More hookah

I mentioned my birthday present, the hookah, in my previous post.  I've now fired it up a few times and am getting the hang of it.  The trickiest part is managing the heat.  The shisha - flavored tobacco - goes in a bowl at the top of the hookah; the bowl is covered with a screen or foil; and hot coals are placed directly on top of the screen or foil.  To little heat and the smoke is weak and flavorless; too much heat and the tobacco chars, and the smoke burns your throat and is awful to inhale.  Get it just right, and you get smooth, flavorful, satisfying clouds.  I am still learning the technique.

My friend Greta came by the other night and she was clever enough to take pictures as we set up the hookah and puffed away at it.

Here I am blowing on the coals to help get them ready.  You can see them glowing faintly orange through the sheen of white ash that has formed on them as they heat.  These coals are almost ready.

Here's a look at the head of the hookah; the ashtray sets near the top, and above that, the foil-covered bowl containing the tobacco.

I take a pull on the hose without heat, just to make sure air flows where it is supposed to and does not flow where it is not supposed to.

...and, we each have a turn on the hose. 

You can see the coals sitting on top of the bowl in the last picture.  During the session you move the coals around, to keep using fresh shisha within the bowl, and to keep any one section of the bowl from getting too hot and turning the bowl harsh.  When the coals get too small, you can add a fresh coal.  I did okay with the heat management this time; we kept it running for the better part of three hours, on about 4 coals (maybe only three, I can't recall).  We were smoking a cherry-flavored shisha manufactured by Al Fakher, a company in UAE.

Comments

[Amit]

Oh noes. You're enabling the terrorists by smoking hookah. Your keffiyeh is showing. ;) :)

My grandfather used to smoke hookah, though it was a bit different from this one - it had a more rigid pipe, I think.

[ching]

Hi Carla, I came acros your blog from Blog Catalog. and I love your articles here.
I had been seeing hookah many times in TV but didn't know about the process of heating. and the controling of the heat would be not easy. hahah..

I would come back oftern to read more.. :) it is nice knowing you.

[Alankrita]

I LOVE your filmi geek blog. I discovered it a day or two ago-ts fantabulous. And such a good critique! I will be a regular visitor

[Chris]

I love hookah...melon flavored tobacco is definitely the best, they need to start making cigarettes flavored like that!

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=68136843]

Having a hookah is spiffy indeed, all the hookah bars have gotten so darn expensive and some of them, from what I hear, serve expired shisha. Having your own is pretty sweet, I got mine last year. I've been dying to try out blueberry muffin shisha, have you had it?

[Josiah Ickes]

Interesting Post, you should teach! Anyways, I noticed you are using instant light charcoals. You should try Coconut charcoals. They're made out of coconut shell fibers, and they burn for at leat 100 minutes with full heat! The only downside to these charcoals is the time it takes them to light... They take a couple of minutes, they're not instant. But because you have a gas burner, as I see in the pictures, it would be much easier to light them. You won't have any of that "fine powdery mess" and what's most important, you won't inhale any coal. I myself have 2 hookahs for my personal use and about 10 for my hookah catering business. Oh, and cherry flavored shisha is best when mixed with Cola flavored shisha ;D

[Free Movie]

Amazing post... I love it. My grandfather used to smoke hookah, though it was a bit different from this one - it had a more rigid pipe, I think.

[Amalia Dragutzza]

i know people who are still smoking hookah these days. i have forward this article to their email. a few days ago i watched a documentary movie about hookah on http://onchannel.net