Chapter 2: What You Should Know Before Smoking Hookah

Nils Große •Updated 23.09.2026 •11 min

Quick overview

Assembly: First the base, then downstem and diffuser at the bottom, smoke column, charcoal plate and bowl adapter on top, finally slide on the grommets.
Rinsing: Rinse a new hookah before first use to remove production residues such as oils.
Burning out the smokebox: Burn out aluminium and stainless steel HMDs before first use so no residues get into the smoke.
Water level: The downstem must reach into the water, about a small finger's width with a diffuser, more like a thumb's width without one.
Bowl build: Loosen the tobacco, fill it in loosely, leave space to the HMD, an aluminium HMD like the ONMO makes heat management easiest.
Charcoal: Only light natural charcoal with a burner, never in closed rooms, and always let it glow through completely.
Choice of tobacco: Go for mild varieties in your first sessions, a dark blend carries noticeably more nicotine.
Common mistakes: Too much charcoal, full contact between tobacco and HMD, and too little ventilation are the usual reasons a session goes wrong.

In the previous chapter we looked at what you need to know about the functions and components of a hookah. Now let's get to the practical part.

Let's assume you now have everything you need to smoke hookah and finally want to get started. Before you begin, though, there are still a few points you should keep in mind, so that your first session is truly enjoyable.

2.1 Assembling the hookah

You're holding the box with your hookah in your hands, you open it and at first you only see individual parts. Before you can get started, you first have to assemble the good piece. In itself that's no problem. We already explained the individual parts and terms in Chapter 1.

It's best to start with the base and attach the downstem and diffuser on the underside. The smoke column, charcoal plate and bowl adapter go on the top. Depending on the model there's also a sleeve in between, and finally you slide the matching grommets over the bowl adapter and base.

Since some pipes are easier to assemble than others, we've created a dedicated step-by-step video guide for all of our hookahs. You automatically receive it as soon as you buy one of our hookahs in the Moze online shop. But here you can find them directly for comparison too:

2.2 Rinsing the hookah before use

When you buy industrially manufactured equipment that you put in your mouth or draw smoke through into your lungs, it's generally a good idea to clean it before first use. With cheaper models it can happen that lubricants or production oils still stick to the metal parts.

Even if that's not the case with our products, it's advisable to remove such residues as a precaution. That way you prevent impurities from affecting the flavour, and yourself from drawing unwanted substances into your lungs.

2.3 Burning out the hookah smokebox

Burning out a hookah smokebox using hookah charcoal

What applies to the hookah applies above all to the smokebox: aluminium and stainless steel are processed with oil-based lubricants and coolants. That's why it makes sense to burn out a smokebox before first use as a precaution. This prevents, on the one hand, harmful gases from forming that you inhale directly, and on the other hand, the flavour of your tobacco from being altered.

2.4 Water level of the hookah

Once everything is clean, we move on to the actual preparations. First you fill water into your glasses. Every glasses has a different shape and therefore a different capacity. So the amount of water needed can vary greatly.

What matters is that the downstem reaches into the water so the smoke is cooled. The blow-off also only works then. As a rule of thumb: with a diffuser the downstem should reach about a small finger's width into the water, without a diffuser more like a thumb's width. In centimetres that comes to roughly 1.5 to 2.5, depending on whether a diffuser is fitted. Once you've found the perfect amount, you can weigh it or measure it with a measuring cup and always use the same amount from then on.

Special case: With hookahs like the Amotion Roam you can't see the fill level due to the design. Here we recommend a fill amount of around 60–65 ml. With significantly more water you risk drawing water into the hose.

2.5 Building the hookah bowl

A well-built bowl is essential for smoke development and flavour.

Flavour is a matter of the bowl, at least when smoking hookah. Building the bowl is the most relevant part for enjoyment. In this section you'll learn how to build your bowl optimally to get maximum flavour and perfect smoke.

2.5.1 Choosing and preparing your hookah tobacco

Before the bowl build comes the choice of tobacco, and that decides more about your first session than any setup does. For the start, mild tobacco varieties on a Virginia base are the better choice, because they carry considerably less nicotine than a dark blend. Anyone who starts straight in with a strong variety tends to end up with a queasy stomach instead of a relaxed evening on the sofa. What separates the two base tobaccos is covered in our comparison of Burley and Virginia, and the tobacco finder further down shows you what we stock in the shop.

Before you start building the bowl, you should stir your hookah tobacco well. This distributes the molasses and moistens the entire tobacco evenly. For a clean bowl build we recommend suitable tools and a bowl packing mat as a base. Especially with open-pored wood, molasses can soak in and leave permanent stains.

2.5.2 Different bowl setups

There are several ways to build a hookah bowl. With every setup: make sure the bowl doesn't get too hot. You'll notice this in the smoke development, the flavour or when the tobacco starts to scratch your throat. Then you should change the number or placement of your charcoal as quickly as possible. Heat management is most relaxed with an aluminium HMD like the ONMO, and hardest with aluminium foil.

