Mikee's Phunnel Baffle

[hookahmike]

DONE EDITING

The purpose of this thing is to keep you from having to keep track of coal management and let you just ENJOY the hookah experience.
I could not have gotten here w/o the phunnel & Scalli' mod in the 1st place, so THANK YOU to the creators of those wonderful devices.
I am loading this up immediately, then editing so keep looking until you see 'DONE EDITING' @ the top of this post

P.S. - I am already seeing some mods for this mod - call them revision 2.x
I am using a small funnel bowl and a 3/4" copper pipe cap.

I used one of THESE from RADIO SHACK (about 3-5$)

To cut the various parts to shape, along w/ a sharp pair of fiskars scissors.

The baffle material is .010" thick hobby brass sheet from ACE hardware

Also used pliers & a 1/8" drill for the holes. Just let my intuition pick a pattern

ALL these variables are open to change for personal preference I just wanted to get the idea out there.

SO Here is the way I made my phunnel baffle.

Take the brass sheet and put the bowl UPSIDE down on it for piece (1), then draw the outer edge to get the right size (I actually marked the 'center' w/ a nail and used a Compass to get the right size (bowl matched size of circle). YOU Will make 2 circles - leave @ LEAST 1/2" between EACH ! (ONLY CUT OUT ONE!!! - You will use the 2nd circle in a moment)



AFTER you cut out the 1st circle you need to cut a SPACER tab every 90 degrees (see pic to get idea ) Only have to cut about 1/16" - 1/8" deep into the circle and about 1/4" wide. This is used as a SPACER to separate the top & bottom pieces. This is where the hot air from the coal is 'distributed' evenly around the OUTSIDE 1/2 of the shisha in the bowl.



NEXT is the TOP of the Baffle. This is where you ADD another concentric circle 1/4" larger all around and cut out the LARGER circle, THEN make cuts every 1/4" inch or so around the circumference to make a 'lip' that keeps the whole thing centered on the bowl when you set it all up.
You COULD nibble out the EXCESS and just use 4 or 8 tabs around the edge to hold everything together since the rim will be SEALed w/ AL foil.



Here you see the upper piece upside down showing the outer 'lip'.

The center hole is designed for a 40mm 3k charcoal. YOU MUST SPLIT THE CHARCOAL IN 1/2, then place the pieces TOGETHER and lite to get the Right TEMPERATURE. Uncut is too cool; More charcoal is too hot for my purposes (SB, Sinbad, Havanna). This is one of those things that is WILDLY open to adjustment based on shisha and coal types. The coal is placed over the hole (DUH ) and you just leave it there until time to dump.



Next we have the now famous scalli mod, which I made w/ the nibbler taking off the excess (about 4 times around, check every once around) then sanding on coarse Silicon carbide (240 or so) sandpaper to remove most of the burrs. No pounding required, however heating the cap will GREATLY improve the ease of getting the cap out of round as shown
HERE (note the glass references here, can use this later (sign me up for 2 now please )



This shows the scalli mod w/ the top of the cap even w/ the top of the bowl.


After construction and cleaning (I used 1000 grit auto sandpaper on the brass sheet b4 I started and on the pipe cap to remove any impurities, then washed everything in lemon juice to remove any leftovers so nice & clean )

stick the scalli mod in, load up on shisha to about 1/8 - 1/16 inch below the top of the bowl (don't want it to touch the underside of the baffle, also can be as low as 1/2 the bowl depth )

Put the 'screen' into the 'top' with the spacers on the screen face TOWARD the TOP of the baffle (If you see space like in the pic below between the top & screen you did it right ), then place it on top of the bowl. The tabs or lip from the top should be on the outside of the bowl to help line stuff up.



Wrap the aluminum foil around the thing to seal it up, lite you coal, set it on, and start puffing. Usually it is going for me after about 1 minute of puffing. I usually use one coal per session (40mins), then set it aside for next time. Usually 3 coals will pretty much do the bowl. The first one smokes good, the 2nd even better, than it evens off for the 3rd coal.



I hope this helps someone or gets some MORE ideas going. It has worked well for me

Thanks for reading! Edited March 18, 2007 by hookahmike

[Lakemonster]

damn!...

