Different Smoke After 45 Minutes

[DJ Kae Dae]

Hey all, So I've been on this forum for a few months & have asked a few questions here and there and have gotten some good help as well as searching through the search feature. I've gotten my hookah set up down to a pretty good science by now. Tangier's phunnel, regular foil, JM's shisha, 3 foot generic hookah (bought from a hookah bar) or an Egyptian 28 inch (not sure about the brand, it has writing on it that I don't understand), regular chilled water in the base, 3 coconaras rotated every 10 minutes or so.

So here's something I've noticed; I've been able to get good smoke with the way I regulate the coals and manage the heat. I usually split 2 coco's and place 4 halves on the edges of my phunnel OR 3 whole cocos (When I'm too lazy to break them in half with a flathead screw driver and hammer). I've noticed that 45 minutes to an hour into my session and after thoroughly ashing my coals and possibly adding 2 fresh new coco's to the bowl, I get really good clouds that feel really light compared to during my sessions when I get good decent clouds but feel i guess more dense. I don't know how to describe it or if I'm making ANY kind of sense here. I dunno, the smoke feels lighter and easier to blow out... Not to say that I smoke with harsh smoke during my sessions. It's just... a lighter fluffier feeling with the smoke i get towards the end that I wish I had throughout my entire session. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the heat what's left in the bowl available.... but still, If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please let me know.

How does everyone's session go?

[Cp44]

are u putting the coals on a fresh part on the foil or on the area where its burnt? Put the same amount of coal as your 1st session on a fresh area. Or could be you smoked majority of the tobacco.

[DJ Kae Dae]

I usually just add 1 or 2 fresh halves to it to get a little bit more out of it. I'm pretty sure by 45 minutes or so the only part left that's fresh is the bottom part. When I clean my bowl out when I'm done, the bottom is the only part that's still kind of not burned or charred. Do you normally have to add another set of coals to the bowl after a while to keep it going? That sounds like a stupid question because it really depends on the bowl i'm guessing. But for my phunnel, I think after 45 minutes, if I were to relight another set of 4 halved coco's I might only get another 15 minutes of smoke before i just get burnt tasting smoke....

[Cp44]

When I use the natural coals (similar to yours) i keep them in one area on the bowl. I dont spread them all over the top because that will burn out your tobacco. I keep it on one part of the bowl then after its ashed, i light a new one on a fresh part.

[DJ Kae Dae]

Hm... you don't put coals equally on the bowl to equally heat the entire bowl?

[Cp44]

nope, i keep it on one area on the top. If you spread it out, youll get the flavor but your session might not be as long. I would try it out and see if that changes anything.

[Josh Hamilton]

this happens also when you rotate coals...sounds normal...I think because your hitting a new spot of the bowl/shisha thats still hasnt burned so you get an influx of voluminous smoke...while the part that you have left has been cached/used up > sorry if I couldnt term that right as I only have been smoking for less than a year

[quote name='Cp44' timestamp='1288202885' post='486565']
When I use the natural coals (similar to yours) i keep them in one area on the bowl. I dont spread them all over the top because that will burn out your tobacco. I keep it on one part of the bowl then after its ashed, i light a new one on a fresh part.
[/quote]

this too...+1 Edited October 27, 2010 by Josh Hamilton

[iMPeRiaL 619]

I know what you're trying to say. You get planty of smoke but it feels like it gets pushed around easily.

Have you had this problem with any other type of shisha?

[DJ Kae Dae]

[quote name='iMPeRiaL 619' timestamp='1288207989' post='486584']
I know what you're trying to say. You get planty of smoke but it feels like it gets pushed around easily.

Have you had this problem with any other type of shisha?


[/quote]

I've only noticed this until now. It's not that big a deal as I'm satisfied with my sessions, it's just something that I noticed. The smoke I get at first is good... but for some reason, after 45 minutes or so and really ashing off the coal well, the smoke is really good.. .but only lasts for 15-30 minutes or so. Just would be great to have an entire session with that kind of smoke. haha. I'll try placing coal on one side and rotate it on that area only and see what happens.

