Kapitel 1: Wie funktioniert eine Shisha

Nils Große •Updated 20.02.2025 •8 min read

Bevor wir richtig loslegen, möchten wir an dieser Stelle noch einen kleinen Disclaimer platzieren. Rauchen ist per se schädlich.

Da rauchen ohne Zweifel schädlich ist, hat der deutsche Gesetzgeber beschlossen, dass der Konsum von Tabakerzeugnissen und auch Tabakersatzprodukten erst ab einem Alter von 18 Jahren erlaubt ist.

Daher möchten wir an dieser Stelle darauf hinweisen: Fang bitte nicht vor deinem 18. Lebensjahr mit dem Rauchen an. Nun, da wir das geklärt haben, können wir loslegen. Im folgenden Abschnitt gehen wir auf das Grundprinzip einer Shisha ein.

1.1 Das Grundprinzip der Shisha

Hast du dich schon mal gefragt, wie eine Shisha eigentlich funktioniert? Das Prinzip ist ziemlich simpel: Die erhitzte Kohle trocknet den Tabak im Kopf und verdampft damit die Molasse in die der Tabak zuvor eingelegt wurde. Der Rauch/Dampf, der dabei entsteht, wird durch den Unterdruck, den du in deiner Lunge erzeugst, über die Rauchsäule durch die Base und das Tauchrohr in die Bowl gezogen. Dort wird der Rauch vom Wasser gekühlt, bevor du ihn durch Schlauch und Mundstück inhalierst. Diese Grundfunktion nennt man den Durchzug. Je nach Bauart einer Shisha kann sich dieser Luststrom sehr unterschiedlich anfühlen. Probiere am besten vorher einmal selbst aus, welche Art von Durchzug dir am besten gefällt. Wenn du einen möglichst offenen bzw. leichten Durchzug magst, wirst du beispielsweise viele unserer Pfeifen sehr zu schätzen wissen. Wenn du eher ein Tradi-Gefühl beim Rauchen magst, solltest du nach solchen Pfeifen Ausschau halten. Da der Tabak im eigentlichen Sinne nicht brennt, sondern eher „schwelt“ und der Rauch durch das Bowlwasser gekühlt wird, ist das Rauchen einer Shisha wesentlich angenehmer und sanfter als andere Formen des Tabakkonsums.

In unserem nächsten Kapitel erfährst du, wie du die richtige Shisha für dich findest.

1.2 Welche Shisha ist die richtige für mich?

Wenn du auf der Suche nach deiner ersten oder vielleicht sogar der nächsten Shisha bist, gibt es ein paar grundlegende Punkte, die du bei deiner Entscheidung berücksichtigen solltest, angefangen bei der Größe der Shisha über das Material bis hin zur Funktionalität. Eine der wichtigsten Fragen, die du dir zunächst stellen solltest, ist: Wo möchtest du deine Shisha nutzen? Es gibt verschiedene Modelle, die sich je nach Verwendungszweck perfekt für dich eignen könnten.

1.2.1 Größe und Zweck einer Shisha

Hand aufs Herz, in vielen Bereichen des Lebens geht man davon aus, dass größer gleichbedeutend mit besser ist. Die Wahrheit ist aber, dass die Größe einer Shisha nur wenig Einfluss auf ihr Rauchverhalten hat. Und wenn man es faktisch betrachtet, ist sogar das Gegenteil der Fall. Bei einer kleinen Shisha muss der Rauch weniger Weg zurücklegen und vermischt sich dadurch mit weniger Luft in der Pfeife, daher solltest du dichteren Rauch bekommen, wenn du mit einer kleinen Shisha rauchst. In der Realität ist dieser Unterschied aber fast nicht wahrnehmbar. Trotzdem ist es uns wichtig, mit diesem Vorurteil aufzuräumen. Bei Shishas bedeutet größer nicht gleich besser.

Vorteile einer kleinen Shisha

Du solltest die Entscheidung über die Größe deiner Shisha also eher daran ausrichten, wie viel Platz du zur Verfügung hast und wie bzw. wo du sie verwenden möchtest.

Vorteile einer Travel Shisha

Soll die Shisha möglichst keinen Platz fressen und vielleicht sogar regelmäßig mit auf Reisen gehen, ist eine Travel Shisha wie die Amotion Roam der beste Pick für dich. Die Amotion Roam Travel Shisha findest du bei uns im Shop.

Vorteile einer kleinen Shisha

Soll deine Shisha alle Funktionen einer großen Shisha haben, aber dich auf dem Schreibtisch oder beim Bingen auf dem Couchtisch nicht stören, ist eine kleine Shisha die beste Wahl. Hier findest du Kleine Shishas im Moze Shop.

Vorteile einer großen Shisha

Mittlere und große Shishas hingegen eignen sich perfekt, wenn du mehr Platz zur Verfügung hast, deine Pfeife beim Rauchen dem Boden stehen soll oder wenn du auf das Rauchgefühl von Tradi-Pfeifen stehst, denn diese Shishas sind zumeist große Modelle. In unserer: Große Shishas Kategorie findest du all unsere großen Shisha Modelle.

