Nasty Nast Nast

[bizarro]

I  broke down and got a hookah after going to come lounges for a bit. I went to the local smoke shop and he recommended the hookah bros model which I had already heard great things about. I got this and bought some Al-Waha peach blend and the shop owner gave me a grape blend with no name on it. I smoked the grape and it was very nice but the peach tasted very harsh and could not even hit it without wanting to cough. I then tried it with a screen and still this peach blend is very harsh like burning wood. Is there a reason or is this just a bad batch or what?
Thanks
Richie

[bizarro]

how much should you fill the bowl up?

[Mathazar]

Fill the bowl up about 3/4ths of the way so that it's not touching the
foil.  Use one coal to start,  and if you're not getting
enough flavor and smoke,  then add a half a coal.  Just break
a piece in half.  That's what I do.  Make sure the coal is
REDHOT before putting it on the bowl.  I would reccommend that you
use aluminum foil instead of the metal screens,  I've never had a
good smoke with the metal screens.  What you're trying to achieve
is for the moisture in the tobacco to be evaporated.  If the
tobacco is burning,  you're going to cough-up a lung.  I
can't tell you how many times I've ended-up coughing,  which then
led to heaving,  which then led to me throwing-up.  DO NOT
put the coal directly on the tobacco. 

First sprinkle the tobacco into the bowl,  don't pack it down or
there won't be enough heat distribution thoughout the bowl.  Place
a piece of foil large enough to cover the entire top of bowl so that
the foil is TIGHT.  Make sure the foil is tight.  Next start
poking holes evenly from the outside-in until you get to the
middle.  Spread your holes evenly.  Next poke holes thru the
bottom of the bowl so you'll create air-holes.  Depending on your
bowl,  you should be able to poke 5 holes thru the bottom. 
You're doing this so that just in case you packed the tobacco to
tight,  you'll be able to draw heat thru the bowl.  At least
that's how I do it,  and I've had TREMENDOUS success with that
technique.  Next,  place the bowl on the hookah stem, 
light your one and a half coals so that they're REDHOT,  and
gently place them on the foil.  You don't want the foil to dip
down toward the tobacco,  that's why you tighten the foil. 
Now take two puffs to get the coals going,  and you should be all
set.  If you did everything correctly,  you should be having
no problem.

On the other hand,  some tobaccos are just too harsh to
smoke.  Romman ALWAYS has me coughing,  while Al-Amasi and
Hookah-Hookah tobacco are nice and smooth.  Another reason you
could be coughing is because your charcoal might be imparting too much
charcoal flavor into the tobacco.  But,  I suspect that the
reason you're coughing is because your tobacco is burning.

Follow the steps I gave you and you should have NO more troubles.

My reccommendation is that you buy yourself some new charcoals. 
If you're using 3Kings right now or some other quick-light, 
chances are you're getting charcoal flavor in the smoke,  which
will directly effect the flavor of your tobacco.

Go to:  www.Hookah-Hookah.com and buy these flavors.....

Hazelnut,  Melon,  Apple,  Grape,  Pineapple, 
and Margarita.  Stay away from their other flavors because the
SUCK!!!

Then go to:  www.HookahCompany.com and pick-up some Nour
Coals.  They're finger coals which means you'll have to break them
into bowl-size pieces,  and you'll have to light them on the
stove, it takes about 2 to 4 minutes.  They're made from
wood,  so they're all natural and don't have any of the chemicals
and starting agents that you would find in quick-lite coals. 
While at the HookahCompany,  buy some Al-Amasi Orange and Memory
Mix.  This is very good and smooth-smoking tobacco.  Al-Amasi
is made from the same company that makes Al-Waha,  but the tobacco
is much different.  Memory Mix is a fruit mixture with a Spearmint
flavor.  It's very good if you like Spearmint.

If what you want is a good quick-light coal,  then go to: 
www.Hookah-Shisha.com and order some Golden Coals,  they're the
BEST quick-light coals on the market. They're made in Holland and are
formulated to NOT impart any odor or flavor into the tobacco's
vapors. 

If you want to try Romman tobacco from Hookah-Shisha,  then I
reccommend you buy:  Double Apple (which is a licorice
flavor),  Strawberry,  and Sweet Melon.  Some people
here in the forum think that Romman Peach is AWESOME.  I'm not one
of them.  I think Romman Peach SUCKS   
Now remember,  even though Romman is VERY good tobacco,  it
can be somewhat harsh on your throat. I always end-up coughing my
brains out from smoking that stuff.  But others seem to like it.

