yes, .5% is the normal amount, dependiong on how the tobacco is made. .05% is the "washed" amount. I should point out that there is no legal US requirement that the amount of nicotine be put on the packaging. Tar either. Thats why every manufacturer I can think of that puts "tar-0%" is lying, as I understand either definition of tar I've heard. So, it is conceivable that a manufacturer could put "nicotine-.05%" when it contained nicotine to make you believe that its "safer". Or the reverse...it doesn't matter...You will be hard pressed to determine if those numbers are correct, and no legal authority is going to press them on the matter. Generally they are vaguely right and it will give you an indication, in a general manner, whether there is nicotine in the tobacco or not.

[Hookahnoob]

So a "full nicotine" would just be describes as the effects and flavor
you get from that specific brand. Like Tangiers would be a "full
nicotine" and another brand might still have the same ammount but it
doesn't have the effects or flavor?

And what about your Caffine tobacco? Give you the energy properties you would think? Is it in there for the flavor?

And with your prices and Awesome Sales pitch I just might also pick up a 2nd hookah when I go next weekend.

[Sonthert]

Yeah, caffeine impacts the flavor. I would really like more caffeine in the tobacco for the caffeine effects, but the flavor tends to be oppressive...caffeine has a bitter-oily flavor...like shampoo kinda. Just enough adds to the flavor and hopefully adds to the buzz well.

[Hookahnoob]

Cool deal. Will have to try it.