Hookah Handbook Part 9: How to Manage the Heat and Coals on Your Hookah
Pro Tip: Managing Heat and Coals on Your Hookah
Managing your heat comes down to understanding 2 environments: indoor, calm sessions and outdoor, windier sessions. Let’s break it down for each.
Indoor Coal Management
In an indoor session using a standard mod or Egyptian bowl, start your session with one full 3 Kings or Starlight coal. These are quick light coals so you can light with an oven burner or lighter. Don’t inhale while it’s sparking – it will taste like shite. Once lit, give it a minute or 2 to really heat up, otherwise you’ll pull and get little smoke.
After 15 or 20 minutes, your smoke will thin out as that first coal dies. When this happens, rest your 2nd coal partially on the 1st, while leaving most of it over a new, un-smoked section of your bowl. Wait for it to spark up and continue. (If the flavor gets hot, remove the remnants of the first coal, so no more tiny pieces fall under the tin foil and burn the shisha.)
Adding the third coal is trickier. Depending on your shisha brand, you may be able to add a full third coal, but if you find that gets too hot – add just half a coal instead.
(To break the coal in half, place it upside down on a hard surface and push done with your palm to break the coal into 2 or 3 pieces.) Be sure to again place the coal over an untarnished part of your foil–this way the coal is directly over the freshest portion of your bowl’s shisha. Tangiers and Starbuzz are best for taking a full 3 coals.
Some time during that third coal, your bowl will die out. Pack a new one and keep the party pumping, baby!
Outdoor Coal Management
When smoking outdoors, you’ll want a wind cover or a crown. This minimizes the wind hitting your coal, preventing it from getting too hot, and also minimizes the amount of ash flying into your drink.
Begin your bowl just as you do indoors, with a full coal protected by the crown or wind cover.
As that coal dies, instead of adding a full coal, add half coals instead. Because there is more wind outdoors, the coal will burn hotter than normal, so using a half coal will better protect your shisha from burning too quickly.
Your bowl will not last as long outdoors due to this increased heat, so if you get through 2.5 coals, consider that a victory.
Will the hookah bowls with built-in wind covers work?
Be careful when using the bowls with built-in wind covers. They aren’t very good at blocking wind (the holes on the cover are too big) and the steel cover portion gets REALLY seriously hot. For best (and easiest) results, I recommend using a standard wind cover or a crown.
NOTE: You can view previous Hookah Handbook installments here:
- Part 1 An Introduction to Hookah Pipes
- Part 2 How to Set Up Your First Hookah Smoking Session
- Part 3 How to Clean Your Hookah
- Part 4 Troubleshooting Your Hookah Rig
- Part 5: Buying Hookahs Online VS at a Local Store
- Part 6: How to Pack and Use a Phunnel Bowl
- Part 7: A Round Up of Shisha Brand Reviews
- Part 8: A Round Up of Hookah Pipe Brand Reviews
Removing the small burning pieces is really great advice, especially when using the quick light coals. The coals that I have found to be the easiest to manage are Fumari’s Odorless coals. In my experience, they maintain a perfect level of heat, almost never getting to the point of harshness. Also, they burn and leave much less residue. The only downside is that you can really fly through a box of them quickly (although they are fairly economical at $5) and they are a bit tougher to light than quicklights. I’ve found that creme brûlée torches work perfect for lighting them.
June 10th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
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June 15th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
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July 12th, 2010 at 8:04 pm