Mehrschlauch Shishas

Wenn du mit mehreren Personen zusammen rauchen möchtest und darauf bedacht bist sowohl Kohle als auch Tabak zu sparen, empfehlen wir dir Mehrschlauch-Shishas. Diese sparen dir sowohl Material- als auch Reinigungsaufwand und bieten dir die meisten Vorteile einer regulären Shisha. All unsere Vier-Schlauch-Shisha-Modelle findest du in unserer Kategorie Shisha mit 4 Anschlüssen.

1.2.2 What materials should a hookah be made of?

The materials also play an important role when choosing a hookah. Stainless steel models are particularly robust, easy to clean and extremely durable, whilst aluminium models are lighter but can tarnish over time. Most hookahs are made from one of these two materials. POM is often used for the base, which is naturally not as hard as metal, but is still durable and fairly robust. Our hookahs are made from stainless steel wherever the pipe might come into contact with smoke, which prevents any parts of your hookah from taking on flavours. Other manufacturers offer hookahs made entirely from glass, for example, or from other materials such as copper. Many such materials require quite a lot of maintenance, so you should find out in advance how a particular hookah needs to be cleaned. Ultimately, of course, you need to decide whether you prefer a certain look over another and whether you are willing to make certain compromises in terms of handling or maintenance.

1.2.3 What features does your hookah need?

There are a great many differences when it comes to the range of features available – both between manufacturers and between the various hookahs of a single manufacturer, these differences can be very significant. A standard feature is the ability to purge a pipe (blow-off), so that you can blow stale smoke out of your pipe. We go into more detail on this in chapter 3.4 What features does the blow-off have? For a few years now, there have been pipes with replaceable blow-offs, removable diffusers, separable downstems and/or separable smoke columns, as well as hookahs with varying numbers of hose ports. In addition, there are also very rare features such as the push-to-purge system on our Moze Breeze Pro, which allows you to cool down a bowl that has become too hot. Many of these features are more or less gimmicks that do not add much to the two core functions of a hookah, but they do provide variety and can certainly be practical as well. It is best to find out in advance what makes sense for you, because at the end of the day you have to decide for yourself which features are important to you and which ones you could happily do without.

1.2.4 Push-fit glasses or screw-fit glasses?

An important factor of a hookah is its glasses. The glasses influence the stability of a hookah, affect its handling, and also have a significant impact on the look of your pipe. Depending on whether you opt for a push-fit or screw-fit system, a wide variety of options are available to you. Screw-fit systems are generally far more limited in their choice, but they are 100% airtight, which can occasionally be an issue with push-fit glasses depending on the condition of the grommets, base, and neck diameter. For such cases, we stock various products such as the Moze Perfect Fit grommet sets.

That covers the choice of your hookah. In the next step, we will look at which accessories you should absolutely get from the very beginning and which are more optional.

1.3 What else do I need to be able to start smoking a hookah?

In the previous chapter, "Which hookah is right for me?", we broke down a number of points to help you choose a hookah. If you are still undecided and have not yet read that chapter, you should definitely catch up on it. As with any hobby, there is a huge range of accessories when it comes to hookahs. But what do you actually need? What is the best basic hookah setup to get started with smoking a hookah? The best basic setup for hookah beginners:

• Tobacco or tobacco substitute products
• Bowl (the be-all and end-all for great flavour – you should invest a little more here)
• Hookah charcoal made from coconut shells to vaporise the tobacco
• A charcoal starter to light the coals
• HMD to place the coals into
• Coal tongs to handle the coals

and depending on what is included with your hookah, a mouthpiece and a hose.

Do I need a hookah coal basket?

Another important hookah accessory is a coal basket. Whilst it is possible to carry coals with tongs from the starter across the room to the HMD, or to carry the HMD with the coals around, you risk burn damage from falling burning coals in your home. We would therefore strongly recommend purchasing a coal basket.

1.3.1 Hookah beginner setup – How much does a basic hookah kit cost?

Let us assume you have not yet owned a hookah and want to spend as little as possible, forgoing optional hookah accessories for the time being. For beginners, we recommend the Moze Breeze Two from our range, for example. The Breeze is a really great hookah that you can get at quite a reasonable price depending on current sales.

Moze Breeze Two: €149.99

The most important accessory you still need for the hookah is a bowl and a decent HMD. For beginners, we recommend an aluminium HMD such as our ONMO, which not only offers you the best value for money but is without doubt the best of its kind and is used by beginners and professionals alike.

Breeze Two

ONMO HMD (Silver): €24.99

Bowls make a bigger difference than almost any other part of your hookah. We recommend beginners start with a Phunnel such as our Moze Epos, or the new economical AMOTION Dot – however, you can also find great bowls in our sale starting from €9.99, and if you're lucky, you might even receive one for free with your order.

Onmo ONMO HMD Silber View product

Bowl: €9.99 – €39.99

Now let's turn to charcoal accessories. Lighters, tongs, and baskets are already quite affordable. However, there are also some real gems in this category that last a long time and look great too. Depending on what you're willing to spend, we've listed the cheapest and most expensive models from our shop here.

