Some of us have had the unpleasant experience of sitting down with a freshly prepared hookah only to find that it won’t smoke properly. There are few things more frustrating to the hookah smoker. There are lots of reasons that your hookah may not be performing well. Some are easy to remedy and others… not so much.
The most important thing to check for when a hookah is not smoking is if the rig is well sealed. This includes all of the grommets, the hose, the bowl, the purge valve and the stem. The best way to check if the rig is well sealed is to set everything up but don’t pack the bowl or light any coals. Place your hand over the top of the bowl and draw through the hose. If you hear air flowing and there is not much suction on your hand then you have a leak. Listen for where the air is coming from and then you can take action.
If the grommets are loose you will need to get new ones or adjust them. You can make grommets a little bigger for a tighter fit by wrapping the grommet in a little electrical tape. If they are cracked they need to be replaced. You can make temporary grommets with wet paper towels or electrical tape. Just make sure to hold the hookah by the base if you move it. If you pick it up from the stem the base could fall off and end in wet and pointy disaster.
If the purge valve is stuck open you usually just have to tap the purge valve cap on a hard surface and the ball bearing should drop out. Then you should soak the cap and ball bearing in cleaner to make sure that it won’t happen again. Adding a drop of olive oil or vegetable oil to the purge valve can help prevent this as well.
Lastly, and most unpleasantly, there may be a crack or hole in your hookah someplace. Check the hose by plugging one end and drawing through. If it does not hold suction then there is a hole in the hose and you found your problem. Get a new hose or find the leak and try to fix it with e-tape or hot glue. Check the stem in the same way. A crack in the stem might be fixable with some JB Weld but you need to be sure to let the fix set for many days and clean it out to make sure that you are not inhaling any nasty chemicals. Smoking is dangerous enough.
Once you have ruled out leaks you need to check out your packing techniques and heat management. If you are not using enough charcoal you will not be heating the tobacco enough and it will not produce smoke. You can add a little more heat or use a wind cover to try and fix this.
If you are using a funnel style bowl you need to make sure that the foil is pulled tight so that it is not pulled down into the hole and does not stop the airflow. I have seen a lot of people that are so frustrated because they have tried everything to get the hookah to smoke right and the problem could be easily solved by pulling the foil tighter or using heavy duty foil.
This list should help you out of a bind but please comment here if you have tried everything and still can’t get the hookah to smoke. I’ll try to help out.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good post, with some good tips. Thanks Kalutika. One of the problems I know I’ve seen people have that would be helpful to mention would be making sure they’re properly lighting the type of charcoal they’re using. Instant lights can get ashed up too quickly and, before you know it, not produce enough heat. Coconut based charcoals take a long time to light and sometimes people preemptively place them on the bowl before they’re completely lit, while wood coals may be rapidly losing their heat depending on quality.
Just a thought!
Happy smoking,
Yousef
I found my problem to be my coal was to big and I didnt have enough holes in my foil. I took a thumb tack to the same shisha load and same coal but new foil. I but in about 20+ holes and the smoke is massive