the hookah. etc.
So, I've been going back and forth about trying to start a hookah blog. I'm very serious about trying to engineer the uber-hookah, and I also want to be able to manufacture my own parts and tobacco.
I think there must be something out there already, and if I were actually to come up with some good ideas, I would prefer to hoard them and eventually sell them to the world at a premium.
Well, I guess that's not quite true. If I could build my own, I would be happy to share anything I learned with others, and I would certainly be happy to hear other people's advice. Anyway, if anyone knows of any resources, please tell me.
Here's the best I've found for making shisha, which is kind of sad:
http://www.snarkdreams.com/hookah/recipesearch.html. I also have no idea where to buy glycerine...
As for home-made hookahs, this site has some nice ideas:
http://www.blurofinsanity.com/bongdesignpage.htm
I haven't really been able to find much useful information about really improving on the old hookah setup and method. Of course connections should be tight, of course if it's burning you should create more space between the heat source and the tobacco, etc. etc. However, I've still to learn why alcohol in the water makes the smoke thicker... I know that crazy pot-head and engineering types have gotten their paws on hookahs and melded them towards perfection, but I guess they're mostly too lazy to publish anything that I could find using Google. Anyway, I'll write a little bit about my discoveries during the past 6 months here, and if anyone knows of any useful sites or any information, I would appreciate comments or posts.
I'll start with the coal issue. These olive-wood coals are by far my favorites. As the package says, they're all natural, scentless, odorless, and relatively long lasting. I've tried Golden coals, Three Kings, and some others, but these all seemed inferior. There is of course a hitch. You have to break some of the coals up yourself,
and coal dust gets all over your hands. You also have to
light them on the stove, which takes a little longer than the 'quick-lighting' type. In the end, however, I think these probably put off the least toxins, require the least effort, and burn at the best temperature.
They're a little hot for a full bowl (at least in my hookah), so I tend to lift them up one layer or only pack small bowls.
I haven't exactly done thorough research on the topic. I don't doubt the possibility that self-lighting coals could last longer and burn more evenly at a better temperature - this is a distinct possibility, but in a small apartment like mine, the awful smell of the self-lighting stuff is too much. Maybe the ideal would be a coal shaped like the self-lighting type made of similar stuff but without the gunpowder or whatever on the outside.
I do know one thing for sure, these coals
suck. You can see that the sketchy box makes it look authentic, and I'm pretty sure the hookah bar next to Sitar in Nashville uses these coals, but these coals are awful. Firstly, you can see that the trashcan in the picture also contains a hack-saw box, a ruined sponge, an empty paper towel roll, and a beer can. All of these things were required for me to get any use out of this unwieldy box of coals. After hacking through all of the massive chunks in the box, I burned a couple smaller chunks and, to my dismay, they stunk up the house with a similar-to but less-appealing-than barbecue coal smell. The roomies were not ok with this. I prompty ordered three bags of olive wood, so I guess I'll be using that for a while. The hack saw is also useful for these, but I can also usually break them by hand.
One last note on shisha
Here you see Havana Menthol on top. I sprung for this ($17 or so at the local tobacco store) on a whim, and I do really like it. It's superior t0 cheaper mints that I've tried because the mint isn't painfully strong and it tastes good even when it's gotten a little dry and even a little burn-y. The rasberry, peach, and mango all came in a cheaper online package. The mango is great. All of these Havana fruit flavors are very sweet and fruity, but not offensively so. The peach has made me feel weird on multiple occasions, so I only smoke small portions in combination now, but the flavor is pretty nice. The mango is great, and tastes remarkably like real mango. The rasberry is a little dissapointing - it's very cough syrupy, but I guess I should have seen that coming. So, of these four, I highly suggest Havana mint and mango, but not peach or rasberry.
So I guess that's it for now.
I think there must be something out there already, and if I were actually to come up with some good ideas, I would prefer to hoard them and eventually sell them to the world at a premium.
Well, I guess that's not quite true. If I could build my own, I would be happy to share anything I learned with others, and I would certainly be happy to hear other people's advice. Anyway, if anyone knows of any resources, please tell me.
Here's the best I've found for making shisha, which is kind of sad:
http://www.snarkdreams.com/hookah/recipesearch.html. I also have no idea where to buy glycerine...
