mujjuman Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Ok I know this topic is beat to death... I'm in the Caribbean for medical school (my final semester here on the island) and for the longest time on the island, I've been using a small cheap chinese-made hookah here. I've got it to work perfectly with AF and starbuzz shisha and it has always hit very well with lots of smoke and tons of pleasure. My friend, however, finds it very harsh (I guess he has sensitive lungs) so I went out of my way to buy a very large chinese-made hookah for kicks (thats all we can buy on the island). I've been having trouble setting up right, mainly because the vase where the water goes is is VERY large and the stem that goes in the water is very long. After playing around with the water levels and the holes in the head where the shisha goes, I think I got it okay... meaning I get decent clouds. however, the clouds arent as big or thick as my small hookah nor my Nammor Euphrates hookah that I left back home in the States. What I have noticed is that the new hookah doesnt give any flavor to the smoke!!! It only tastes like burned coal!!! To verify this, I set up my small hookah right next to my large hookah and switched the head back and forth along with the coal, and pulled on both hookahs one after another. The smaller hookah gave consistent large clouds with easy pull and lots of flavor... the larger hookah struggled with giving thick clouds and had NO shisha flavor, and only coal flavor. Does anyone else have experience with this? How can I fix this? I played around with number of coals, number of holes, and water levels but I cant seem to get it right :( I want to be able to enjoy smoking out of my large hookah, but I fear I may need to stick to my smaller one. I had asked and received great advice a couple years back when i asked how to set up my new Nammor Euphrates hookah after my prev chinese one broke. Please help. I am using quick light three kings coals with Starbuzz or AF shisha, packed fluffy, on the stock Egyptian style head that comes with it with stock hose. Both hookahs are air-tight, clean, and residue free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaoz187 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 can u post any pictures? what sorta coals are u using? idk never had any problem with the size of the hookah..i can smoke my mya qt which is like a foot tall and my km which is almost 3 feet perfectly as long as the bowl and heat management is right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawhee Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 kaoz is generally right, you really should get us some pics of your setup and your packing, then help can be arranged! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud-Hookah Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 The water level should only cover the stem by about a 1/2 inch. If the smoke is small and flavorless it seems to be more of a packing issue. To test you could always switch the bowl from the small pipe over to the large when you know its smoking perfect. I'm guessing the bowl with the larger pipe is a little bigger and might need to be packed differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wek-sos Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I'm guessing the bowl with the larger pipe is a little bigger and might need to be packed differently. I was thinking the same, but he said he switched the bowls and the larger hookah just wasn't smoking right. Check for air leaks, that would be a leading factor in no flavor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoozle Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Air leak in the large hookah. If the smoke coming out of the head is good (as verified by your trying it on both pipes), then most likely you are leaking fresh air into the pipe when you inhale. That makes the clouds and flavor thin to nonexistent Set up the big pipe and get as much smoke as you can into it then lightly blow back into the hose. You should see smoke coming out of the leaks. If you have a purge valve, make sure you have a ball in it. Once you have all the leaks sealed, you should only be able to blow smoke out of the purge valve and a little puff out of the head. As a side note, the larger hookah isn't going to fix harsh smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawhee Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Yeah... the harsh smoke is something I can comment on a little, back when we started off with smoking hookah and it was all about the clouds we could produce we smoked horridly burnt pipes and thought they tasted amazing and were great in every way. Only after raising my hookah game and delving into it more and more did I learn to actually get the "real" experience :P So maybe your friend isnt as used to what you feel is great clouds and taste cause youre used to what youve slowly learned to love, when in reality it could be pretty harsh :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 The water level should only cover the stem by about a 1/2 inch. If the smoke is small and flavorless it seems to be more of a packing issue. To test you could always switch the bowl from the small pipe over to the large when you know its smoking perfect. I'm guessing the bowl with the larger pipe is a little bigger and might need to be packed differently. Yes the bowl with the larger hookah is slightly bigger... to rule out the bowl, I used the slightly smaller bowl in both hookahs simultaneously. I'm guessing the bowl with the larger pipe is a little bigger and might need to be packed differently. I was thinking the same, but he said he switched the bowls and the larger hookah just wasn't smoking right. Check for air leaks, that would be a leading factor in no flavor see comment below Air leak in the large hookah. If the smoke coming out of the head is good (as verified by your trying it on both pipes), then most likely you are leaking fresh air into the pipe when you inhale. That makes the clouds and flavor thin to nonexistent Set up the big pipe and get as much smoke as you can into it then lightly blow back into the hose. You should see smoke coming out of the leaks. If you have a purge valve, make sure you have a ball in it. Once you have all the leaks sealed, you should only be able to blow smoke out of the purge valve and a little puff out of the head. As a side note, the larger hookah isn't going to fix harsh smoke. I have tried exactly that!! What you described is exactly how my hookah is behaving.... but I was not able to find any leaks and everything is air tight. I will try closing my purge valve shut (it does have a ball in it) and smoke out of it to test again. I will upload pictures and also maybe a video of how it behaves soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Thank you ALL for the wonderful replies and help. Bawhee, I thought about that possibility also... he's just not used to it with his virgin lungs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Hey guys, sorry for the triple post. I have some pics for you: I call this "fluffy" packing... Starbuzz Flower Power lol my set up. both are chinese hookahs. it looks like they were built by the same company. check out the size difference! lol smoking out of small hookah first smoking out of larger hookah Here is a youtube link to my video: http://youtu.be/GVFAhampS1s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_lunchb0x Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 its just odd, that you take the same bowl and coal but