There is no question that the head packing is the most important issue when it comes to getting the maximum flavor and dense smoke clouds out of your hookah!
In addition to the bowl structure, it is of course important that your hookah is completely sealed.
But let's take that as a prerequisite. If this is not the case, you draw fresh air at the leaky spots, which can lead to loss of flavor and less dense smoke.
To ensure that you get the maximum flavor and smoke from your next hookah session, we've written this guide to the perfect bowl preparation! But first you need to see what kind of bowl you have at home, so we can show you how to best build this hookah.
Table of contents
What kind of hookah bowl and attachment do you use? What you need to consider before building a hookah head! Packing a clay head with a chimney top or aluminum foil. Packing a phunnel with smokebox. Packing phunnel bowls with aluminum foil Packing a multi-hole bowl with HMD General notes on the bowl packing Aids for the head structure Bowl packing with Hookahsqueeze vapor pasteThe following options are available:
You can simply click on the setup you want to use in the table of contents to go directly to the right instructions!
No matter what type of hookah bowl you use. You must stir the hookah tobacco well before you put the tobacco into the hookah bowl. This is the only way to ensure that the molasses and the flavor it contains are completely distributed in the mass! This applies not only to the 200g hookah tobacco tins, but also to the 25 gram tins that will be available exclusively from 2023. Because here too, the liquid settles at the bottom and if you don't mix the tobacco, some of the tobacco will be very moist and some will be too dry! So be sure to follow this step!
Another tip: With hookah, the aim is not to burn the tobacco. Beginners in particular often think that more heat leads to more flavor! However, this is not the case.
The point of hookah is to heat the tobacco to the right temperature and not to the highest possible temperature! The right temperature can depend on the tobacco. Over time, however, you will learn when it is better to reduce the heat slightly and when you should add a charcoal!
The classic clay head usually refers to a multi-hole bowl made of reddish-brown clay. Alternatively, aluminum foil can also be used. But now the question is: "What is the best way to build the bowl for a clay bowl with a chimney cap or aluminum foil?". We'll tell you!
After you have stirred the hookah tobacco, let it fall loosely into the bowl. It is very important that the principle of "a lot helps a lot" does not apply here. If you press the tobacco to fit more into the bowl, you will block the pathways through which the hot air from above can pass. This not only destroys the draught, but also the taste! So the rule is: distribute the tobacco in the bowl as loosely as possible! You should put about as much hookah tobacco into the bowl until it is level with the rim.
If you have a chimney attachment for your clay bowl, you can now simply place this on the clay bowl and put the bowl on your hookah.
With aluminum foil, a few more steps are necessary before the bowl can be placed on the hookah. You will need either hookah "Panzeralufolie"/hookah aluminum foil With aluminum foil, a few more steps are necessary before the bowl can be placed on the hookah. You will need either hookah aluminum foil or household aluminum foil, but with the latter you need about 4 layers so that it is thick enough. You can simply tear off a large square from the roll and fold it twice so that you end up with a small square. No matter which aluminum foil you use for your bowl, it is important that the foil is stretched as tightly as possible on the bowl. Once the foil is stretched, the next step is to poke holes in the aluminum foil. You can do this with a special hookah hole punch. If you don't have one yet, you can also use a toothpick or a shashlik skewer. You can see what it should look like in the end in the picture.
Before you start, you can check to make sure that you have placed the tobacco loosely enough in the bowl by pulling on the hookah once to check the draught with the bowl in place. Otherwise, all you have to do is place the hookah charcoal on the chimney cap or aluminum foil and you can start your hookah session!
Nowadays, the combination of phunnel and Smokebox (also known as HMD or heat management device) is the variant preferred by most hookah professionals. The smoke development and taste are usually better than with the classic setup of a clay head with a chimney top or aluminum foil. So if you don't already have this combination in your collection, you should consider getting one! The head construction with the combination should be carried out as follows.
With a phunnel, you can spread the tobacco around the phunnel hole in the middle of the "trench" after stirring. Virginia tobacco, i.e. light tobacco, is usually always placed loosely in the bowl. With Burley tobacco, this can also be pressed down slightly, which reduces the strength of the tobacco a little. How high you pack the tobacco in the phunnel depends a little on your experience. The rule of thumb here is: The higher the tobacco, the more difficult it is to manage the heat with the charcoal. So if you are using a phunnel with a smokebox for the first time, we recommend the ONMO HMD or the Kaloud Lotus, as these have studs or bars on the bottom that can be used to make light contact with the tobacco. You should also do this as a phunnel beginner, as the tobacco will quickly become too hot and burn quickly if it comes into complete contact with the smokebox base.
Once you have filled the bowl, you can attach it to your hookah and then place the smoke box on the bowl. Now you can place the glowing charcoal in the smokebox and enjoy your bowl. You should wait around 2 to 3 minutes for the smokebox to heat up before taking your first puff. We do not recommend speeding up this heating process by placing the HMD on the charcoal burner. This can lead to the Smokebox melting or the tobacco suffering a heat stroke and burning directly.