ONMO HMD Silver · €24.99 To the product

Classic clay bowl

A multi-hole clay bowl is traditionally smoked with aluminium foil or a chimney attachment. Fill the tobacco in loosely and distribute it evenly in the chamber. For foil you use either four layers of household aluminium foil or one layer of heavy-duty foil, stretch it tightly over the bowl and poke small holes into it. Alternatively you use a chimney attachment. You can also place its sieve on top of the foil for a bit more protection against burning.

Phunnel with smokebox

Distribute the tobacco loosely in the chamber around the central hole and loosen it evenly with a pointed tool like a piker. Put the smokebox on and place the charcoal in it. When building a Phunnel, leave a little distance to the chamber edges.

Phunnel with aluminium foil

The hybrid of foil and Phunnel works like the two previous setups. You just have to leave the centre free when poking the holes. The goal is to draw the hot air through the tobacco. If you poke holes directly above the Phunnel hole, the air draws past the tobacco, which worsens smoke development and flavour.

Multi-hole bowl with smokebox

Fill the tobacco in loosely and distribute it evenly in the bowl. Leave a bit of space between the tobacco and the smokebox. Put the smokebox on, place the charcoal and wait a moment until the heat has spread.

2.5.3 Tips for the perfect bowl build

Distribute the tobacco evenly in the bowl and don't leave any gaps.
Built loose and high gives a long session with full flavour.
Built loose and low, the session is a bit shorter and less intense. But the heat is much easier to regulate for beginners.
If the tobacco should give off less nicotine and flavours like mint or ice should be toned down, press the tobacco down slightly.
Wipe the rim of the bowl with kitchen roll after building, so no residues get under the HMD and burn. Otherwise that would scratch the throat badly.

2.5.4 Building the bowl with steam paste

Building a hookah bowl with Hookahsqueeze steam paste.

If you want to smoke steam paste, there's no way around the Phunnel. Fill the paste up to half the height of the Phunnel hole. You can also mix tobacco and steam paste to create your own flavours.

2.5.5 Final words on the bowl build

With these tips you're well equipped to build an optimal bowl.

Find the hookah tobacco that suits you best in 3 questions.

Take the test

2.6 Lighting hookah charcoal

Now that the hookah and tobacco are prepared, we turn to the charcoal. There are only a few, but very important rules.

Don't use quick-light charcoal

Quick-light charcoal is full of chemicals. It tastes disgusting and is probably even more harmful than smoking pure tobacco. The only sensible use for quick-light charcoal is to help ignite natural charcoal.

Light charcoal with a charcoal burner

Charcoal burners are cheap and designed exactly to ignite natural charcoal efficiently. Hookah charcoal gives off a lot of heat over a small radius. Lighting it on the stovetop, for example, is therefore not advisable.

AO Blazer X · 1500W · €24.99 To the product

Moze Flare Charcoal Basket · €12.99–59.99 To the product

Zauberwürfel Hookah Charcoal 26mm 1kg · €6.99 To the product

Don't light charcoal in closed rooms

When charcoal burns, carbon monoxide is released, which can lead to poisoning symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting and unconsciousness, and at too high a concentration even to death. So only light your charcoal with sufficient ventilation, ideally outside the room where you want to smoke later.

Only use fully glowed-through charcoal

Charcoal that hasn't glowed through completely also releases carbon monoxide. You can smell and taste it, and it's unhealthy. So make sure your charcoal is fully glowed through before you put it in the HMD or on the aluminium foil. The surest sign: a white layer of ash covering the entire outside.

Tips for lighting natural charcoal

All objects that come into contact with the charcoal while lighting or transporting it get very hot. Pay close attention to where you grab them.
Always place a fireproof surface under the burner in case a piece of charcoal falls down.
Turn the charcoal after about 5 minutes so it glows through evenly and keeps its shape.
The safest way to transport glowing charcoal is with a charcoal basket, it protects floor and furniture from falling embers.
If you light indoors, be sure to open windows or doors so no carbon monoxide collects in the room.

2.7 Common mistakes when smoking hookah

Almost everything that goes wrong in a first session comes down to a handful of mistakes. Knowing them saves you a lot of frustration.

