mujjuman Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Hey guys!! I just joined the forum. I used to consider myself a hookah pro (lol) but now I consider myself a novice after reading your posts. Well not really a "pro" but someone who knows his stuff I started out like most other noobs, with quick light coals. However, I was always an Al-Fakher lover. I knew it tasted good, so I always just stuck with it. Soon, I realized that these quick light coals I had sucked, and I always heard good things about "natural" coals. I didnt know what to get, so I went to my local hookah/shisha supply store in Queens, NY and bought a large box of coals. I had the store owner recommend me coals since I didnt know much. I bought a box of "Al-Naimo" natural coals. These were amazing!!! These would get red quickly (but these are not like the actual quick-light coals) and stayed lit during use and lasted a decent amount of time. These gave off the perfect heat. These were the "finger" kind and I had to manually cut and break them off before putting it on the stove. These were sorta pyramid/triangle shaped coals. After like a YEAR (I didint smoke for a while), these coals ran out and I had to buy something else. This time, the shop owner recommended the Coco Naras that everyone seems to talk highly about. He didnt carry the Al-Naimo coals. I bought a box and went on my way. Sadly, I cannot get the hang of using these!!! Firstly, these take 20 mins to light up... this is with my coil stove on HIGH. What I do is place 2 of them on 1 side for 10-15 mins, then the other side for 5-10 mins. It doesnt get lit all the way through!!! I use 2 coals per bowl and I dont get enough smoke and the coals seem to die down quickly. They dont stay lit at all.... I have to stop the hookah session midway, wait for my stove to heat up, and place the coals back on the stove and wait for them to get red again. After putting them back on the bowl, they quickly die after like 3 pulls. Sometimes putting 3 coals instead of 2 helps, but that quickly overheats the bowl and ruins the hookah session. This happens EVERY time, no matter how I try to change things around to try and fix this. I've been using these for 3 weeks now and I still cant figure out what I'm doing wrong and how to do it right. Also, I ran out of my fav Al-Fakher and Nakhla shisha.... and since I am in The Bahamas for a few months now, I dont have easy access to shisha. I tried making my own, but failed miserably.. and glycerin is hard to come by here anyway. My friend came to visit me for a couple days, so I asked them to bring me AF shisha. Well, for whatever reason, they ended up buying me $80+ worth of Starbuzz shisha.... whatever, I thought. I'll try out Starbuzz, since everyone speaks highly of Starbuzz anyway, I told myslf. To my disappointment, Starbuzz really sucks when compared to AF!!! This is strictly my own opinion, I dont mean to start a war or anything. It's just shisha and everyone has their own preferences. I dont think the flavors really match and they dont taste good at all... I was hoping it would be sweet and fruity but I was wrong. It tastes like.... barsoap at best. Not to mention I get huge headaches from smoking it but I dont feel that way when smoking AF. I tested this a few times now... I have a jar of AF Lemon left amongst all the Starbuzz cans. Headache when smoking SB, but no headache when smoking AF. So yeah, now, instead of just "loving" AF shisha, I am now a FAN of Al-Fakher shisha. and I still love Nakhla. Unfortunately, now smoking shisha just isnt fun for me anymore, because of all this foul tasting SB and because I do not know how to use Coco Naras properly. I really miss having great tasting shisha and smoooooth long lasting smoking sessions that are quite enjoyable and pantydroppers. But yeah that's my story and my hookah experience. I ordered some AF shisha through the internet and having it shipped here.... I hope Bahamas Customs dont charge a lot for importing tobacco. My main concern is, learning how to use coco naras properly. Please please teach me how to use it correctly. Teach me how to light them all the way, teach me how to prevent them from dying on me halfway through the hookah session, and teach me how to have it produce normal amount of clouds/smoke when I exhale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Welcome to HF! You bought the box of coconaras in bahamas itself? Are you lighting the coals on a gas stove, or an electric coil burner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chreees Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I need to get me some shisha that makes women's panties drop! Nah, welcome to the forum man. Good to have you. Sounds like either 1) something is wrong with your coil burner stove, or 2) something is wrong with your Coconaras. They should only be taking you 5-10 minutes to light, and shouldn't go out on you at all once lit. Check out videos on YouTube- There's tons on how to light coconut coals. If I was on my computer I'd find a good one for you. Unfortunately I am in bed on my iPhone still awake due to my fucking stomach. It's killing me. So yeah, that and I'm too lazy to get up and go to the living room. Maybe later I'll find you a good video done by a forum member on here, or maybe someone else can. Sounds like you have come to the same conclusion as I have concerning Starbuzz. Shit gave me headaches as well, and just isn't as good compared to Nakhla or Al Fakher. I'm not too big on Al Fakher, but LOVE me some Nakhla. Tangiers is great also. There's many good brands out there. Use the review section on here to determine what you may want to try based off of others' opinions. Once you're back in New York, hit up Coyote on here. She knows where all the good places are in New York as far as lounges and shops to buy stuff from goes. Also, since I know there is some sort of ban on flavored tobacco in NY that may hinder your purchasing abilities, consider buying online from trusted vendors. Check out the vendor reviews section in the Vendors Area to see who members like purchasing from. Again, welcome to the forum man. If you ever need help or have questions, this awesome community is here to serve you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzbizz Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Too much to read when I'm drunk. I'll read more and report later. Welcome to Hookah Forum! EDIT: also, i just read a couple sentences, but if these are going out on you they were exposed to water and were ruined. Get new coals and a new coil burner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Here's a video. