Hookah smoking has become increasingly popular in the US. With so many new users, there are bound to be some mistakes made while smoking. Check out these 6 tricks that every hookah lover must know about before they head out to their next hookah session.
1. Smoking Regular Cigarettes Using a Hookah
Some people think that hookah is just for decoration, but it should be used to smoke shisha tobacco. With so many of these designs for hookahs, you can even use one for tobacco and the other for just flavors. If you are smoking cigarettes with it, then two things are going to happen. The first is that the taste of your tobacco will mix with the cigarette flavor and make an awful combination. And, the second is that your bowl will not last as long because the cherry from the cigarette keeps burning hotter than coal from shisha tobacco. You’ll end up wasting your product in no time! You should only use specially-made tobacco for the hookah to make the most of your hookah smoking.
2. Not Using Enough Charcoal
If you are not using enough charcoal, it can be hard to keep your hookah lit. Each bowl should have at least 1/3 of coconut coal put on top of the foil. You’ll know when to add more if the coals start turning grey but aren’t hot, which means they need more heat, and when the coals stop giving off smoke or turn white, that means they’ve reached their maximum temperature. It is time for new ones. This is necessary if you want to avoid inhaling toxic charcoal fumes.
3. Putting Ice In Your Base
It is common for many people to put ice in their base because it looks appealing while smoking. However, this water will muddle up your flavor and give your smoke a wet feeling. Using crushed ice will not be any better because it melts and waters down your base even more! Unless you are smoking mint shisha tobacco, there is absolutely no need for ice in your base because the water from the ice will make it burn much faster.
4. Cleaning Your Hookah
Your hookah needs to be cleaned after every time it’s used. Shisha contains extra oil that can leave a sticky residue on your stem. This in turn makes the next session less enjoyable because of the awful taste it leaves behind in your mouthpiece or hose. You also run the risk of getting mold or mildew if you don’t clean out these pieces regularly enough! If this does happen, then use white distilled vinegar to wipe it all away before you get started again.
5. Pre-Filling Your Bowl
Another common mistake is not filling your bowl with tobacco so that it can be smoked right away after lighting up the coals. Don’t wait around for the shisha to heat up because this will cause your flavor to become too intense and unpleasant. For example, if you are smoking mint shisha, then you need to have a light layer of tobacco on top of the charcoal because it needs more heat to keep its flavor throughout your session. A life hack for this is to put some fruit juice on the top of your bowl, which will slow down the healing process. Also, when smoking flavored shisha tobacco, it is easy to get carried away by how intense it can be. The best way to keep control of this is to use more water in your base until you find a good balance between flavor levels and intensity. You don’t want to put in too much water because then you won’t taste anything at all! Also, make sure that you are using enough charcoal to avoid inhaling toxic fumes from burning chunks of coal when lighting up your hookah.
6. Making It Difficult To Clean Out The Tin Foil
If you leave behind enough residue from your shisha, then it could burn onto the bottom of the tin foil when heated by the charcoal. This makes it harder to clean out the next time you use your hookah, and if you don’t clean it out, then this could cause a terrible taste when you smoke again. If the tin foil has residue build-up, then carefully pour hot water inside of it to remove any extra gunk! A hack for cleaning out the tin foil is to pour boiling water into it, then wipe it out with a paper towel.
If you’re interested in making your next hookah session the best one yet, then follow these six tricks before you head out to your favorite hookah lounge! Make sure that everyone at the party knows these tips and tricks so that no one gets an unpleasant surprise when trying to enjoy their shisha tobacco.