“Guilty” as accused

For those of us who love smoking the narghile, (all raise your right hand), working at the p.c. might be a problem. I know to change often the water and clean out my shafy with a good brush, but is that a rule for once in a while smokers? I’ve read recently that those who smoke once a week or maybe even longer in between MUST clean the whole hookah well. So the resins and dirt will not harden.
For those, like me, who will smoke at work, right next to the p.c. not as an actual laid back mediatative hookah smoke, but as more of a hands on session, we will not stop and clean the whole hookah every time, but… how long and how much is too much?
Friday I felt my last 3 bowls acting funny and sending smoke up the pipe stem, even though I had’nt put too much charcoal on the top.
I went into the near Loo to was the hookah. I found the water, though recently replaced was greenish, and the hookah shaft gummy with resins.
I cleaned the hookah ONLY after it had cooled off, or the water would have cracked or breaken the water bow, clay bowl, etc.
It had not been a long time since I’d smoked, but the AMMOUNT smoked neccesated having cleaning earlier. Right enough, after that, it was good smoking again.
Every time something like this : everthing is going smoothly and the a unforseen problem comes up.
It remeinds me that its like raising a child. You go even before birth for check-ups, couseling, man-woman birthing team coaching, the birth, going home, the growing, the raising, right education, clubs etc. All of a sudden at age 14 the nice little boy you gre is turning to criminal intrests (he gets a large money alowance from the parents).

The anology is similar.
You as a parent of this lovely hookah must go scrambling for an idea–why are tried and true hookah practices back firing?
If you don’t panic and thing things out, you’ll find the idea and how to fix it.
The other day for the first time, a clay head of tobacco flew off, and strew burning coals over our wood floor.
I scrambled for the coals and then tried to figure things out.
I have been using a layer of tissue paper to make a great connection betwen the clay tobaccco bowl, and the rubber grommet.
Guess what I forgot this time! The toilet paper, just a small ammount with a cross of 2 cuts to let it go well over the opening–not to leave over the top to stop the air connection, or too much t.p. tissue that might burn from a small piece of small falling coal.
About the scorched wooden floor, which I have done in a few places, Had mentioned the large pie tray with inner hole cut in with utility kniffe before.
This hookah bowl flew off.I think it was the fact that I had not added toilet paper and it fell of from vibration.
About the wooden floor, sooner or later I’ll attack it with an electric sander, and shellac it again a few times over!
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“Pipe Dreams”

A pipe dream:
A perfectly clear clay tobacco-shisha bowl? Not yet invented (except for the semi clear acrylic bowls which cost a big $ bundle and break easily too).

So, how to tell if you smoked all the shisha in the bowl?
I guess its up to experience.

1) how much did you pack?
What is usually for you a half-hours smoke? 40 minutes went buy and your tongue is feeling fuzzy-you are long ago finished and if you have a good burning coal, you are getting plain heat and ashes taste.
2)did you pack loosly or too tight?

If tight it will burn for sure, mostly at the bottom.

3)type of shisha being smoked.

Al-Fakher, Al-Ouns ,Al-Qemah,Roman,Fumari,Afzal are loooong ongoing good smokes.
15 grams lightly packed of Al Fakher,Al-Ouns,Al-Qemah,Roman will approximately smoke 45-60 minutes.
The same ammount of Al-Waha, Al-Sultan, El-Nakhla,El-Basha
(same company) will smoke 20-30 minutes lightly packed.
If you have been going on longer, its a burn!
These are just a few hints.

4) when you’ve finished smoking EACH time look at what is left over.
If its ash, then next time don’t smoke that gram ammount too long. Or get a bigger bowl.
The gigantic “party bowl” which I mainly use is big enough for 30-35 grams, and since its bad to add shisha up to the top where it touches the foil and will burn, I still have room left over.
http://www.smoking-hookah.com/Products/Accessories/Giant-party-clay-bowl.asp?agent_camp=10540001

I always check the remains of any bowl to see if its over burnt. There should be left a bit of lightly cooked shisha at the bottom remaining.Throw it out!

With so many shisha brands out there herbal and regular, each company brand has its own burning time.
It depends mainly on how much glycerine is in the mixture.
You’ll find Nakhal is a dryer brand. The premium brands are dripping and smell so good even before you put them in the bowl!
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Marijuana in your pipe?

Ask anyone who has smoked marijuana in their hookah, the first time was…
The next time they used it for regular flavoured shisha tobacco came a BIG suprise! Ugh!!! The flavours (any and all tasted like fried borscht).
The forums of hookah ALL have people who wrote in saying that they enjoy smoking marijuana, but the hemp resins completely ruin the inside stem shaft of the narghileh. Throw that shaft away. The bottle you can keep.
I am not making any opinions about marijuana here.
There was a nice t.v. commercial by the famous actor of the 50’s and 60’s Tony Curtis who is the father of what-is-her-name? Curtis?
Goes like this :
Tony Curtis with a smile :
“I quit smoking……(smirk)…cigarettes that is”.
So roll your own, buy a regular pipe, etc. But not in the hookah.
There are other things historically and now smoked in the hookah which will not ruin it.Hashish, opium.
They will not affect the pipe.(maybe your life if you’re driving).
There are derivatives of things like salvia and salvia divinorum to be bought online.
Don’t know, never tried.
Stick to tobacco shisha or buy a growing number of brand named Herbal no tobacco, no tar and nicotine smokes like “Black Label” brand, “Soex ” brand.
They even taste great!
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Careful with that Axe, Eugene”

Well
Just in the last few hours I’ve come close to doing some major damage. I’m human sometimes too.
I’m a big fan of milk in my water bottle. I just cleaned it out well pouring the 3 days milk and adding cold.
You should have seen the long tube of blue’ cheese French style that came out.
That is why I use a brush in the tube, and I’ve been cleaning bottle and tube with watered down soap liquid for dishes for years. Do your dishes taste like soap? Probably not if you use rinsing hot water which can be a b— if you rinse the bottle and don’t verrrrrrry gradually make the water rinsisng it colder.Take your time or the bottle WILL break.
Also, never pick your hookah up by the top stem, or the bottle might fall and break. Eugene, as once happened to yours truly.

Another safe hint. Make sure that when you attatch the hose again, there is no ceramic head on the top as gravity or swaying wil make it fall off!

I will make this point separately, but right now I am smoking “Nakhla” cherry and mint mixed at exactly a 50-50 ratio and it wil beat your same mix anyday. How? By mixing in the same bowl, you never get it to blend well . You do get a mix, but if you use a double-clay head, and put one flavour in each side and a coal on each, you are bringing the two flavours from their bowls into a common funnel and actually tasting the 2 flavours as meant to be!
See photo:
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