screens and foil: DISCUSS!

[ghostofdavid]

Which do you prefer? I can't get my QT to use foil... yet. However, if I get a screen on top I can get thick smoke out of the weakest of shishas.

[IzA-Hookah]

Foil is the way to go if you ask me. I always poke a hole straight through the middle of the tobacco and the foil for better airflow. Never tried a screen.

[ioannisds]

I have gone back and forth with both, and have been the most successful with foil. Here's what I do now. I take the foil, wrap it tight over the bowl, and poke a BUNCH of holes with a push-pin, but more in the center of the foil. I DO NOT go out to the edges. Depending on the diameter of your bowl, I leave around a 1/2 inch distance between the outer edge of my holes and the edge of the bowl. Then just work your coal around the edge like you normally do. I don't know why, but this works the best for me. I also fill my bowls to the VERY TOP, and just flatten it out a tiny bit after it's full. No, it does not burn (hole technique?).

[joetuo]

I have only used a screen, but am thinking about switching to the foil since I can just toss it after a bowl instead of washing the screen. They say that the quick way is with a screen but that can be argued due to the clean up time. I have not yet used foil but im sure the prep time can't be too long.

[MrGuy]

do you put shiny side down or up?ive never used a screen but im getting one with my QT so...What effect to windshield things have, and what's everyones opion on those bowl/screen/windshield clip combo things?Also, what's your views on smoking iranian style (no foil or screen, coals right on shisha)

[Barnzy02]

[quote name='MrGuy']do you put shiny side down or up?  ive never used a screen but im getting one with my QT so...  What effect to windshield things have, and what's everyones opion on those bowl/screen/windshield clip combo things?  Also, what's your views on smoking iranian style (no foil or screen, coals right on shisha)[/quote] when i first got my h ookah, i started by not using any foil or screens. i was unaware of the proper way of doing things. so for the first 5 or so months i was smoking straight onto the shisha. at this point also, i was smoking only nakhla. now, when i switched over to the proper method. i noticed a difference immediately, the flavor, the smoothness of the smoke, the density of the smoke. it all changed immensely. since that day i havent looked back and wont even try smoking the otherway.

[MrGuy]

I've smoked iranian once at a house party, we only found tin foil later on so we smoked iranian for like an hour or so. not good. it's torture hearing the shisha burn lol.

[nuschultz]

Shiny side down, so it pushes the heat into the bowl.

[ioannisds]

[quote name='MrGuy']do you put shiny side down or up?  ive never used a screen but im getting one with my QT so...  What effect to windshield things have, and what's everyones opion on those bowl/screen/windshield clip combo things?  Also, what's your views on smoking iranian style (no foil or screen, coals right on shisha)[/quote] Shiny side down on the foil. Supposedly reflects more heat down onto the ma'assell/has no cooties/makes the chicks dig ya. I have only used a windscreen when it's, well, windy. I know some folks on the forum (mushrat in particular) swear by a combo of metal screen and windscreen at all times for the best smoke. I dunno. I have never used one of those bowl screen/cover combo thingees. They seem to be hit or miss. I've never smoked coals straight on the tobacco. I'm not sure that any of the usual type of stuff we here at the forum all smoke is meant or made to be smoked that way. I guess you could try it, and if you end up with a poop taste in your mouth for a month afterwards, you can warn the rest of us.

[brettK]

for me, i've tried both and i prefer foil...

[Sonthert]

Foil; no flavor accumulation, just throw it away when you're done and its cheap.Steel screens causes brain damage.

[Calcartman]

Tangiers; aluminum is linked to alzheimers too :PI just got a screen, and honestly I much prefer it over the foil. Its easier, i don't mind washing an extra piece of metal with the rest of my hookah

[Sonthert]

No its not. Urban legend, like Fidel Castro was a pitching prospect for major league baseball. Besides, wash away, some flavors are insoluble in water, they still accumulate, even on metal. Anything short of glass, real stainless steel or ceramic glaze will collect flavor.

[Hookahnoob]

When you get Alzhimers your body makes or sames more aluminum from foods and thats why for a long time people thought aluminum cas a causing factor in alzhimers.

[frontmanpb101]

the hookah bar that i went to my first time used the clip/combo wind protectors and it seemed like a good smoke, though i probably wouldn't know it from a bad smoke since it was my first time. i think that it was more of a safety precaution there, but through the whole 45 minutes it never got harsh. my 2 copper.

[ghostofdavid]

Fidel wasn't a prospect!?!!?!?

[DownZero]

I use a screen.. but I am in no way biased. I'm probably going to start using foil soon since my screen is going through hell and is getting real nasty looking. But the Screen is very convenient.. pack the bowl and throw the screen on and smoke... but light the coal first.

[djnick]

i use both, screen is cool because its easier to ash than foil, use your tongs grab the screen dump off the ash, dust your coals and put it all back. with foil you cant ash your bowl without taking it off and blowing into it but its too hot to grab usually.the health affects, i dont buy into any of the, alzimers for aluminum and brain damage for the screen. The stuff you guys eat out is far worse than to be concerned with hookah

[mellamobunny]

my friend who turned me on to hookahs used to use steel screens. you should see him now. he suffers from amnesia, dyslexia and color blindness, with an acute sense of hearing. it's really sad.

[Scheetz]

^^^WTF was he eating the steel??? I dont believe that being possible unless he smoked for years, and I mean years with a steel screen. And the same screen at that where the steel was breaking down and he started inhaling it. His body obviously had too much and it tore his system apart. Just like having any other high level of metal in your system.

[DownZero]

lol... yeah... I doubt he has all those illnesses due to a steel screen... I'm no professional so I can't really say it's impossible, it just seems farfetched.

[DarthHookah]

i use screens. i dont know if i am using different screens than all of you (i usually get them from hookahhokah), but if my screen gets so much as a drop of water on it, it rusts. i just brush it off (witha wire brush if it gets nasty). once it starts looking bad, i throw it out. i have like 7 spare screens. foil is just too much trouble. you have to cut the foil, poke the holes, wrap it around the bowl. with screens you actually have a solid platform to hold the coal on (i usually place the coals on the screen, light the coals, and then set the screen on the bowl. cant do that with foil). i have yet to see a good reason to use foil.

[Hookahnoob]

My buddy who got me into the hookah uses foil and then outs his screen on top and uses the holes as a patern and then takes it back off. Kind of a way to makes nice holes. I have only used foil. I like to use the heavy duty foil. It seems thicker which I believe takes the heat better and it also doesn't tare or anything while making the holes.

[MrGuy]

one suggestions someone had that is supposed to be good is: put your screen on upside down (so it dips upwards insted of down into the bowl) then put tinfoil over the top and poke holes through in the pattern of the screen. I spose it would allow you to smoke more shisha because you would be able to stack it higher before touching the screen.

[Barnzy02]

does anyone here do a double layer of foil?i saw that somewhere dont remember where, but the both times i've done it, within like 20 minutes it was burning real harshly or not really burning at all