AMOTION

Dot

Charcoal Tongs: €6.99 – €19.99, Charcoal Lighter: €19.99 – €79.99, Charcoal Basket: €12.99 – €59.99

Moze Moze Flare Kohlezange - Silver View product Ao AO Blazer Kohleanzünder - 1000W View product Moze Moze Flare Kohlekorb View product

Last but not least, you'll also need natural charcoal and hookah tobacco – because what good is a fully equipped hookah if you can't use it?

Holster Grp 2.0 200g: €26.90, Cocobration 26er 1kg: €6.99

Holster Holster Grp. 2.0 200g View product Cocobration Cocobration Shisha Kohle 26er 1kg View product

So the most affordable complete hookah set starts from €259.82, with roughly half of that being just the hookah itself. If you want only the best of the best when it comes to accessories, you should budget around €388.84. With more expensive hookahs and more expensive HMDs, the price increases accordingly. Optional accessories such as coasters, bowl packing accessories, etc. are not included for now.

1.4 What other accessories are there that aren't strictly necessary but nice to have?

Of course, beyond the essential accessories, there are also various nice-to-have items that only become relevant once you smoke your hookah regularly, want to take your experience to the next level, or simply want to invest a bit more money in your hobby. These include, for example, all kinds of mats and coasters, bowl packing utensils, molasses catchers, tobacco tins, wind- or heat shields, and Phunnel plugs.

1.5 Hookah Tobacco

Let's get to the heart of the matter and the favourite topic of all hookah enthusiasts: hookah tobacco. Online you'll find tonnes of material about tobacco reviews, opinions, mixes, and packing techniques for specific tobacco varieties. At its core, hookah tobacco is made from perfectly ordinary tobacco also used for cigarettes, pipes, or cigars. Depending on the brand, a hookah tobacco is based on one or even several tobacco varieties, which are then blended together. What sets hookah tobacco apart from other tobacco is the refinement process. Hookah tobacco is soaked in molasses, which typically consists of glycerin, a sweetener such as sugar or honey, and various food flavourings depending on the taste.

1.5.1 What you should know about hookah tobacco.

Even though we're simplifying things a little here, we generally distinguish between two main categories: Virginia and Burley tobacco, also known as Dark Blend tobacco. In addition to actual hookah tobacco, there are also tobacco substitutes that contain no nicotine, for those who wish to avoid harmful and addictive substances such as nicotine and tar. Virginia tobacco is characterised by a low nicotine content and a sweet, almost subtle tobacco flavour, whereas the nicotine strength of Dark Blend or Burley tobacco covers a spectrum from medium to strong. Burley tobacco also has a far more prominent, spicy tobacco note compared to its lighter counterpart.

Beginners in particular should find out how strong a tobacco is before purchasing it. Otherwise, they risk a nicotine rush, which can have unpleasant consequences. You can find a small guide on how to assess the strength of a tobacco in our shop. On our Hookah Tobacco page, we offer various filter options that allow you to filter tobacco varieties by, for example, nicotine strength or flavours. This way, you can display only the tobacco varieties that are of interest to you. But it's not just strength that's relevant for beginners. Due to a change in legislation that has since been reversed, hookah tobacco could for a time only be sold in containers of up to a maximum of 25g, which meant many producers had to restructure their production. In the meantime, many varieties are once again available in 200g tins, so we've created a dedicated category on our site for these so you can find them at a glance. The great advantage of 25g tins is the opportunity to try out tobacco varieties for yourself. This quantity is usually only enough for 1–2 bowls, so you can find out fairly cheaply whether you actually enjoy a tobacco without having to buy a large tin of it, only to waste most of it or, in the worst case, throw it away.

1.5.2 How do I find the right hookah tobacco for me?

Taste is a very individual matter. Just as with food, the same applies to hookah tobacco: what makes one person grimace in disgust is a true delight for another, and vice versa. Whether you prefer sweet, sour, fruity, savoury, floral, refreshing, subtle, or purist flavours, there is an enormous range of tobacco varieties, each differing from the next. And even when several manufacturers take the same flavour as their inspiration, the resulting tobacco varieties can go in completely different directions. If you have no idea about hookah tobacco, it's advisable to first take a look at what the broader hookah community enjoys. In our Moze hookah newsletter, for example, we always present the Top 10 tobacco varieties of the previous month at the beginning of each month, to provide inspiration and guidance.

But we're also happy to help you find the perfect tobacco for you in other ways. For instance, in blog articles such as Best Hookah Tobacco Varieties or Hookaze Pro-Picks, we introduce many tobacco varieties that we consider particularly enjoyable. Another way we support you is through Taster Packages. In our shop, you'll find taster packages put together by us on various themes – for example, a starter package for Russian Dark Blend, a collection of the most popular varieties from Holster, or a package featuring the most popular fruity varieties from Blackburn Tobacco.

Author

Nils Große

Nils has been part of the team since 2022 and, as a copywriter and designer, turns well-founded shisha knowledge from the community and team into content that is clear, easy to understand and pleasant to read.

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