How many times have you seen somebody take enormous hits out of a hookah, only to wonder: "Why can't my hookah do that?" There are many things that need to get perfected in order to get a hookah to smoke the way you'd like it to (THICK AND POWERFUL!). I will be going over how to pack a bowl, making the best hole punching pattern, most effective charcoal configuration, acclimating your Hookah Molasses, and much more. All of these tips are provided to you from personal experience.
Acclimating the Shisha
"Acclimating the shisha" basically means giving the molasses some time to get used to its environment. We do this because the tobacco forms equilibrium with the moisture in the air. When it is out of balance the juice becomes too runny or the excess moisture in the air dissolves all the flavors wrong. If you acclimate your tobacco, it allows the tobacco to reach equilibrium with the air, making the smoke thicker and more flavorful. This is most especially important with nicotinated tobaccos, but flavor changes can be found in non-nicotine tobaccos too. It is best to let the tobacco sit open in the environment you are going to be smoking it in for at least 3 hours. Some pros will let the shisha sit for a whole day before they smoke it.
Packing the Bowl with Molasses:
After your molasses has been acclimated, you will be ready to start packing the bowl with your accliminated molasses ! First make sure your bowl is clean. Take a slightly damp paper towl and clean the inside of the bowl of any old residue. After the bowl has been cleaned, take the molasses and steadily sprinkle it into the bowl. For the most part, you want to pack it nice and even. Remove any sticks or stems that you might find in the molasses as well because they act as "place fillers" in the bowl and do not taste particularly well. Pack the bowl a little bit above the top. Make sure you didn't pack the bowl too tightly, because that could paralyze airflow, making it hard to suck, and letting little smoke come out. After the bowl has been filled with the right amount of molasses, take a piece of foil which on average should be 5"x5" (size really depends on the size of bowl you are using, but thats the standard size), and place it on top of the molasses and make a nice tight seal with the foil around the stem of the bowl. So right now your bowl head should be covered with a piece of foil that has no holes in it. Next it's time to make the hole pattern.
Best Hole Pattern
This is an extremely important concept that many people disregard when setting up their hookah. A lot of times, making a poor hole configuration on your bowl could lead to a lack of taste, or a charcoal-like taste when you are smoking. What we want to do, is make a pattern that will let us enjoy our molasses and not gag from it. It is very important you find something thin to poke the holes through. I like to use a safety pin, but if I can't find one, I'll use an unwrapped metal paper clip. Anything that is thin, pointy, and at least 1.5" long will do. Start by punching thin holes along the outside of the bowl. When you push in, make sure you push in as far as you can even through the molasses so that you will have healthy airflow in the bowl. When you're done with the outside holes, move in a bit and start another circular pattern. Do the same until your bowl looks similar to the one below, with the biggest hole being in the center. The key is to have a lot of small holes, instead of having larger holes. Larger holes will burn the molasses too quickly, and will cause your bowl to get "kicked" quicker.
...read the full guide with pics here