Hookah How-To

When setting up and smoking your Hookah, it's important to first understand the fundamental parts of the Hookah and how it works.

Glass Base - smoke chamber that is partially filled with water

Bowl - contains the tobacco and coals on top to heat the tobacco

Stem (Shaft) - connects the bowl to the base by a pipe that descends into the water

Hose - connects to a second tube in the pipe which extends into the smoke chamber.

Plate - tray to catch fallen coals

Grommets - keeps connecting parts air-tight

Valve - outlet for stale smoke to escape the base when blowing into the hose

 

How The Hookah Works:
Heated charcoal is placed on a perforated aluminum foil covering the tobacco in the bowl. When one inhales through the hose, a pressure difference forces air past the coal, heating the tobacco, which gives off smoke. The smoke is pulled down from the tobacco, and bubbles up through the water into the air of the base. From there, it is drawn through the hose and inhaled. Passing through the water partially filters tar and particulates from the tobacco smoke in addition to cooling it.

 

How To Use a Hookah:

Separate the glass base from the stem. While some Hookahs have stems that screw into the base, others attach using a rubber sleeve which you will need to twist and pull to separate. Sometimes adding water around the rubber sleeve helps get it apart.
Fill the glass base with cold water. If available, mix in ice for a cooler smoke. When reattaching your stem, the bottom should submerge only 1 to 1.5 inches in the water.

Reattach the stem to the glass base. Make sure the fit is snug and air-tight with a rubber grommet. Then attach your Hookah hose (using a grommet to make sure it is air-tight).

Place the Hookah tray on top of the stem.
Pinch and sprinkle some Fumari tobacco in your bowl (don't let the tobacco amount reach over the top of the bowl). Create a pencil-width hole in the center of the tobacco to help get the air flowing.
Wrap foil over the top of the bowl and make small holes in a cylindrical fashion using your poker. When done, place the bowl on top of the stem and make sure it is air-tight with a grommet.
Double check all attaching parts of your Hookah - hose, bowl and stem - ensuring they are firmly connected and air-tight using rubber grommets. (Place your hand on top of the Hookah's bowl and then inhale through the hose. You should feel a pull at your hand and see bubbles in the water. If not, you most likely have an air leak).
Light up a few coals until they're red-hot and place them around the edge of the bowl using some tongs (burn the coals over the center of the bowl after the tobacco around the edges have been burned).

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. Add new hot coals later, as needed, to keep the Hookah going.

Below are hookah smoking and care tips:

  1. A good method for getting a cooler smoke is to drop ice in water of your glass base (after adding ice, be sure the water level is no more 1 to 1.5 inches over the stem line).


  2. Sprinkle the tobacco in your bowl. Don't pack it.


  3. Before covering the tobacco in your bowl with foil, make a pencil width hole in the center of the tobacco for better ventilation.


  4. Clean your Hookah every 4-5 uses.


  5. Hang your hose.


  6. Use a different hose for flavors in different tobacco flavor categories. Example, don't smoke a mint flavored tobacco with the same hose you use to smoke a tropical flavored tobacco.


  7. When first starting to smoke your Hookah, place the charcoal around the edges of the bowl. Move the coals around as you smoke. The center of the bowl should be the last place your charcoal is placed. This helps keep your tobacco from becoming too hot, your smoke too thick and helps make you bowl last longer.


  8. For a fresher, less harsh smoke, lightly blow into your hose to release some smoke from the base's chamber.


  9. If you feel your tobacco is too hot and burning, try using two sheets of Hookah foil.


  10. When cleaning your Hookah, do not run water through the hose unless it is sold as a washable hose. To clean you hose, blow air through it after and before use to remove particles inside.


  11. Store your Hookah tobacco at room temperature, sealed airtight. Remember, a fridge is for food...not tobacco.

 

The Hookah's origin traces back to India. It surfaced in the form we know it as today around the 15th Century when Indian Glass manufacturing began as a result of the exporting of glass to India through the British East India Company. The glass base was called Shisha. Its mystique spread to Iran where special strong, flavorless tobacco was used with it called "Ajami". It rose to fame under the Ottoman Empire's rule around the time of Murat V in 1623-1640. The sultans of the age took portraits with their Nargiles and it became a status symbol of the time. It was smoked after royal dinners and at diplomatic meetings.

The Hookah's origin traces back to India. It surfaced in the form we know it as today around the 15th Century when Indian Glass manufacturing began as a result of the exporting of glass to India through the British East India Company. The glass base was called Shisha. Its mystique spread to Iran where special strong, flavorless tobacco was used with it called "Ajami". It rose to fame under the Ottoman Empire's rule around the time of Murat V in 1623-1640. The sultans of the age took portraits with their Nargiles and it became a status symbol of the time. It was smoked after royal dinners and at diplomatic meetings.

Hookahs are known around the world by many different names, such as a water pipe, nargeela/nargile/narghile/nargileh, argeela/arghileh, shisha/sheesha, okka, kalyan, or ghelyoon or ghalyan. Many of these names are of Arab, Somalian, Indian, Ethiopian, Turkish, Uzbek, or Persian origin.

Shisha
Shisha, a synonym for Hookah, is from the Persian word shishe, literally translated as glass and not bottle. It is more commonly used in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

Many is the U.S. tend to refer to the tobacco smoked from a hookah as "shisha". This incorrect use of the term derived from the use of slang in the Middle East, where it is common to request a "flavored shisha" which means a Hookah with flavored tobacco.

Be nice.
Always pass the hose with the mouthpiece pointed away from the next person. It's considered respectful in Middle Eastern cultures.

Be humble.
Avoid placing your Hookah on top of a table. Besides it being a potential fire hazard, it's also the equivalent of saying "kiss my..." in Syria.

Be worldly.
When finished smoking, wrap the hose around your Hookah. It's the traditional way to signal you're done.

Be wise.
Try not to light a cigarette from the hot coals on a Hookah. You guessed it. It's disrespectful in certain Mid East countries. But really, nobody wants to see what you'd look like without eyebrows. Save everyone the trouble, use a lighter.

Be safe.
Use your own mouthpiece when smoking with strangers.

 

The Hookah, for centuries, has been about sharing the good times with good Friends. Fumari thanks you for keeping the tradition alive.