Another company I would reccommend for ONLY ONE FLAVOR is Fumari.com
  Buy the Watermelon.  It's the BEST Watermelon on the
market,  but be aware that they only sell their tobacco is 100gram
freshly-packed containers.  Their tobacco is made in San Diego,
California exclusively for Fumari.  Don't order any other Fumari
flavors because the BLOW!!!  Take my word on it 

For further reading on Tips and Procedures of Preparing a hookah, 
go to: www.Hookah-Shisha.com and at the top of the page,  click on
"User Guide".  This will answer ALL of your questions.

If you have any more questions,  feel free to ask 

[Mathazar]

I suggest that you start-off with a small one-hose hookah,  1. to
stay within your budget,  and 2.  to see if hookah smoking is
something you're going to like doing.  If $200 is your
budget,  then you're going to need to save that for some tobacco
and charcoal and the shipping charge for all this stuff.  I've
owned 6 hookah of varying sizes and types,  and right now the one
hookah I like smoking out of the BEST is my small one-hose 14" Sultan
Hookah. Because of the size of my hookah, I'm able to keep it right on
my desk next to my keyboard.  You're going to need to go to the
grocery store and buy some toothpicks and aluminum foil.  Just get
regular aluminum foil,  NOT the Heavy-Duty stuff,  and NOT
tin foil.  Tin foil,  from what I understand,  can
release toxic fumes if heated to a certain point.  Aluminum foil
won't do that.  The toothpicks are for poking holes in the
foil.  You probably already know all this stuff,  so I'll
move forward onto Hookahs. 

Here are some websites that sell various types of good quality
hookahs.  You can get a small one hose hookah for as low as
$30.  But,  you're gonna want to save your money for some
High-Quality tobacco (aka.....ma'asell) and charcoal.

Here we go:

www.SaharaSmoke.com

If you browse thru their hookahs to the last page,  you'll see
some very nice low-cost hookahs. The Dragon or the Magi Hookahs are
what I would reccommend.  The GREAT thing about The Magi is that
it is a Rotator/Spinning Hookah, so if you like to move the hose around
alot,  the rotator will spin allowing you mobility with your
hose.  Plus, it's a REALLY cool-looking Hookah . 
For Tobacco,  I suggest you buy the Hookah-Hookah tobacco. The
BEST flavors are Hazelnut,  Apple,  Melon,  Grape, 
Pineapple, and Margarita. I haven't tried Menthol,  but I know
that Cherry SUCKS!!!  And I'm not a big fan of their
Vanilla.  Actually,  Menthol sounds rather nice,  if you
like Mint,  because they use several different types of Mint to
make it.  For Charcoal,  I reccommend that you go to
Accessories and buy the Vivi Natural Wooden Charcoal.  It's made
out of a wood resin,  and looks exactly like charcoal,  but
the difference between Wood Charcoal and Regular Charcoal is that
Wooden Charcoal won't impart any bad charcoal flavor into your
smoke.  Trust me on this,  Regular charcoal can ruin the
flavor of your tobacco.  Vivi Charcoal is finger shaped and
cylindrical,  so you're going to have to break off pieces of it to
place around your bowl.  You're also going to have to heat this
charcoal on your stove.  So,  if you've got a gas
stove,  then you're going to need some LONG TONGS with an oven mit
so that you don't burn your hands on the tong while holding the
charcoal over the flame.  If you've got an electric coil
stove,  then simply place the coal on the coils and flip the
charcoal like a hotdog on the grill.  It'll take around 2 to 4
minutes to heat-up the coal.  If you buy the Vivi charcoal, 
then purchase from 2 to 5 (500gram) boxes of it,  depending on how
much you think you'll be smoking.  Each 500gram bag has around 36
finger coals in it.  I smoke anywhere from 10 to 20 times a
day,  so I go thru these bags faster than lightening.

If all that sounds like too much work for you,  then go to this
website and buy some Golden (quick-light) Coals. They need very little
heat and have a sparkling agent that helps them light-up.  But,
you always want to make sure that your coal is REDHOT before placing it
on the foil.  A good lighter is all you need with the Golden Coals:

www.Hookah-Shisha.com

or

www.SouthSmoke.com

SouthSmoke sells the Golden Coals a few dollars cheaper than Hookah-Shisha.