Thats a nice engineering job there!

[hookahmike]

Thank you

Laziness is the mother of invention.

But since the bowls vary in size along w/ coal choice is a custom design for me. Everyone else would have to measure for their bowl.

Of course I figured out how to make an even better scalli-type mod by:

1. nibbling 3 times around the bottom of the pipecap

2. taking a narrow locking pliers (ACE HW for 5.99$ ) & 'locking' it on 1/4" from the bottom edge.

3. Put in vise sideways (so pliers point out to side, but on top of vise) & tighten down snugly.

4. lift up on pliers to bend bottom edge out a little (copper will break slightly, but that seems okay)

5. Move the pliers over right next to spot you just did (on the circumference) and repeat steps 2-4 until you are all the way around.

6. Tweak bends so mod is flush or just below top of bowl.

No 'cooking' of pipe cap required, so no CU oxide (2) 'the black stuff from torching', thus a bit safer for you.

& the best step
7. Find out about new glass scalli mod here and call tarik for 3 when they are ready

damn!...

Thats a nice engineering job there!

Edited March 21, 2007 by hookahmike

[angemonkwj]

very nice looking. im to lazy to make it myself, but i would def buy one if possible.

[DizzyGuy]

Very nice, me likey

[cafesaden]

sorry but i am not sure how this works? i see the scalli mod and the sheet you made that goes on top, but not understanding about coal size etc....

[Scarecrow]

What exactly does this all do in the end thats better then regular aluminum foil?

[hookahmike]

If done correctly (which can be VERY subjective here ) Keeps you from having to move the coal around after lighting @ all! Everything gets cooked, but nothing burned (so far for me anyway)
Allows you to be lazy and just concentrate on enjoying the smoking experience.

This is admittedly a niche type gizmo, though it can prolly be customized for any bowl / type. Think of a combo screen / distribution manifold for heat.

[Altron]

Does the smoke last longer? Because it looks like the heat is distributed at lower rates then having a coal ontop of a certain area.

[hookahmike]

I have no clue

I usually use 1 coal split in 1/2, then put back together (the air going through the center 'slit' increases the heat enough to get the right temps for me). My sessions usually last only 1 coal (about 40-45 mins), but I have gone for 3 sessions in a week w/o changing stuff except the coal and it has worked well. Haven't tried longer. I will be having my 'colleague' test out another one to see what they think of it soon

Does the smoke last longer? Because it looks like the heat is distributed at lower rates then having a coal ontop of a certain area.

[Altron]

so wait, do you use 3 coals to finish the bowl?

and how many coals would you regularly use without this mod of yours?

[indy]

Scarecrow I'm not sure if they've explained it yet but its basically a heat distribution technique. The brass will distribute the heat over the entire surface of the plate and cook ALL of the shisha at the same time as opposed to cooking only the localized section that has the coal above it.

The only issue I can see with your mod is that the distribution of heat might lower the overall cooking temperature to far and won't produce enough smoke for a good session without adding more coals. This is of course subjective since everybody has a different prefference at to how much smoke they like. Personally I think its an interesting idea.

Have you tried possibly adding prongs to the bottom of your plate that stick into the shisha? That should distribute some heat not only to the top of the shisha but also to the center and possibly the bottom of it to have a really good and consistant temp. Just an idea. Edited June 20, 2007 by indy

[Magamba Satta]

Not trying to be obnoxious, but isn't copper poisonous? I mean, as far as inhaling or using in a smoking device? I don't know for sure myself, but an older friend (that's done this sort of thing for years) taught me to only use a few materials when building any sort of smoking device, be it a, hookah, pipe, whatever. I was told to only use stainless steel, glass, Indian bean plant (wood), bamboo, and clays/ceramics.

Just wondering, trying to help look out for a fellow...

-m.s. Edited June 22, 2007 by ghostofdavid

[rbyers]

He's using brass, which is a mix of copper and... is it zinc? Whatever metals are in the alloy doesn't matter, that certain flavor or metal does not offgas when heated like copper supposedly does. Brass is peachy keen for use in smoking paraphernalia.