don't get the same results. sidenote: make sure the coal is fully lit ( gray all the way around). In the pic with coal the top is still black.. they put out some strong fumes which you might be inhaling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoozle Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I'd say give it a good cleaning. If that doesn't work, it's probably haunted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codyb88 Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I didn't read the OP since I'm at work but based on the title I assume you're asking if I notice a difference. Short answer: no. These are my main pipes. I do notice a difference and that is the KM (taller one) has a more airy draw due to the port/downstem diameter. The farida (shorter pipe) hits similarly but is ever so slightly restricted (not even near as restricted as a mya though) but it's amazing as well. If you're having issues check the ports/size and purge valve to ensure the BB isn't stuck. If that fails of suggest buying a higher quality pipe if possible. I wouldn't get a hookah much shorter than 20 inches personally though since travel time cools the smoke. I assume the smoke would be hotter the closer to the base it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattarios2 Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 First off I would make sure the edges of the bowl are packed, it looks like you sprinkle or drop in the middle and the edges are missing tobacco. I would add some small clumps of tobacco around the edges of the bowl. Then I would take that big coal in the middle and crack it into 4 quarters, then put a quarter on each side of the bowl forming a square shape with the coals. That should increase cloud size, and flavor because it helps to evenly heat the bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Sharrp SYBIAN Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I didn't read the OP since I'm at work but based on the title I assume you're asking if I notice a difference. Short answer: no. These are my main pipes. I do notice a difference and that is the KM (taller one) has a more airy draw due to the port/downstem diameter. The farida (shorter pipe) hits similarly but is ever so slightly restricted (not even near as restricted as a mya though) but it's amazing as well. If you're having issues check the ports/size and purge valve to ensure the BB isn't stuck. If that fails of suggest buying a higher quality pipe if possible. I wouldn't get a hookah much shorter than 20 inches personally though since travel time cools the smoke. I assume the smoke would be hotter the closer to the base it is. lol And here i was wondering WTF does your Syrian have an Egyptian purge valve! i would have never guessed it was a Farida. They copied Nour to a T the engravings even that base looks Syrian. where did you find that base? She's a real beauty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassouni Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 One of my Lebanese pipes has an Egyptian purge: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chreees Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Unfortunately, there are no absolutes in hookah. They can be difficult to ID sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernoRaven Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Personally I have never owned a pipe below a 36'' I love hookahs that stand on the ground and go to where I can reach the coals why sitting, that being said I may go for a smaller transportable pipe in the 20'' range to carry to the lounge and to friends houses, you don't know the problems I incur trying to move my 46+ pipe around regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 I didn't read the OP since I'm at work but based on the title I assume you're asking if I notice a difference. Short answer: no. These are my main pipe I o notice a difference and that is the KM (taller one) has a more airy draw due to the port/downstem diameter. The farida (shorter pipe) hits similarly but is ever so slightly restricted (not even near as restricted as a mya though) but it's amazing as well. If you're having issues check the ports/size and purge valve to ensure the BB isn't stuck. If that fails of suggest buying a higher quality pipe if possible. I wouldn't get a hookah much shorter than 20 inches personally though since travel time cools the smoke. I assume the smoke would be hotter the closer to the base it is. Nice set up Cody!!! First off I would make sure the edges of the bowl are packed, it looks like you sprinkle or drop in the middle and the edges are missing tobacco. I would add some small clumps of tobacco around the edges of the bowl. Then I would take that big coal in the middle and crack it into 4 quarters, then put a quarter on each side of the bowl forming a square shape with the coals. That should increase cloud size, and flavor because it helps to evenly heat the bowl. Good idea, I will try that!! Thank you As for the coal, I know its better to wait for it to be gray all over, but I noticed for this Three Kings coal, it doesnt really seem to affect the flavor, at least on the smaller hookah. I use coconaras back in the States, but out here all I can get are these Three Kings quick lights, which is better than most other quick light coals I've used. I'm too impatient to wait! hahaha Meanwhile, my friend tried my hookah and he said it was much better for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fineout Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 have you tried to take off the bowl, hold your finger to the opening at the top and breathe in? if it bubbles or you are able to breathe in anything at all you have a leak somewhere. if you dont, try putting the bowl back on, put your palm on top of the bowl to close off air and try again, if it bubbles then that means you may not have a good seal between the bowl and the stem. Also I suggest breaking the 3k into halves and moving them to the outer edges of the bowl, rather than the center like you have in the pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 have you tried to take off the bowl, hold your finger to the opening at the top and breathe in? if it bubbles or you are able to breathe in anything at all you have a leak somewhere. if you dont, try putting the bowl back on, put your palm on top of the bowl to close off air and try again, if it bubbles then that means you may not have a good seal between the bowl and the stem. Also I suggest breaking the 3k into halves and moving them to the outer edges of the bowl, rather than the center like you have in the pictures. Yes sir I have tried covering the top of the hole and it was sealed. I will try doing that also with the bowl attached to check the seal between the bowl and the stem. I'll report tonight!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 Ok so the there actually is a not-so-perfect seal between the bowl and the stem... but I had to pull really hard I guess that's the problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chreees Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Yep, that'll do it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujjuman Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 also i found a big ass hole in my hose smh!!!! its sealed now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoozle Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 How's it smoking now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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