Tips for Smoking Hookahs: What Every Hookah Fanatic Should Know

Smoking hookah is all about the relaxation that comes with it, especially when you are out with friends. The buzz that comes with smoking shisha is just the tip of the iceberg though. The real pleasure comes from the time shared with friends while enjoying some flavored tobacco.

A smoking session can last anywhere between 30 minutes and 1 hour or more, depending on how long you want to keep the party going. Here are some tips for making your hookah smoking experience great.

Use High Quality Charcoal

Every hookah fanatic knows that the preparation is what makes the smoking interesting and enjoyable. Not all charcoal is made for hookah, so before buying any charcoal, ensure it is meant for hookah smoking.

Regular charcoal causes carbon monoxide poisoning, so that should be a no-go zone for you. Make sure that the charcoal you get is low smoke, and odorless. This is very important because too much charcoal smoke is going to kill the flavors of your shisha

Enhance the flavor of your tobacco

Another trick is using a little amount of tobacco in the bowl. Tobacco is strong and a lot of it can overwhelm the flavor of the shisha, hence a little goes a long way. When you want to heighten the fruity flavor of hookah smoke, simply add some fruit juice or wine - whichever preference suits you - to the water at the base. This will give you a special blend of your choosing. You will have used little tobacco, while achieving heightened flavour. 

Add ice cubes

Experienced hookah smokers sometimes use a technique that enhances their experience during smoking - they add ice to the water. The hoses are also chilled before preparations for some time. This gives you a fresh cool taste every time you take a puff because the smoke bubbles through the water as you take a puff. You therefore need to use clean water every time.

Adding ice to the water chills the smoke and gives it a cool taste when you are smoking. Doing this gives the smoke a relaxing effect that infuses one's senses and can drive you to a meditative, calm state as you have a good time.

Change the coals

If the flavors are lacking in the hookah smoke, something is most probably wrong with your preparation or set up. This also happens when the coals are not hot enough because of the length of time you have been smoking. Fortunately, this can be fixed by replacing your used hookah charcoal with fresh coal. The coals have to be hot enough so as to draw the tobacco taste and flavor out. If you do not like the hookah flavors, you can blend different flavors to come up with your own unique flavor.

Maintain Good Etiquette

Smoking hookah can be an intense experience, and one might be tempted to blow smoke on another person’s face. This is an etiquette no-no that every hookah fanatic should know. Unless they ask for it, do not do it.

In cases of multi hose hookahs, every smoker may have their own plastic mouthpiece for health and safety purposes. If this is the case for your session, sharing is not advisable. It also pays to learn how to read cues from your smoking buddies since smoking hookah has always been a social activity. When you are done with smoking, place your hose on the table.