Now,  if what you want is a good 30" Multi-Hose Hookah,  then
there are several different websites you can check-out.  Here are
my two personal preferences:

www.Hookah-Shisha.com  (Click on Syrian Hookahs,  and then
click on the 3 Hose Syrian Glyph Hookah)  The Syrian Glyph has an
"Auto-Seal System" that will allow 3 smokers to smoke together without
having to place their thumbs over the mouthpieces in order for someone
else to take a puff.  With regular Egyptian Multi-Hose
Hookahs,  it's neccessary to cover the mouthpiece in order to make
the hookah air-tight so someone else can take a hit.  In most
cases,  that's a pain in the ass for the other smokers.  With
the Syrian Hookah,  you won't have to do that.  I owned the
Glyph,  and it's an excellent hookah.  Of course,  there
are other Syrian Hookahs on that site to choose from,  but the
Glyph was my personal favorite because of the beautiful Glyph etchings
in the shaft.  I got the Gold Stem on Green Glass Base,  and
it was simply MAGNIFICENT 

The other website that has the "Auto-Seal System" on their Hookahs is:

www.Hookah-Hookah.com

You'll have to click on CUSTOMIZE in the first box on that page in
order to customize your own Hookah.  When You get to the section
on STEMS,  scroll thru the stems until you come to PERSIAN
STEMS.  The PERSIAN stems are the ONLY multi-hose stems they sell
that have the "Auto-Seal System".  And the great thing about
customizing your own hookah at this website is that the stems are all
stainless steel,  whereas the stems at Hookah-Shisha are made of
Copper.  The problem with Copper is that if you get it wet or if
you drip syrup from the tobacco on the copper,  the copper will
tarnish.  Also,  if you get the copper hot enough, it will
emit toxic fumes.  But,  you'll never get the hookah SO HOT
that it emits toxic fumes,  you'd have to literally place the
copper over a hot flame and let it get redhot before it started to emit
fumes.  I just thought that's something you should be aware
of.  Stainless steel,  as I'm sure you're aware of, 
won't do that.  You can heat it as hot as you want and it won't
EVER emit toxic fumes.  I think the Hookah-Hookah.com hookahs are
VERY nice,  maybe a little pricey,  but nice.  It'll
last you a lifetime.

I suggest,  whatever site you buy your hookah from,  that you
buy 3 to 4 extra hoses,  because over time your hoses will go bad
and you'll have to replace them.  Also,  certain flavors will
tend to linger in your hose and effect other flavors.  I do ALL my
tobacco shopping at www.Hookah-Hookah.com,  it's owned buy
SaharaSmoke,  that's why they sell the same kind of tobacco. 
If you go to www.Hookah-Hookah.com,  buy yourself at least 3 extra
PLETHOR-STYLE hoses.  For my one-hose hookah,  I've got 5
different colored hoses.  One for each type of flavor.  Such
as citrus flavors:  Pineapple,  Orange, 
Margarita,  Lemon.  Another hose I have Specifically for
Hazelnut,  and I don't smoke any other flavor out of it, 
that's my tan hose.  Another hose I use for Apple.  Another
hose I use for Grape,  Melon,  and other mild flavors. 
Get the idea?  One hose is not going to last you very long, 
unless you don't tend on entertaining very often,  in which
case,  a multi-hose hookah would be unneccessary.  Double
Apple and Mint are probably the strongest flavors out there,  and
will DEFINITELY need their own hoses.  Double Apple actually does
not taste like apple,  it tastes like licorice,  and anything
with licorice in it is going to require you to scrub-down you
hookah,  clean-out the bowl,  and definitely require it's own
hose.  Same with mint.  Otherwise you're going to have those
flavors mixed in with all your other flavors.  NOT GOOD! 
Although,  I highly-reccommend that you buy Double Apple if you
like licorice because it's really a phenomenol flavor once you acquire
a taste for it.  Though,  it took me a long time before I
acquired a taste for Double Apple.

So,  in summary:

1.  www.SaharaSmoke.com
www.Hookah-Hookah.com
www.Hookah-Shisha.com
www.SouthSmoke.com

2.  For Mutli-Hose Hookahs,  buy one with the "Auto-Seal System"

3.  Buy extra PLETHOR-STYLE hoses from Hookah-Hookah.com because
the PLETHOR hoses are washable and very durable.  They're a TRUE
pleasure to smoke,  and they're a little over 6 feet long, 
and in 5 different colors.

4.  Go to the store and buy some aluminum foil and tooth
picks.  Just cut off enough foil to cover the head of the
bowl.  Make medium-size holes with the toothpicks,  just the
circumference of the toothpick is fine.

5.  Buy Golden Coals from either Hookah-Shisha or
Southsmoke.com,  and stay away from 3Kings (quick-light) coals
because they impart charcoal flavor into the smoke.  Golden Coals
are the BEST Quick-Light coal on the Market....PERIOD!!!

6.  Go to www.Hookah-Shisha.com and read their "USER GUIDE" at the
top of the page.  It's VERY informative and will answer many of
your Hookah questions.

Hope this helps you out 

[Mr Nice Guy]

Thank you very much Mathazar, you have helped me a lot.  I ordered the Syrian Double Hose Glyph Hookah.  Im sure this wont be my only hookah.
Thank you again for your help.
Nice Guy

[Mathazar]

Hey,  no problem,  I'm always glad to help