Please Help! First Hookah

[â€On]

I'm going to give you some answers to your questions, as well as some general tips to help you get going good. Do exactly what I say below and you should have no problems!
 

 

1: Put more tobacco into your bowl, as Nerdy suggested. What I generally do is lightly sprinkle it in until it's just slight above the rim of the bowl (about 1-2cm, or 1/8"-1/4" or so), then I use the palm of my hand to push it down even with the rim of the bowl.
 

2:  Make sure that your foil is tight overtop of the bowl, think of it like the skin on a drum, it should be very taught and without wrinkles.

 

3: Poke more holes in your foil, and poke them so they are larger. I either use a sewing needle or a toothpick. If you use a toothpick, don't poke all the way down, just do the tip (that's what she said!). That will give you a nice sized hole. What I do is poke several circles worth of holes, as many as I can get, and on your size of bowl, that would be maybe 30-50 holes? Something like that.

 

4: Go to a place that sells airsoft guns and see if they will just give you one airsoft bb. Put that inside your purge and then screw the purge cap back on. In the meantime, do what Fineout suggested and cut a water balloon and put it over your purge (you may have to take the purge cap off entirely to do this one, it depends on the shape of your purge cap). 

 

5: It is a bit tough to tell from your photos how much you have the tip of the downstem submerged under water, but you ideally would want around 3/4" or 2cm of the downstem under the water. Any less, and the smoke will be less filtered, any more and you will have to suck too hard to draw any smoke (which will cause your bowl to burn easier). It's a fine balance, and it may take some playing around for you to get it right. Experiment!

 

6: The heart of your hookah (the round part where the purge valve and hose port are attached to) has what is called a "common chamber". That is why you see 4 holes on the bottom and only a hose port and purge on the top. Nobody here would recommend you to get a hookah with a common chamber over one that doesn't, because they don't work as effective. BUT, it will work just fine for your first pipe and to help you get started and learn how to use it. The main downside of them is when you purge, it will purge the heart/common chamber out but will not very effectively purge out the vase. Not a huge deal, but as a beginner, it might bother you since you will be using your purge more often.
 

7: For quicklight coals (like the round ones you have) I recommend you do a few things. If you have some sort of kitchen exhaust fan, turn that on, and light your coals near it. If not, outside is good. This is only because they essentially have a "gunpowder" coating on them to light them faster, and it can get pretty smelly after lighting a bunch of coals. Also, If you can get a cheap butane torch lighter, they work MUCH better than regular bic style lighters for lighting coals. When lighting the coals, hold them with your hookah coal tongs (I assume you got some with your pipe? If not, just get some cheap metal kitchen or bbq tongs...just be careful with how much force you put on them, you don't want your hot coal to shatter/blow apart all over your floor!). When lighting the coals, make sure they turn completely red (no more black, just red) and start ashing over grey. This might take some time if you're not using a torch lighter. Once you see some red, blowing on them gently will help "spread the red" and light the coal faster. Ensure the whole coal is like this before putting it on your bowl. DO NOT LIGHT COALS ON YOUR BOWL. You will get insufficient and incomplete lighting of them, they will give off their harmful fumes (possibly still while you smoke) and, most importantly, doing this will probably scorch your bowl, ruining it. Carry your coals from your lighting area to the bowl (if you have some sort of metal or glass tray, you can carry them on this, just be careful you don't burn yourself). 

 

8: Place your coal on your bowl. Putting it half on/half off like you have in one of your pictures is a good idea, as those quicklights are hard to break in half. I would normally recommend you cut the coal into two pieces and put half on each side, but like I said, the quicklights are hard to do that with as they just crumble. So, start your coal half on/half off like that and if you need more heat, slowly move it in. You are better off to have too little smoke than too much initially (which means your bowl is burning and won't last long at all). Your bowl size will let you smoke 2-3 rounds of coals on it, so don't think you are limited to one set of coals on it. For each round of coals, place the coal on the opposite side (if you place it at 12 O'Clock position, place the next coal at 6. Then the next at 3. Then the next at 9). You essentially want to move the coal to a place it has not been yet and to attempt to distribute the heat evenly. Likewise, If it starts to taste burned, move your coal to an untouched position. If it persists, the bowl is probably done. My guess is you will get 1-2 hours out of that bowl, but if you don't get that long right away, don't feel bad. You're still learning!
 

9: If you are careful in removing it, and it isn't too scarred up, you can re-use your foil for your next bowl. You can also put foil onto an empty bowl and work on poking the holes in the foil before packing. Once the holes are done, gently remove the foil, being careful not to tear it, pack the bowl, and slide the foil back on, ensuring you pull it tight as you put it on. Most people on here will recommend you try a heavy duty foil, such as Reynolds HD Wrap or Alcan HD. I personally like them better because they don't rip as easy as regular foil.

 

 

Try that stuff and report back here with how it worked out for you. If you are still having problems after doing that stuff, we will at least have a better idea of what might be causing the problems. Sometimes a simple mistake is all it takes to mess up a good smoke, but once you get it right, it will stick with you and you will be having a great experience with smoking hookah. Also, if you let us know a time that works for you, and you have a webcam, we can hop on Tinychat and guide you through it step by step to absolutely ensure you get it right. There are many of us on the forum with experience who will gladly help you out. Cheers!

[Nerdy]

Man, I wish I had the time to write something like that out. I honestly could read the things you post all day. I feel like your posts flow very well. Keep it up.

OP - aeon's guide is spot on. Follow it to the T. You'll be pleased with the results.