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaoShxSL_54[/media] The reason I asked if you bought the coals in bahamas is because I've seen a couple times on the forums where the coals people got were actually fake coconaras. If they are legit though, may be it's just a bad box. Also, are you sure your coil burner is functioning correctly? Found a thread on an alternative way to light em. Just for shits and giggles though I guess. [url="http://www.hookahforum.com/topic/10274-for-those-hard-to-light-natural-coalthis-could-work/page__hl__light"]http://www.hookahforum.com/topic/10274-for-those-hard-to-light-natural-coalthis-could-work/page__hl__light[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawhee Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I have nothing to say about starbuzz since Ive never had it (hear bad things about it though), I do however share your love of AF and Nakhla As far as the coals go, there have been some reports of fake Coconaras being spotted around the place, or you may simply have gotten a bad box (got wet probably), my suggestion would be to look around locally, often you can find some nice stuff in places you didnt think you would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammydavis Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I love Star buzz products that i have tried so far cherry cappociuno pineapple and orange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavo21 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 sorry i didn't want to read all ur rant so i am just gonna say welcome to HF 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antouwan Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 what's wrong with wet coconaras? as long as you let them dry out they should function properly. in fact, when I was helping coconara get established in the houston market, Charbel Debaghy, one of the co-owners of the coco-nara brand with Ra'ed Haidar (who is the head of of US operations) touted how the coals could be extinguished with water if they weren't completely used and then allowed to dry and relit later. I do this quite frequently if i start a new round of coals and don't have time to finish them and there is a substantial amount of coal left. Ra'ed, however, wanted to supress the ability of the coconut coal to be extinguished with water, allowed to dry, and be relit because he wanted people to buy more coal and therefore not conserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) Hey guys!!! Thanks for the replies and thanks for the welcome!!! Wow I'm sorry for coming back to this so late. My email didnt notify me of replies and I've be extremely busy the past few days. And when I finally remembered to replied, I had random things popping up here and there that I had to take care of first. Sorry!! Over the past few days I've been experimenting more with using coco naras properly. I found that using three coals places on the edge works very well and has the session last longer. I also tried flipping every 5 mins or so and that seems to work too. The old coals were not exactly the quick light ones in the sense where they had bad flavor and would snap crackle and pop when first lit. But yeah my stove works just fine, I just leave them on the stove for a bit longer and have 3 at a time works really well. I continued to experiment with Starbuzz and whatever I have left of my AF stash, but I just cannot get used to the SB! It still gives me a headache and the flavors just dont work well with me. I ordered more AF to be shipped to the Bahamas where I currently live. I'll let you know how bad the duty tax will hit me! lol. This box of coconaras were bought in NYC, and brought over by my friend to the Bahamas. and wow, I didnt know that there was a ban on flavored tobacco in NY!!! Wth!!! Edited June 19, 2012 by mujjuman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Well, not to bash on starbuzz, but a lot of people experience similar effects while smoking it (not that there aren't a lot who love smoking it and don't feel any ill effects). Let's just say not everything agrees with everybody. AF is a good brand and easy to smoke, so you should be good with it. I should mention that I find that flipping coals that often makes them not last as long as they should. I used to do the same, but I stopped doing it. Now I neither flip, nor move my coals with AF, and they last longer. I smoke for 2 rounds of coals, so first I light 2, put them on the edge and smoke till they are too tiny to heat the bowl properly (I light another round 10 mins prior to this happening), and then I put the next 2 coals on the bowl (not in the same place where I had put the first round), and then smoke till the bowl is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brookesaywhatx Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I'm not a huge fan of starbuzz.. For me it's leaky and just doesn't taste good. Coco naras take a while for me too, what I found helps is that when they're almost done with a black circle on top, you can blow on them kinda like quick lights and it helps the top light faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I blow on them too sometimes to keep them lit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamyxcupcakes Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Every now and then I get a batch that goes cold fast. For me flipping them more often is the only thing that works or they will go completely black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) another update: I found that using 3 coals at a time gives perfect smoke and flavor and heat. I learned that blowing on them a few times midway to keep them lit helps. Also it helps to NOT let it rest in the ashtray at all (it will go out immediately). This box is about to be finished... can someone please recommend me another coal to try out before I buy another set of these? Also, AF watermelon is sooo yummy and makes the whole apt smell goooood. Edited June 26, 2012 by mujjuman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang67n Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 razan, coco mazaya, coconara, and chronic hookah coals are my top picks by far. all four have great consistency in both shape and performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 sweet!!! thanks for the quick response!! i'm going to order soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
â€On Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I'm also going to throw in Fumari coals into Nate's suggestions for coals. They light a bit quicker and because they don't get as hot as coconaras, they are a lot easier to manage your heat with. Glad things are finally working out for you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al(TYE)muHarib Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I'm a big fan of Starbuzz, but that being said, I find that using a standard egyptian bowl makes the smoke seem drier and rougher (possibly leading to adverse side-effects). Have you tried smoking it from a Phunnel or Vortex? They hold the juices in much better and create a much smoother and enjoyable smoke. While this is true no matter what mu'assl you smoke, I think it makes a bigger difference with Starbuzz just because it is SO wet. Best of luck to you man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 [quote name='Al(TYE)muHarib' timestamp='1340913237' post='550323'] I'm a big fan of Starbuzz, but that being said, I find that using a standard egyptian bowl makes the smoke seem drier and rougher (possibly leading to adverse side-effects). Have you tried smoking it from a Phunnel or Vortex? They hold the juices in much better and create a much smoother and enjoyable smoke. While this is true no matter what mu'assl you smoke, I think it makes a bigger difference with Starbuzz just because it is SO wet. Best of luck to you man. [/quote] Thanks man. I have a vortex bowl on order... I hope to try it out soon!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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