Khalil Mamoon + Al Fakher + Coconut coals = much smoke, no taste?

[bomzhara]

Hi all

I know many people have written about getting good smoke but no taste but I've so far not found a post relating to my kind of setup and that matters quite a bit I think.

Basically I smoke a Khalil Mamoon (specifically this one http://shisha-rf.ru/item/433-khalil-mamoon-trimetall ) with Al-Fakher flavours and natural coals. The pipe came with a ginormous bowl which can easily take most of a 50g pack of stuff, but I don't put that much in obviously. However, what I've got since first smoking it is a lot of smoke but little taste. Is this heat management or something else? I find too few coals mean it takes forever to get going and then has little smoke (as the bowl is so big I guess), but too many and it gets harsh very quickly.

I've tried different packing styles, amounts of tobacco, coal etc and nothing's made any difference. What do you guys think? I add that I've had similar issues with other pipes I've made so I gotta be doing something bad, just can't figure out what!

Cheers for your help

[Bawhee]

Your pipe shouldn't be a problem, as for your packing I really don't know what it looks like. Generally for AF you're looking for a fluffy pack, don't want it to be too dense in the bowl cause it really needs that airflow. Also anything near 50g sounds like way more than I've ever stuffed in an Egyptian bowl, basically you're looking to get the coals to heat up the bowl equally all around, so that the tobacco inside is warmed from all sides. Maybe the bowl is simply too big to be practical anymore but there's no way to be sure without looking at it.

As for your heat management, try adding heat slowly so that you don't overheat it off the bat, you might just find that sweet spot that gets you good smoke and flavor. Personally I find it good to start slow, add a coal, smoke a bit, add a coal and then have 3 on till the bowl's cooked, but different ways work for everyone. The real key here is experimentation and seeing what works on your setup

[bomzhara]

Thanks for your help - here are pics of the bowl. It's quite shallow but very wide. 

[thehelios]

That looks like 30-35g fluffed up.  You could maybe do 50g if you were jam-packing Nakhla or Tangiers in there.

 

And as Bawehee said, you're best off starting slow with heat and slowly ramping it up.  I had very good results using half pieces of coals on AF.

Also, AF doesn't like touching the foil that much so you want to make sure your foil is very tight and the tobacco is barely touching the foil.

Edited March 19, 2015 by thehelios

[Bawhee]

Shallow and wide works well with AF, try a super fluffy pack up to the rim of the bowl, that's how I usually do my AF pack. And make sure your foil is tight, no wrinkles is what you're looking for, otherwise it tends to heat up unevenly and then you'll get anomalies as it stretches when it heats up, I noticed that some of the "problem bowls" that I've had in the last year or so were just cause I was careless with foil.

[Arcane]

What coals are you using?  If it's coconuts, then take 2 and split them.  Put the 4 halves on the edge of the bowl.  This should get heat through your bowl and tobacco, hopefully heating them evenly.  If you need a little more heat, take a half and drop it in the center.

[bomzhara]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I'll give the coal arrangement a go and try somehow to make it even fluffier than before!