How To Make Thick Smoke?

[kavoarka]

Hey, just wondering what you all use to make thick smoke. What i do normally is make the water cold but not to much else. Wondering if anyone has any experience trying out different stuff? Heard milk works.

[Scarecrow]

Coconut milk from what scalliwag on this forum has shown seems to work great. It also depends the tobacco. Some flavors and brands smoke less than others.

[Johnny_D]

It is normally a combination of head & tobacco.

Some tobacco needs more heat that others. So play around until you get the big smokes!

JD

[Jones]

It all depends on two primary things, how airtight your rig is and the tobacco. Steps 1 and 2 are always, make sure your hookah's tighter than a ducks ass and second, don't smoke crap.
As has been said, tobacco's vary wildly in smoke thickness, personally Starbuzz has made the thickest smoke I've ever had, followed by Tangiers.
As for stuff you can put in the base itself, it's complicated, keeping the water cold will make it smoother and of course cooler, but it won't do a thing for thickness as far as I can tell. My optimal set up, for the ultimate smoke is : 1 1/2 Three king coals, 1 whole, the other half broken up and around the main coal, the coal placed only once it's RED HOT and letting the surrounding coals slowly ignite off the main one. Make sure everything's nice and clean and in the base, water, hand full of ice, 1/4 cup of salt on top of that, bit more water and then, the highest grade alcohol you can find, personally I use grain alcohol. The alcohol has never gotten me intoxicated, I just find it thickens the water enough (in combination with the ice and salt) to be at the maximum thickness to chill ratio. I.e. it's not so thick and it's harder to pull. Also something that's crutial, fiddle with the water line according to your hookah, you'd be suprised how often half an inch above or below where it should be on the stem, can ruin a perfectly good smoke.

Also, something I've heard good comments about but haven't tried myself is keeping the water thin, using a diffuser and filling the base until the diffuser is covered, keeping as good a seal as possible, but still going a bit lower than you usualy would.

Hope this has been of some help. Edited January 4, 2007 by Jones

[.cOLt.45.]

Try and get a tobacco that is slooooppping wwweeettt then use like 2 quicklights and you should get some clouoouds...also try using some alcohol or a little bit of milk...

[web250]

It's such a combination of different things.

Acclimation, heat, bowl size/shape, tobacco brand, what's in the vase, etc.

Just experiment!

[kavoarka]

So would adding more coals make more smoke?

[Zerodynamic]

So would adding more coals make more smoke?

yes and no... too much heat could burn the tobbaco, and that would just be nasty.

[Sir Tony]

So would adding more coals make more smoke?

In theory it should, but you could also burn the tobacco and cause it to become very harsh. The is more to it than heat, just experiment around and see what works best.

[SanguineSolitude]

jones advice "dont smoke crap" is interesting. what is crap in this case?
nakhla has some nice flavors and definately has nice thick clouds of smoke.
al waha also produces impressive clouds.
and those are about the cheapest tobaccos out there. does that make them crap? heck id smoke some nakhla sweet melon or jasmine any day. and waha has some great flavors too.
you can get any tobacco to smoke huge, its just that some seem to be at their best at different levels of thickness.

there really is only one thing that causes thick smoke, and that is proper heat management. thats it. sure a couple brands like al fakher produce more smoke than others, but you can get thick smoke with any of them.
spread heat evenly across the top of the head. if using quicklites then break them in half and used anywhere from 1 half to 4 halves spread around the bowl. if its getting harsh pull a half off, if its getting thin, put another on. its very simple really.

[Mattookah]

funny how no one mentioned glycerine??? this makes a big difference doesnt it

ok can you guys add more tips and tricks to get smoke nice and thick

[ASUSEAN1]

+1 on heat maagement. If you want a bowl to smoke well it is all about how you pack the bowl and about the heat management. Practice makes perfect so just keep experimenting til you find what works best for you

Sean

[The King]

It shouldn't be that hard...if your smoke isn't thick I would say it's not airtight somewhere. I get thick smoke everytime by just packing a bowl pretty loose, putting foil with maybe 15 holes randomly, and using one quicklight...I just got some xtra large golden quicklights and they are amazing...they cover almost all of my bowl, smoke clean, and light real quick.

[ShishaFred]

In theory , you need a hot head to boil/evaporate the glycerin and some cool water to condensate the glycerin and have thick white smoke. I think everything else has been said.

[GordonMac]

i get really think base with just water in the base. make sure you have a good amount of coal on the bowl!