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Coal Placement?


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Generally, if you throw both coals smack dab in the middle of the bowl, you're going to end up with very harsh and burnt tasting smoke.

Coal placement however will always vary depending on your bowl, type of shisha, and coals.
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It yields a better smoke because ideally, you want to heat the bowl up that in turn will heat your tobacco and cook it evenly than putting the coals in the middle and burning the top layer of the tobacco making it hard and crispy, wasting the tobacco below that layer. Edited by vendetta_revived
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[quote name='vendetta_revived' timestamp='1315843990' post='523527']
It yields a better smoke because ideally, you want to heat the bowl up that in turn will heat your tobacco and cook it evenly than putting the coals in the middle and burning the top layer of the tobacco making it hard and crispy, wasting the tobacco below that layer.
[/quote]

Exactly this.
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[quote name='Epoch' timestamp='1315846992' post='523535']
[quote name='vendetta_revived' timestamp='1315843990' post='523527']
It yields a better smoke because ideally, you want to heat the bowl up that in turn will heat your tobacco and cook it evenly than putting the coals in the middle and burning the top layer of the tobacco making it hard and crispy, wasting the tobacco below that layer.
[/quote]

Exactly this.
[/quote]

yep looks like theyve got you covered
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What's funny is how we learned about this in the old days when instant light disc coals were introduced. I had friends prepare hookahs, thinking that the shape of the disc was made to place it in the center. If laid flat the disc has a raised center, which some would think is for airflow and would place the coal right in the center. They quickly learned that you need to move it to one side. That led to it not being enough heat since half the disc would be over the edge of the bowl. Then, like evolution, you'd get the tap technique, where you tap the coal in the middle while lit to break it in half, putting each half on the outer edge and leaving the center uncovered.
Thank God for natural coals.
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OK, thanks for clarifying that for me. I have always put coals on the sides since I was told to, but have wondered why. I just wasn't adventurous enough to test putting the coals in the middle and based on what you guys said would happen, I'm glad I didn't.
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[quote name='Skoozle' timestamp='1316013003' post='523824']
I know a guy from Algeria who insist on putting the coals right in the middle of the bowl.

I don't smoke with him anymore.
[/quote]

That's a very common beginner's mistake it seems. When I started smoking, the friend who introduced me to hookah always used only 1 quicklite placed dead center on the bowl, and I used the same for a while before I started having headaches and thought "There's gotta be another way of doing this" and looked online and found this forum! :)

I successfully changed the ways of all my friends who smoke, mainly because they smoked with me and found out that this is the better technique, baring only one stupid girl who thinks it's a waste of coal.
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I put my coals off to the edges too, however this thread had me thinking about something.

On a standard egyptian/mod bowl, the middle of the bowl is usually the deepest. If there's more tobacco in that particular spot, wouldn't it make sense to have a greater amount of heat there? With the coals places on the edges of the bowl, where the amount of tobacco tapers off, it would cause the edges to dry out faster than the middle i.e. uneven burn. If you focus the heat towards the middle of the bowl then the bowl should, theoretically, dry out evenly.
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[quote name='Arcane' timestamp='1316031346' post='523878']
I put my coals off to the edges too, however this thread had me thinking about something.

On a standard egyptian/mod bowl, the middle of the bowl is usually the deepest. If there's more tobacco in that particular spot, wouldn't it make sense to have a greater amount of heat there? With the coals places on the edges of the bowl, where the amount of tobacco tapers off, it would cause the edges to dry out faster than the middle i.e. uneven burn. If you focus the heat towards the middle of the bowl then the bowl should, theoretically, dry out evenly.
[/quote]
that is what I thought,
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