Too much charcoal. Three coals on a small bowl push the temperatures so high that the tobacco burns instead of vaporising. Start with two and only add more once the smoke gets thinner.
Full contact or overpack. The tobacco does not have to touch the charcoal at all to char. It is enough for it to sit against the HMD or to be built above the rim of the bowl. Leave a few millimetres of air between tobacco and HMD, otherwise it tastes burnt and scratches your throat.
Tobacco stuffed into the bowl. Hookah tobacco is not stuffed, it is filled in loosely. Press it into the chamber and you get hardly any draw and little smoke. Deliberately pressing it down lightly after building is a different matter: with a very strong dark blend in a multi-hole bowl it takes some of the strength out. It is not ideal, but as a workaround it does the job.
Charcoal put on too early. Charcoal that hasn't glowed through completely is something you taste immediately, and it releases extra carbon monoxide.
Too little ventilation. No wonder so many smokers end a session with a headache when charcoal and smoke sit in a closed room for hours.

With that we've covered all the preparations. In the next chapter we get down to business: smoking the hookah, more tips and tricks and what to watch out for during the session.

Chapter 3: What You Should Bear in Mind When Smoking Hookah Read on

FAQ: Before smoking hookah

How do I assemble my hookah?

Start with the base. Insert the downstem, diffuser and smoke column, then the charcoal plate, bowl adapter and the grommets. You'll find a detailed guide in our assembly videos for every hookah.

Do I have to rinse my hookah before use?

Yes. To remove production residues such as oils, you should clean your hookah thoroughly before using it for the first time. That way you avoid flavour alterations.

Why should I burn out my smokebox?

Burning it out removes possible production residues and ensures that no unwanted vapours form. Details in Burning out a hookah smokebox.

How much water should go into the hookah glasses?

The downstem should reach about one to two fingers' width into the water so the smoke is cooled sufficiently. In centimetres that is roughly 1.5 to 2.5, towards the lower end with a diffuser. With hookahs that have a diffuser, a bit less water is usually enough.

How do I build a hookah bowl correctly?

Distribute the tobacco loosely in the bowl, make sure there's enough distance to the HMD and adjust the amount of charcoal if needed. You'll find a detailed guide in Building a hookah bowl.

How do I light hookah charcoal correctly?

Use a charcoal burner and let the charcoal glow through completely until it's covered all around with a white layer of ash. Never light charcoal in closed rooms. More in Lighting hookah charcoal correctly.

Which hookah tobacco should I pick as a beginner?

Start with a mild variety on a Virginia base. Dark blends taste more intense but carry noticeably more nicotine, and that is exactly why a lot of beginners feel sick after ten minutes. The tobacco finder in the shop and our comparison of Burley and Virginia help with the choice.

How risky is smoking hookah compared to cigarettes?

The hookah is not the harmless option. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine either way, and nicotine is a nerve poison that makes you dependent. On top of that, the hookah brings charcoal into it: around 90 percent of the carbon monoxide and over 95 percent of the benzo(a)pyrene in the smoke come from the charcoal rather than the tobacco, according to a study by Monzer and colleagues. Both substances are created wherever something burns. Benzo(a)pyrene belongs to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which the German DGUV lists as carcinogenic. How that adds up against cigarettes was compiled by the Deutsches Ärzteblatt: the nicotine taken in during one session corresponds to about 10 cigarettes, for carbon monoxide it is roughly 8, and measured purely by smoke volume you land at about 100. For heart attack risk, hookah smoking comes in at up to 70 percent, cigarettes at up to 115 percent. So there is no single number, the comparison turns out completely differently depending on the substance. In none of these calculations is the hookah harmless.

Which symptoms show that a hookah session isn't agreeing with me?

Typical signs are headaches, nausea, dizziness and a dull pressure in your head. Your body is usually reporting one of two things: too much nicotine, or too much carbon monoxide in the room. The same thing helps in both cases: end the session and get some fresh air, then ventilate properly. If the symptoms stick around or you feel really unwell, see a doctor.

Do I need my own mouthpiece when smoking with friends?

Yes, and it is the simplest hygiene rule there is. As soon as several people draw on one hose, everyone should have their own hygiene mouthpiece. This is not cosmetic: the German Cancer Research Center explicitly lists infectious diseases such as influenza, herpes and COVID among the health risks of the waterpipe, and the shared mouthpiece is the direct route of transmission. In hookah bars your own mouthpiece is standard, at home it tends to get forgotten. A pack costs very little.

How long does a hookah session last?

Depending on the bowl build and the tobacco, a session runs about 45 to 90 minutes. Built loose and high it lasts longer, built loose and low it is shorter but the temperatures are easier to keep under control. Once the smoke thins out and the flavour goes flat, the bowl is done.

What is the minimum age for smoking hookah?

18. Under Section 10 of the German Youth Protection Act, tobacco products and nicotine-containing products may not be handed over to minors, and they may not be allowed to smoke in public either. That explicitly covers nicotine-free e-shishas and mail order, which is why we verify age in the shop.

What is different at home compared to hookah bars?

In hookah bars, staff take care of the bowl build and the charcoal, and the rooms have a ventilation system. At home you do all of that yourself, which is where the most common mistakes happen. Never light charcoal in closed rooms and ventilate regularly during the session.