[mushrat]

This may or may not have anything to do with your situation. Real Tangier's Phunnels can superheat. The bowl can retain so much heat after a while its almost possible to smoke coal-less for a bit until the bowl itself cools down. When it gets like this adding even a little more heat can push it over the edge.

I guess i need to get some coco type coals to experiment with on my phunnels.

[mushrat]

ah, also, once you ahve gone through a round or two of coals, ash can clog up the holes in the foil enough to change the draw characteristics, as can the foil in the center being gradually pulled down over the central hole. when you change coals, pull the bowl, blow gently through the bottom, careful not to blow the foil completely off, and then try re-coaling.

[DJ Kae Dae]

[quote name='mushrat' timestamp='1288210666' post='486592']
ah, also, once you ahve gone through a round or two of coals, ash can clog up the holes in the foil enough to change the draw characteristics, as can the foil in the center being gradually pulled down over the central hole. when you change coals, pull the bowl, blow gently through the bottom, careful not to blow the foil completely off, and then try re-coaling.
[/quote]

Yeah, that's a problem too. I've been using up all my coco's because i tried another brand Shishaco?. but that brand ashes so much compared to coco. So my bowls have been getting a bit of ash inside because of those coals.

[Yasseah]

When I put a second set of coals on(usually the 30-45 minute mark) I get much thicker, more flavorful smoke.

[mushrat]

then you may not be using enough the first time?

[agunn1231]

[quote name='mushrat' timestamp='1288210666' post='486592']
ah, also, once you ahve gone through a round or two of coals, ash can clog up the holes in the foil enough to change the draw characteristics, as can the foil in the center being gradually pulled down over the central hole. when you change coals, pull the bowl, blow gently through the bottom, careful not to blow the foil completely off, and then try re-coaling.
[/quote]

thats usually what Hallie and I do. It helps a lot

[ih303]

I may have missed something here, but I don't think you're doing anything wrong; what you're describing seems pretty normal. I'll break it down to see if I've got it right.

You say when you first start a bowl you get much denser smoke compared to later in the session. This makes sense. See, when you first pack your bowl, the tobacco's fresh and has the most amount of syrup. It hasn't had time to settle in your bowl and is well dispursed in the tobacco resulting in greater exposure and more tobacco/juice being vaporized generating more smoke. Naturally, the longer the bowl gets smoked the more the sugars are depleated resulting in dryer tobacco and weaker smoke. Based on that, I think there's a "sweet spot" in every session.

When you pack a bowl, especially with super juicy tobacco, some of the syrup in the tobacco inevitably gets on the underside of the foil. The problem is, when you throw on a fresh set of coals, that syrup can scorch creating what I call "syrup burn". Syrup burn can range in severity and noticability from a slight "off" taste of the tobacco to an acrid smoke that makes your lungs explode.

The significance of this is that it generally takes a bit of time to get past the syrup burn to that sweet spot - I'd say 20-30 minutes but YMMV. But at that point the bowl has been brought to a somewhat consistent internal temperature optimized for vaporization resulting in what I consider the best smoke of the session. Generally the goal is to keep it at this level for as long as possible through heat management which gets more difficult over time since the tobacco eventually dries out requiring more heat to generate more smoke/flavor.

Regardless though, a single smoker should be able to get anywhere from 2-6 hours of good smoke out of a small Tangiers Phunnel depending on the brand.

As far as foil sag is concerned, I generally avoid this by sliding in a skewer into one of the holes in my foil and positioning it [i]under[/i] the foil so that it holds the foil up over the hole. Now that I do that I always get effortless strong hits hour after hour. Give it a try.

[DJ Kae Dae]

Wow... I think you're on point with what I was describing. Thanks for that. Instead of a skewer to position the foil, i think I may be doing that part wrong and I end up poking small holes over the middle where the hole is...