Help! :)

[alliestar90]

Hey! Lately I've been having tons of problems with the smoke getting harsh very quickly. For instance right now I have a one half coconara on my Egyptian bowl with one layer of reynolds heavy duty foil, with al fahkers watermelon, and the smoke is really harsh. What am I doing wrong? Maybe the water level? Or should I add another layer of foil? I'm also using a mya ice hose, and that doesn't seem to be helping.

This is my hookah setup right now.
[IMG]http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m506/Allison_Karel/48fd2649.jpg[/IMG]



Also, what is the best water level for my hookah?

And one more question, I've heard so many different things as far as how many holes to punch in the foil. What is the absolute best hole pattern?

Do bigger hookahs smoke better than the small ones? I'm thinking about buying a new hookah soon. Any hookahs you'd suggest?

Thanks in advance to everyone for your help! I really appreciate it. Everyone on this forum are great! Edited October 29, 2011 by alliestar90

[Floataround]

Not to sure what your issue could be for harsnish... due to the bowl size, you might need to rotate those coals fairly often. The bigger the bowl, the better the smoke. What happens when you purge your smoke when it gets harsh, will it be ok for a few pulls, or is it bad right away? That bowl is small enough that if one Coco is too big for it, you might just be burning through your shisha quickly, especially if your using an Egyptian bowl with a wetter tobacco like AF. When you take off your foil how much is burned/chard?

For water levels, I usually do about an inch submerged, typically cool tap water.

It depends on the bowl..but I typically will do either circles (usually three) or a spiral starting from the inside and working my way out. You really want the entire thing to be fairly holey, but do not make holes too big or too small. You can find a picture in one of the sticked threads in the forum.

How a hookah smokes is based on the quality of the build. There is a video floating around on youtube of a guy comparing how his KM Quad Pearl (about 50''') smokes to his Mya QT. At the end of the day, they are about equal. I prefer larger hookahs because they are just as much a piece of art to me as they are something to smoke out of .

[alliestar90]

When I purged it, it was harsh right away. When I took the foil off the shisha wasn't too burnt. I have a funnel bowl but I'm thinking it's a badly made one because the shisha gets burnt REALLY fast and I get more flavor with my Egyptian bowl. As for the water level, I've tried more water and it always seems to get pulled up into the hose when I pull.
With the holes in the foil, what happens when you don't poke enough holes?

Thanks for your quick response Edited October 29, 2011 by alliestar90

[twoapplesplease]

try packing just a little bit more tobacco...those small bowls can be touchy. getting the right amount of density to avoid rapid top layer char

[Floataround]

[quote name='alliestar90' timestamp='1319855504' post='529326']
When I purged it, it was harsh right away. When I took the foil off the shisha wasn't too burnt. I have a funnel bowl but I'm thinking it's a badly made one because the shisha gets burnt REALLY fast and I get more flavor with my Egyptian bowl. As for the water level, I've tried more water and it always seems to get pulled up into the hose when I pull.
With the holes in the foil, what happens when you don't poke enough holes?

Thanks for your quick response
[/quote]

Chances are you got a Chinese phunnel bowl.

If you are pulling in water, use less. Different hookahs need different amounts, and can only tolerate certain amounts.

Not poking enough holes will not allow enough heat and air to enter the bowl, properly cooking your tobacco. Holes that are too big can bring in too much heat/air and burn it. I typically use a tooth pick for all my holes.

[alliestar90]

I usually use a safety pin for making holes. I tried poking A LOT of holes this time and it seems to have solved my issue

[Pavo21]

try double layer thats what i do on the Egyptian bowls also, try using a japaneese coal on the hookah they aren't as Hot as the coco's are and just mess with the water it takes some finding to get the right amount or put some ice in it and see if that helps

[Chreees]

I'm pretty sure it was your packing, but it sounds like you got the problem solved by changing your hole pattern, which probably compensated for the packing job. Hard to know for sure without seeing the hole pattern and how you were packing the bowl. But for AF, I like to pack it light and full all the way to the rim of the bowl, and poke holes all over with a toothpick. For heat, I do two coconut coals on opposite sides of the bowl, hanging off the edge. Move them in a bit as the session goes. I don't rotate. The next round of coals go on the bowl where the previous coals were not, same as before in terms of opposite each other and off the edge.

[Stuie]

[quote name='twoapplesplease' timestamp='1319856009' post='529327']
try packing just a little bit more tobacco...those small bowls can be touchy. getting the right amount of density to avoid rapid top layer char
[/quote]

MOAR BACCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!