In 2017, when the majority of hookah smokers were still smoking their hookahs with the classic clay or stone bowl, the Brazilian tobacco manufacturer Zomo caused a turnaround. As a result of the manufacturer presenting its tobacco with phunnel and aluminum foil at trade fairs, more and more smokers started to smoke their tobacco this way at home too! Initially, small hookah phunnels such as the HookahJohn 80ft were used, later more and more of the larger variants, which are now often smoked with a smokebox. If you want to smoke your hookah like this, we'll show you how to prepare the bowl perfectly!
After stirring the tobacco, you can distribute the tobacco for the Phunnel aluminum foil setup loosely in the Phunnel. You should fill the tobacco slightly below or up to the edge of the bowl.
As with the classic clay bowl with aluminum foil, you should use either hookah aluminum foil or 4 layers of household aluminum foil. The aluminum foil is then stretched as tightly as possible over the bowl. This requires some practice, especially with a phunnel. The best way to hold the aluminum foil on one side is to press it against the shaft of the bowl and pull the aluminum foil on the opposite side with your thumb and index finger. Do this once all the way around and the foil should fit tightly. The next step is to make the holes in the bowl. With a phunnel, it is important that you leave the center, where the phunnel hole is located, free for the holes, as the air that would be drawn through here will not pass through the tobacco. You can make the holes with a special hookah poker or with a toothpick or shashlik skewer.
Finally, place the phunnel on your hookah and the charcoal on the aluminum foil. If you want to regulate the heat on the bowl a little better, you can place a chimney screen from a chimney top on the aluminum foil and place the charcoal here. This gives you a little more leeway to place the charcoal further out and the charcoal lies more securely on the bowl. Then it's time to enjoy your hookah!
If you've ever been to a shisha bar in Russia or the Czech Republic, you're probably already familiar with this setup. In these countries, it is common for hookahs to be smoked with a multi-hole bowl with a chimney cap or aluminum foil. The bowls that are most commonly used for these setups are the Voskurimsya Mumiya and the UPG Standard bowl. However, you can also use a classic clay head. This setup is particularly suitable for darkblend tobacco, such as Darkside or Blackburn, but can also be used with Virginia tobacco!
With the setup, it is important that the tobacco is placed loosely in the bowl after stirring and that a few millimeters of space is left between the bottom of the smokebox and the tobacco. There should be a maximum of light contact between the nubs/bars of the smokebox and the tobacco.
Some hookah smokers still press the tobacco lightly. However, this is a matter of taste and when you press the tobacco, you should leave a small hole in the middle so that the air can pass through the bowl easily..
When the bowl is ready, you can put it on the hookah grommet and place the HMD on the bowl! Now just place the charcoal in the hookah smokebox and wait 6 to 8 minutes. Due to the greater distance to the tobacco compared to the phunnel, it takes a few minutes longer here. It is not recommended to "smoke" the bowl!
There are still a few rules for the bowl packing:
We have a large selection of accessories for hookah bowl packing that reduce the cleaning effort, for example! These include bowl packing cutlery, bowl packing mats and phunnel plugs! We have explained the exact function in another article. You can find it here:
Bowl packing aids explained
If you decide on one of the products after you have looked at the function, you can also simply order them from us and if DHL plays along, the package will be delivered the next working day!
You can find all items for the bowl packing here
bowl packing accessoriesThe other sections all refer to hookah tobacco. However, there are also tobacco substitutes, such as Hookahsqueeze vapor paste! This is a nicotine-free alternative to hookah tobacco. The paste can be smoked pure or mixed with tobacco. Here, too, we would like to give you instructions on how to optimally packing the bowl.
We recommend a hookah phunnel, if you want to smoke your bowl exclusively with vapor paste. To do this, simply spread it over all free areas inside the tobacco depot. You can vary the thickness of the paste slightly, but we recommend filling the paste to a maximum of half the height of the phunnel hole, as otherwise you run the risk of the paste running into your phunnel hole when you draw and the vapor paste in the lower area will otherwise not be used up at all.
WIf you want to mix tobacco with the vapor paste in the bowl, you can make a bed of the vapor paste in the tobacco depot, on which the tobacco is then placed. Alternatively, you can first pack your bowl with tobacco as normal and spread a little of the tobacco alternative from Hookahsqueeze on top. This way you can control which flavor you want to focus on. In the first variant, the taste of the vapor paste is in the background and the tobacco taste dominates. With the second variant, the exact opposite is true!
You can find the Hookahsqueeze paste here
HookahsqueezeIf you have any further questions about bowl packing and would like to know about our experience, mixing ratios and recommendations, you can contact us at any time. We will be happy to help you here too!
