First Impressions Of Saphire Hot Shot Bowl

[Rani]

If these are only available in Europe I'm surprised we haven't already heard the rumblings of a group buy........... I know we don't do them officially anymore but privately among ourselves still works fine.

'Rani

[magick777]

OK... so in response to the interest in what happens if one packs this bowl right up to the foil, I figured I'd test this out with some Tang Lucid Apple. The long and the short of it seems to be that if you pack it like an Egyptian bowl, it behaves like one. First, the packing...

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[b]One teaspoon of shisha, packed down hard then piled into a cone shape by pushing the teaspoon down the inside of the bowl, leaving the holes as clear as possible. That plug of shisha is standing maybe half an inch high above the holes.[/b]
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[b]And a further two teaspoons lightly sprinkled on top - 3 teaspoonsful or about 15g fills the bowl to the brim.[/b]
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[b]Levelled out before foiling; the bowl draws OK at this point.[/b]
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[b]Same hole pattern as before, but the draw of the bowl is materially reduced now that we have tobacco right up to the foil.[/b]
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[b]So we modify the hole pattern to suit, now like this, the draw of the bowl is fine.[/b]
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[b]Less coal than before, 3 pieces approx 20mm long. Bowl was up and smoking in a couple of minutes.[/b]
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[b]Twenty minutes later, after ashing off.[/b]
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As to the smoke report, well, the first set of coals went on two hours ago and it smoked well for 40 minutes before the coals were too small to be useful. Flavour was good, but not better than when using less shisha in the same bowl; slight caramel taste early on, slight harshness and much more active heat management needed to avoid scorching. The smoke quality was neither obviously better nor obviously worse than I could get from a Vortex or an Egyptian bowl treated in the same way.

Second set of coals lit after about 45 minutes and on the pipe after about one hour, same sort of quantity. It relit immediately with good flavour, but lack of constanf heat management meant that it began to scorch after 20 minutes. I allowed it to cool down, relit it ten minutes later (again with good flavour), smoked for about a further ten minutes and scorched it again, then sat down to write this post. During this second session it was noted that the draw of the bowl became worse as the holes in the foil started to clog with ash. More holes fixed it, but it was another annoyance.

We're now two hours from when I started, during which I've smoked 40 minutes plus 30 minutes, spent probably 30 minutes writing and 20 on making tea and lighting coals. And in fairness, apart from minor scorching, I've had as good a smoke as I usually would. If I ditched the bowl at this point, it would not be a dead loss. But there's 15g of Tang in there, which I know is good for more than 70 mins of smoking, so I'll probably try for a third session in a while. Haven't yet decided whether to just relight the bowl as it is or to clean out the scorched parts and repack it with what's left.

It is clear to me, though, that if I wanted to smoke 15g of shisha over a longer period, I'd have done better to put it in a larger bowl and take the time to light the longer lasting natural coals. With this bowl and these coals I could have had two short sessions, using less shisha the first time and fresh shisha with the second lot of coals, had at least my 70 minutes of smoke that I've had so far, and still used two teaspoons of shisha instead of three. Nothing would preclude a third session, either.

Therefore, I can only recommend using this bowl with the 4-6g of shisha recommended by the manufacturer, for which purpose it works surprisingly well. Overpacking it does not yield any advantages over using a considerably cheaper Egyptian clay bowl and maintains the potential disadvantages in terms of air flow, risk of scorching, consumption of shisha, etc.

I've now got most of what I need for the review, but can't be bothered to type it up today, after two lengthy posts. It'll be up soon.




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[Epoch]

Thanks for the low down!

[no longer welcome]

i read through most of this, just wondering, who makes them and where are they made?

[IainUM]

well, if you had read his posts, he states that he is unsure of who makes them but thinks [font="arial, tahoma, verdana, sans-serif"][size="2"]www.smoking-shisha.de might be the makers of the bowl due to their special color made for the website and the fact that they are much better priced and stocked on that site[/size][/font]

[magick777]

Further update... relit the bowl at 8pm, this time with two coals rather than three. It took slightly longer to light, and I still managed to come close to scorching it on one occasion, but have had fewer heat management issues than I did earlier, and it's smoked tolerably well for a further 37 minutes before the coals were judged to be too small to be useful, so that's upwards of an hour and three quarters of actual smoke time.

I'm still by no means convinced that the bowl is exhausted, either. I've had more issues with ash blocking up the holes and have all but wrecked the foil poking more holes through it, so I don't know if I want to try a fourth session for academic interest, or turn out the bowl and repack, or give it up for the reasons stated above. I observe that it is clearly [b]possible[/b] to use this bowl in this way, but I still won't choose to make a habit of it. Might give it one more go if I fancy another smoke before bed...

[magick777]

[quote name='HookahJohn' timestamp='1297024297' post='496994']
i read through most of this, just wondering, who makes them and where are they made?
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As stated previously, the brand is Saphire, they're made in West Germany, but I can't find any manufacturer contact info. If you were looking to import some, you could do worse than talk to the people behind www.smoking-shisha.de, which is where I bought mine. See separate retailer review if interested.

[MachoCamacho131]

ive heard good things about this bowl, id like to get my hands on one

[magick777]

And another update: relit the bowl a fourth time at 10pm, smoked for 30 mins or so, good clouds and flavour. Relit a fifth time at midnight, smoked for another 30 mins or so, weakening but still hadn't killed it after more 2 hours and 45 minutes smoke time in 5 separate sessions. Poked lots more holes through the bowl and it still smokes fine. Now relighting it for a sixth and final time, natural lump coals this time. If this doesn't kill it, I no longer care.

[magick777]

The sixth and final lighting is a charcoal-fest, complete waste of time. With the bowl fully packed, we're all done at 2 hours and 45 minutes total smoke duration across 5 sessions, on three teaspoons of Tangiers Lucid. This supports the manufacturer's claim that you can smoke the bowl with 4-6g of shisha, or fill it up (15g approx) for a longer session. I still think that I probably wouldn't choose to, I've got bigger bowls for the purpose, but it's entirely believable that with coconut coals, Tangiers and a wind cover, this bowl would have no problem smoking for two and a half hours straight. So we have a load capacity ranging from 5g - 15g, and a smoke duration ranging from 45 minutes through to two hours and 45 minutes - pretty good flexibility from what is marketed primarily as a tobacco-saving bowl.

[Epoch]

I like the sound of smoking a 2:45 bowl with 15g of tobacco.

[shaffaaf27]

to be honest i get 3-4 hours from an alien with 15g of shisha.

[magick777]

[quote name='shaffaaf27' timestamp='1297074376' post='497063']
to be honest i get 3-4 hours from an alien with 15g of shisha.
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This is rather what I've been thinking. Saphire also make a nice funnel, I have one just waiting to be tested, and the next time I want to smoke 3 teaspoons of Tang, I won't be using the Hot Shot for the purpose. I'll endeavour to make that clear in the review; one does not buy this bowl for long sessions. But, if I were recommending this bowl to a newbie, it's nice to know that there is some flexibility in what you can do with it.