This Year's First Bowl Of Tangiers

[Balthazar]

A couple of years ago (probably four years of so) I smoked Tangiers without any problems. Watermelon and Kashmir Peach became instant favorites of mine. But, for reasons I never understood, after I had finished the tobacco I had and ordered some new, I never got it right again. Or, K-peach would somethimes work well. Watermelon was out of the question. The problem was the usual suspect - the acclimation.

Since then I've occasionally given it another shot, usually with disappointing results. A years or so ago I read a post by Eric (can't seem to find it anymore) that listed the different flavors by ease/difficult of acclimation. Melon blend was one of the flavors listed as easily acclimated, so I gave that a shot. Unfortunately, the results were not very good. Not that this came as a total surprise, it never really smelled "right".

Fast forward to this June. I took out the old L&L-box of melon blend, and gave acclimation a new shot (along with K-peach). I have been acclimating it just about every day for the last couple of weeks, for the first week or so using the "4/20-approach", then later on for most part of the day. It now smells very, very good (K-peach, unfortunately, does not smell right at all). Not a hint of soy sause or "burnt" smell, just delicious melon. So I'm thinking about giving it another shot, probably later on today.

However, I don't have optimal coals. Sadly I got rid of my lower heat coals (exotica, golden canary) some time ago, since I had cheaper and better suited coals for my hookah needs (I pretty much smoke Nakhla exclusively these days). What I have is Cocobricos and CH naturals.

Both of these burn pretty hot. Cocobricos probably a bit more. Cocobricos are my favorites because of longevity, amount of ash and price. But I'm thinking the CH naturals might suit Tangiers a bit better (although, as said, they are by no means optimal because of the heat they pack).

What I was thinking is to try what "TheyCallMeDave" did in [url=http://www.hookahforum.com/topic/42871-smoking-noir-and-lucid-together/page__p__514941__hl__%2Bcoals+%2Bfor+%2Btangiers__fromsearch__1#entry514941]this[/url] thread on the noir side of the bowl he packed. That is to use the stone henge style seen in this picture:

[img]http://i56.tinypic.com/29njar5.jpg[/img]

Only I would do this on both sides.

Can someone confirm that this is - heat wise - better than the normal coal position, for Tangiers?

Also, I'm thinking of using my medium sized Tangiers phunnel. Bigger phunnels is generally considered better for Tangiers (as long as one packs it tight, of course), right?




Thanks in advance. Hoping this will give me a good result, my old (feeling ancient) experiences with Tangiers was really, really good. I'm blaming the acclimation problems that followed on the Norwegian air climate.

[vendetta_revived]

On a medium phunnel bowl, I think 3 CH nats hanging on the very edge of the bowl should do it just fine, and if you're skeptical of 3, start with 2 on the very edge of the bowl, and add the third one if you feel the need to. Stone henge style on a medium phunnel may not provide enough heat for it to smoke well as far as I think.

Good luck!

[Balthazar]

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same about the SH-style. Would provide much heat to a very isolated spot, and not much to the rest...

I decided to split the CH coals in half. Will start the session in ten minutes or so, crossing my fingers for a good smoke.

[MichaelLCP]

I split cocos in half and use 3 or 4 halves. Works like a charm.

[Epoch]

[quote name='MichaelLCP' timestamp='1310318854' post='515365']
I split cocos in half and use 3 or 4 halves. Works like a charm.
[/quote]

I second this.