New To Hookah, Need Help Setting Up!

[slashermas]

Well, today I bought a Pumpkin One Hookah, and tried to set it up, I BELIEVE it was set up properly, but for some reason I wasn't getting alot of smoke from it during the entire time, while I was removing the sisha, I noticed it didn't seem to do anything BUT dry out. Now, how I packed the bowl was by breaking off a chunk and placing it in the bowl, then setting one coal on the cover thing they gave me. The flavor was Raspberry, I don't know the brand, since I have it all in my car ATM ready to go to a friends house to attempt one more time. So, is it the hookah? and the fact it's so small? the way I packed the sisha? or the amount of coals? also, what can someone recommend in the sisha department? One of my friends says Sex on The Beach was great, but I can't seem to find it online, and I don't think my local store sells it. Please, and thank yous!

[IainUM]

[quote name='slashermas' timestamp='1287729890' post='485888']
Well, today I bought a Pumpkin One Hookah, and tried to set it up, I BELIEVE it was set up properly, but for some reason I wasn't getting alot of smoke from it during the entire time, while I was removing the sisha, I noticed it didn't seem to do anything BUT dry out. Now, how I packed the bowl was by breaking off a chunk and placing it in the bowl, then setting one coal on the cover thing they gave me. The flavor was Raspberry, I don't know the brand, since I have it all in my car ATM ready to go to a friends house to attempt one more time. So, is it the hookah? and the fact it's so small? the way I packed the sisha? or the amount of coals? also, what can someone recommend in the sisha department? One of my friends says Sex on The Beach was great, but I can't seem to find it online, and I don't think my local store sells it. Please, and thank yous!
[/quote]

well if the tobacco is just in one chunk, that won't help. i basically sprinkle little pieces of tobacco in my bowl then push it down a little bit and use foil. i never liked those covers they sometimes come with. i wouldn't recommend starbuzz just from a purely fiscal standpoint. it is a lot more expensive. i mean you can get a 250g box of nakhla for 10 bucks or a 100g tin of starbuzz for 14. do the math, but if money isn't really an obstacle, you can buy starbuzz. starbuzz isn't bad, and i would smoke it if i had some, but i just prefer the sessions i get from nakhla and al fahker much more, and i can also get it for cheaper.


i'd recommend nakhla or al fahker. both companies have fairly standard flavors, like fruits and mint and other stuff. two solid tobaccos that are pretty easy to use and set up for inexperienced smokers. as you learn more and more about smoking, you'll start to love nakhla more and more.
im not too experienced with other brands, but both social smoke, fantasia, and starbuzz have a lot of more exotic or modern flavors, if that is what you want. i can only tell ya what i like

try what i said for packing, get foil and use that. poke tons of very small holes in the foil, and use one full quicklight. i can only tell you what works for me.

try experimenting, too. use more tobacco, use less tobacco, use more coals, less coals. the easiest way to learn what does and doesn't work is to experience it. it's what i did and still do.

hope all this helps! if you need any more help, feel free to PM me or write on my profile's wall and i'd be glad to give ya some more pointers!

[OddBall]

You need to break up the tobacco and use tinfoil. I find that the heavy-duty foil works nicely because you don't need to double layer it.
With the pumpkin Shishas it is also a good idea to make sure the coal is very hot as the hubbly itself is small and not as smooth nor as easy to pull.

[ih303]

The first thing you need to do to fix your problem is buy a new hookah. I'm sure some others around here will say different but IMHO pumpkin hookahs are about the worst hookah on the market. Not trying to offend anyone but I can't think of a single good thing about them other than the fact that they fit in your pocket. Suffices to say the better your gear, the easier it is to get great smoke and great sessions.

Second, check your bowl. I've mentioned this before in other threads, but your bowl is the most important part of your hookah. My recommendation is the small Tangiers Phunnel bowl. The best part about phunnels is how forgiving they are. In fact, you'd almost have to try to get a phunnel to smoke bad.

