OPERATING YOUR HOOKAH

What follows are some handy tips as to how to operate your hookah so that you will be able to get the most from it. Firstly, the vase of your hookah should only be filled with enough water to submerge the stem slightly, up to a couple of inches. Using more water than this will only make it more difficult to draw smoke through the hose. The tobacco you are using should be put inside the bowl of the hookah but not packed in. Make sure you crumble it with your hands and sprinkle it in so that there are air gaps between the strands, packing it in will again make it harder to draw on the hose and reduce the smoke the hookah is able to produce. Burning coals are placed on top of the tobacco, some people put the coals directly on the tobacco, but must use a perforated screen to keep the coal and tobacco separate.

When kept separate it is the heat of the coal that causes the tobacco to smoke, not the fact that it is being burned by coming into direct contact with the red hot coal. Inhaling on the hose, causes air to be pulled through the top of the hookah, through the coal and into the bowl. This hot air causes the tobacco to evaporate rather than burn which produces the characteristic hookah smoke. This is then pulled through the body of the hookah, down into the water where it bubbles up, cools and fills the base onto which the hose is attached. Pulling on the hose pulls this smoke out of the vase and into the lungs of the smoker while the vacuum created causes more air to pass through the coals and the bowl. When a hookah has been lit and has not been used for a while, stagnant smoke collects in the base. If your hookah is equipped with a purge valve then blowing on the hose will eject the stale smoke from the main chamber, leaving your hookah fresh for another use.