Coal management?

[D15L]

hey so i've just been wondering about coal management. I've read many posts but just wanted to get some more input. So the way i start is by breaking up the a 3 kings coal into halves and put them on the opposite sides of the bowl. i've also done piggyback way. The thing with the 2 halves, is that it doesn't seem like there is much smoke, then when i put on 1 more halve it gets better, but it seems to get harsh very quickly. Is there a very good way where i can jus put it on and leave it without having to touch it for a bit, get thick smoke and have it not get too harsh? thanks peoplez

[aronparsons]

For anything other than Tangiers, I start out with one whole 3K (33mm) and after about 5-10 minutes, add another half. I then just keep rotating to avoid any harshness. When breaking into havles, you lose some heat and they do go out quicker (I'm guessing because the heat is escaping the side of the coal?).

[DownZero]

on my lazy days, I usually just light one 3 kings coal and place it on the middle of the bowl and place the wind cover to retain some of the heat. If it gets harsh (which is rare) I'll simply remove the cover and place it back when smoke starts to die. This usually works very well for awhile... if smoke dies down after the cover, I'll throw a half of coal on, depending on how much tobacco I packed.

[Ain Soph Aur]

For the first time today I actually burnt the shisha. It tasted like a cigerette. It was pretty bad. Not as bad as I thought it would be though. I didn't even have tht much coal on but i pushed it all into the middle to early I guess.

[arik]

I dunno how u guys do it but i make lots of little holes using a needle and put one coal on one half until it dies and then another coal on the other half until it dies that way it wont burn all of the tobacco right away.

[Macho555]

I do exactly what DownZero does. It works every time, except with some of the more fine shisha, like Al Amir. Also the coal seems to last longer.

[cymptom]

I used to use the wind cover to retain heat, but it seems as though it holds in a bit of funky air from the coals, giving the smoke a muddy kind of taste and feel. With the wind cover off, the air being drawn into the bowl always seems fresher. Might just be my imagination... I know that the wind covers have ventilation and that all of the hot air coming off of the coals should rise right out the top, but I can't help thinking that it holds in at least a little bit of funk.My strategy is to light enough coal be able to get the bowl smoking well with the coals placed on the edges, sometimes even hanging over the edge a bit. As the smoke begins to thin, [b]gradually[/b] move the coals closer to the center. Moving them even so much as a quarter inch closer to the center can cause the tobacco to start burning, so always be careful.

[shonimus]

[quote name='DownZero']on my lazy days, I usually just light one 3 kings coal and place it on the middle of the bowl and place the wind cover to retain some of the heat. If it gets harsh (which is rare) I'll simply remove the cover and place it back when smoke starts to die. This usually works very well for awhile... if smoke dies down after the cover, I'll throw a half of coal on, depending on how much tobacco I packed.[/quote] What do you use for Tangiers?

[DownZero]

For Tangiers I break the 3 kings coal into three pieces... I'll light two of the pieces and place them on opposite ends of the bowl - This usually works well for me, but there was this one time that I wasn't getting a lot of smoke but it was still giving off the buzz and was still relaxing. Don't know why I got a different result that time.. =/ Anyways, after awhile I will light the other piece of coal and place it in the center of the bowl and adjust from there when needed. I usually wont use the wind cover with tangiers till the bowl is nearly finished if at all.