This is a great article from Lancet publishing. They  refer to the rise of hookah smoking  in the Middle East itself.
One politician he states rented 200 hookahs from a restaurant owner to keep people happy while listening to his speech! http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673605728713/fulltext
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I have often in the past used natural coals, and I really prefer them, but where I’m living¬† now its impossible.
Of course the quick lighting are usually more convenient but we all know about the flying sparks that a lot of them give off, and smoke, but above all the floor gets messed with a heavy film of gun powder, which is what  covers the coal and burns the outer layer.
Its bad to light the coals on top of the shisha itself since it will tend to burn the top layer or worse.
I’m using a very sparky coal now which sometimes¬† even bursts and sends nuggets of coal all over the wooden floor . I purchased a coal carrier of heavy tin but its built in such a way that makes it hard to get the coals out of so slowly I tied to improvise.
First I found laying around what looks like it was a large tray in one of those toaster ovens, its square shaped. I¬† put¬† the coals on that and then when they sparked hurridley got my home made wind breaker which I had formed circular and is made of heavy duty aluminum. Now when I light them, the coals will still smoke, but at least I’m not spraying my floor with black ash.
Hookah 1
Their¬† are opinions that its a good idea to store your¬† shisha tobacco in the refrigerator. As mentioned before and I’ll only touch on it now, its no good. How do I know? From doing it 4 years ago when I was just starting out and had a small enough stash¬† of shisha to put in. It ruins the taste and if you keep it in long enough, it will get rancid.
That’s in practice. In theory the best thing you need to do upon using an unopened box of shisha for the first time is to open the seal, and let it sit out for between 1-4, some do for much more. The idea is to acclimatize theshisha. Maybe you¬† live in a dry arid desert area, this will affect your shisha’s way of evaporating upon smoking it. Or if you live in a humid zone, keeping it out will¬† acclimatize it to that smoking room’s humidity.
(Many cigar afficiandos  buy and use a thermadour which does the same thing for the cigar tobacco).
After that one time, you use the shisha you want to smoke and wrap up the rest well in a nylon or plastic bag, or ziplock and it would be nice after that to put your bags in an airtight tupperware type of box or container. No refrigeration! A room tempature closet or drawer is the end of that.
Some people will put the hookah bottle with water in the refigerator until its close to freezing, but be extra careful with that since the bottle can break very easily after that.
Try bottling cold water and pouring it in. I’ve heard about others who put the stem (shaft) in the freezer or even the hose. Firstly the metal will get hot after just a few minutes anyways but the hose is bad news. Why freeze leather or plastic or wood? And what about moisture condensation¬† from the freezer? If your hose is not of the washable type, its going to corrode and rust soon.
Hookah 1
http://www.smoking-hookah.com/Products/Hookah/The-32-Egyption-Chiller-Hookah-Only-79.asp