Third, spend a little more and get some Starbuzz. Even though I'm not a huge fan of Starbuzz I still respect it for one main reason: it's PERFECT for individuals just getting into hookahs. Why? A) It's easy to pack. Since it's relatively course and not overly juicy it generally smokes well in any bowl. It's super sweet. While this may not appeal to me, a lot of people love its candy-like qualities. C) It's heat tolerant. What I mean by this is that SB has a fairly large sweetspot and is pretty hard to burn. In addition it requires relatively little heat which makes heat management a bit easier. And D) It's got cool flavors. I mean who wants to ask their friends to come over smoke GRAPE when you can ask them to come smoke CODE 69 or PIRATES CAVE!!

Fourth, coals. Sorry IainUM, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on the QL's. Again, if you want to set yourself up for success and eliminate as many things that COULD go wrong from the get go, get yourself some naturals. Hookah John has great naturals at a great price so you may want to start there. They have to be lit on a coil burner and take a little longer but they also last much longer and burn cleaner than QL's.

If you're wondering where to find all this stuff, [url="http://hookahjohn.com/"]Hookah John[/url] is a great resource. He carries most of the great stuff you'll read about around here and has absolutely phenomenal customer service. He'll take care of you.



Check it out... All these things I'm telling you come from MY personal experience as a hookah smoker and lounge owner, and just like everyone else here I have my own personal tastes and preferences. What I recommend is using what you learn here as a starting point to developing your own tastes and preferences. Experiment! Try different bowls, foil, hole patterns, tobaccos, hoses, packing techniques, etc. Figure out what YOU like and what works best for YOU. The forum is a fantastic resource, and you're already miles ahead of lots of hookah smokers since you're here. Keep learning, keep experimenting, and above all, have fun!

[IainUM]

no worries on the coals. i agree, naturals are much better, but i just don't have any means of using them in college dorms, so i kinda always forget to mention them. lol

i got some AF nats a while back and i get a chance to use them once a month or so, and they are definitely better than QL's

[slashermas]

Thanks for the replies, I won't be able to change hookah's for a while due to financial reasons, but I plan on getting a bigger one once I get a true job As for coals, I plan on using all the QL's that came with it BEFORE I go buy new coals, and they will most likely be QL's since I need to be sneaky about smoking my Hookah, as my grandparents don't really LIKE smoking of any kind done in the house. I also looked up alot of videos, and I think the one thing that was really making it hard to smoke WAS the fact it wasn't crumpled and sprinkled Thanks again guys! I'll also check out that website you posted ih303

[IainUM]

no worries, glad i could help somewhat!

[Chreees]

[quote name='slashermas' timestamp='1287767059' post='485942']
Thanks for the replies, I won't be able to change hookah's for a while due to financial reasons, [b]but I plan on getting a bigger one once I get a true job[/b] As for coals, I plan on using all the QL's that came with it BEFORE I go buy new coals, [b]and they will most likely be QL's since I need to be sneaky about smoking my Hookah[/b], as my grandparents don't really LIKE smoking of any kind done in the house. I also looked up alot of videos, and I think the one thing that was really making it hard to smoke WAS the fact it wasn't crumpled and sprinkled Thanks again guys! I'll also check out that website you posted ih303
[/quote]

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Go by brand name, not size. Sounds like you're on a budget, so I recommend the Mya Petite, QT, or Bambino (All will smoke great!): http://hookahjohn.com/MYA_c10.htm

For quicklight coals, you'll want these: http://hookahjohn.com/CHRONIC-HOOKAH-INSTANT-Lite-1-kilo-COAL-015.htm (We call them CH coals on here, due to the drug connotations of the name of them)

[dizzbizz]

Yeah, honestly you dont need go buy a whole new rig asap. Just practice packing and heat management, and you'll get decent sessions. But you definitely need to break the tobacco up and mix it. There are juices that need to be distributed throughout the tobacco. This will improve the quality of your sessions. Also make sure the foil is as taught as physically possible and you poke a lot of holes with a toothpick.