As for home-made hookahs, this site has some nice ideas:
http://www.blurofinsanity.com/bongdesignpage.htm
I haven't really been able to find much useful information about really improving on the old hookah setup and method. Of course connections should be tight, of course if it's burning you should create more space between the heat source and the tobacco, etc. etc. However, I've still to learn why alcohol in the water makes the smoke thicker... I know that crazy pot-head and engineering types have gotten their paws on hookahs and melded them towards perfection, but I guess they're mostly too lazy to publish anything that I could find using Google. Anyway, I'll write a little bit about my discoveries during the past 6 months here, and if anyone knows of any useful sites or any information, I would appreciate comments or posts.
 |
| From BOS_webalbum |
I'll start with the coal issue. These olive-wood coals are by far my favorites. As the package says, they're all natural, scentless, odorless, and relatively long lasting. I've tried Golden coals, Three Kings, and some others, but these all seemed inferior. There is of course a hitch. You have to break some of the coals up yourself,
 |
| From BOS_webalbum |
and coal dust gets all over your hands. You also have to
 |
| From BOS_webalbum |
light them on the stove, which takes a little longer than the 'quick-lighting' type. In the end, however, I think these probably put off the least toxins, require the least effort, and burn at the best temperature.
 |
| From BOS_webalbum |
They're a little hot for a full bowl (at least in my hookah), so I tend to lift them up one layer or only pack small bowls.
I haven't exactly done thorough research on the topic. I don't doubt the possibility that self-lighting coals could last longer and burn more evenly at a better temperature - this is a distinct possibility, but in a small apartment like mine, the awful smell of the self-lighting stuff is too much. Maybe the ideal would be a coal shaped like the self-lighting type made of similar stuff but without the gunpowder or whatever on the outside.
I do know one thing for sure, these coals
 |
| From BOS_webalbum |
suck. You can see that the sketchy box makes it look authentic, and I'm pretty sure the hookah bar next to Sitar in Nashville uses these coals, but these coals are awful. Firstly, you can see that the trashcan in the picture also contains a hack-saw box, a ruined sponge, an empty paper towel roll, and a beer can. All of these things were required for me to get any use out of this unwieldy box of coals. After hacking through all of the massive chunks in the box, I burned a couple smaller chunks and, to my dismay, they stunk up the house with a similar-to but less-appealing-than barbecue coal smell. The roomies were not ok with this. I prompty ordered three bags of olive wood, so I guess I'll be using that for a while. The hack saw is also useful for these, but I can also usually break them by hand.
One last note on shisha
 |
| From BOS_webalbum |
Here you see Havana Menthol on top. I sprung for this ($17 or so at the local tobacco store) on a whim, and I do really like it. It's superior t0 cheaper mints that I've tried because the mint isn't painfully strong and it tastes good even when it's gotten a little dry and even a little burn-y. The rasberry, peach, and mango all came in a cheaper online package. The mango is great. All of these Havana fruit flavors are very sweet and fruity, but not offensively so. The peach has made me feel weird on multiple occasions, so I only smoke small portions in combination now, but the flavor is pretty nice. The mango is great, and tastes remarkably like real mango. The rasberry is a little dissapointing - it's very cough syrupy, but I guess I should have seen that coming. So, of these four, I highly suggest Havana mint and mango, but not peach or rasberry.
So I guess that's it for now.
posted by FretlessC at 2:19 PM
2 Comments:
What do you mean by the "über-hookah"? Best smoke filtration? Flavor? ...? I guess the question is what problems you're trying to overcome in the present design. With regards to coals, one thing that mike and I discussed at some point was using an electrical heating element suspended just over the shisha to provide heat, meaning no scary coal toxins to be inhaled. This could be plugged into the wall or powered by a battery.
As far as filtration goes, multiple chambers and a diffuser at the points where the smoke exits into the water are the best options I know. Hard to tell how that might affect intensity of flavor though.
electrical heating element is an amazing idea. a related idea which might be feasible with traditional hookah design is having multiple foil levels held apart by metal elements (e.g. two nails, perpindicular to the hookah stem) that are heated by the coals and transfer the heat.. evenly because the nails will maintain more constant heat than the coals right? Anyway, the scary coal toxins are still there, and an electrical heating element is optimal.
Also, with a diffuser - multiple chambers may be difficult to achieve using a traditional hookah, but creating a more diffuse input into the vase may be easy. steel wool in the vase was an over-zealous attempt, but a graft on the bottom of the stem might improve the filtration. I would only worry about prevention of air flow. What do you think?
By the way, do you have a blog? What is the address?
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