It is quite a challenge to setup a hookah (shisha/ sheesha/ water pipe/ nargeela/ nargile/ narghile/ nargileh/ argeela/ arghileh/ okka/ kalyan/ ghelyoon/ ghalyan/ goza…) correctly – in a way that it will produce a maximum taste, smoke, length of the session and overall human pleasure. Biggest problems usually come from a lack of experience. But there are very and ultra experienced Earth Beings that can help.
Today I had a pleasure to talk to Kyle from Hookah-Shisha.com who is one of ultra hookah people. Kyle was very forthcoming and gladly shared the correct recipe of preparing the hookah. Here, I give the microphone to Kyle:
“Regarding your taste question, I’ll walk you through how I load my bowls and see if this helps a bit. Generally, you really want to use as high a quality shisha as possible, as this really plays a large role in the overall taste that you experience. So, assuming your hookah is airtight and you have clean water in the base to just above the bottom of the downstem (about 1″ above the bottom of the downstem is good), you should be able to proceed with loading the bowl as I describe below.
Start by breaking the shisha into small clumps and drop them into the bowl loosely. I prefer to load my bowl to just below the rim, so the tobacco will not be bulging or overflowing when you put the foil on. Try not to pack the shisha into the bowl too much. A little packing is okay, but you want the bowl to breathe well so all the air will be getting to the shisha. I put the foil on, shiny side down, and make sure it’s pulled nice and taught over the rim of the bowl. I take extra time to smooth out the foil that’s been folded over the side of the bowl so everything is nice and clean and as air-tight as possible.
I then poke a whole bunch of really small holes using something fine like a safety pin, or a really sharp toothpick or something of the sort. The idea is to have as many holes as possible so the foil will breathe really well, but make sure the holes are not so big that ash falls through them as your coals burn. Once you have the holes poked, you should take the bowl and put your mouth over the opening at the bottom, blowing through the tobacco and foil, then gently sucking back in. You’ll want to keep your hand tight over the rim of the bowl while doing this so your foil stays nice and tight. This is a pretty important part of the process, as it helps you determine how well the bowl breathes. The better the airflow, the better your smoke quality.
At this point it’s time to put the bowl on the hookah and get your coals ready (if you haven’t already had them warming up). When using the Golden Coals, I usually suggest using 2 x 33mm coals or 1 x 40mm coal. Shisha varies from brand to brand as to the amount of coal needed to get a perfect smoke, and you will need to experiment with the amount of coal you use. In general, I say that a little more coal is a little better than too little… and if the flavor gets harsh and makes you cough, that’s an indication that the heat is too strong and the shisha is burning. At that point, you want to take the coal off the bowl and let the shisha rest a little. You should also be moving the coal around the outside of the bowl as you’re smoking.. maybe move it every 10 or 15 minutes.
As long as you’re following the instructions above, you’ll be loading your bowl properly and your hookah should smoke well.”
Thank you Kyle,
Happy Hooking Everybody! :)
Just came home today and had a random thought “How does Digg make money?”. Almost any unanswered question that I have I usually bounce against my friend Google. Even if I know the answer, I like to go there to see if there if there is any additional info. However to search information about Digg is quite hard, due to the reason that most of the Google search queries match to some Digg article that somebody posted, and not the real info about Digg. So, today, Google did not answer my question.