Although the Flying Saucer bowl is not a revolutionary product and will not replace the HJ mini alien bowl, this newly designed hookah bowl has made smoking heat sensitive tobacco a breeze. If tobacco is packed and treated just like it would be in the HJ Mini Alien Bowl the Flying Saucer bowl will match or beat the flavor results every time. I have found that clouds are not always as impressive in this bowl, but that may be because of the bowl’s tendency to remain cool.

If you’re a fan of the original phunnel bowls, you will not be disappointed with this one. But keep in mind, because of subtle adjustments to the shape and design, as well as variations in craftsmanship, you might need to adjust your packing and foiling technique. So should you upgrade? Maybe. It’s going to be a matter of preference. If you find your current Alien Phunnel bowl wanting, you might find this updated version to be a mark improvement. But if you’re quite satisfied with your current Alien Phunnel bowl, you might want to wait until a drunken party guest knocks your bowl off the table.

Sahara Smoke Company has revised their popular specialty bowl, known as the Vortex. The bowl retains its classic funnel shape, with the air holes drilled uniquely around the sides of the spire. The revised bowl retains most of its classic qualities, and gains a few improvements. But, the really important question is, how does it stack up against the classic Vortex bowl? In a word, great.

The Vortex Bowl from Sahara Smoke is one of only a few very popular specialty bowls. While it has a few drawbacks, one of its major selling points is that it’s among the easiest to pack. In this short tutorial I’m going to show you how to pack your Vortex bowl and get an excellent smoke, no matter what kind of shisha tobacco you fill it with. So, lets get started.
Mix Your Shisha
The Vortex Bowl shines the most when using a wet shisha (though brands that are more dry will …

The ongoing bane of any hookah smoker’s experience is returning a well used hookah bowl to its freshest, cleanest state. After a few weeks or months of smoking, it is inevitable that your bowl will get caked with a solid black gunk that most people find nearly impossible to remove.

A quick search on the internet will tell you to use baking soda, lemon juice, vinegar, oven cleaner, Bar Tender’s Friend, or even boiling the bowl for a long period of time, to remove the gunk. But if you’re anything like me, you’ve never had much success with these methods. Which makes sense. The stuff that’s stuck on there is a residue that’s been baking at around 400 – 600 degrees for 20 or 30 hours—or more, if you’re not in the habit of cleaning the bowl regularly. The popular cleaning methods simply aren’t powerful enough to make too much of a difference. With this cleaning method, you bowl will be about as clean as it will get, and it will only take about 10 minutes.

The Vortex Bowl is one of only a few very popular specialty bowls. In short, it’s design aims to help tobacco smoke longer with more flavor by trapping the juice in the bottom of the bowl, rather than leaking down into the hookah itself. Today, we’re going to spend some time looking at the Vortex Bowl in detail, as well as look at some of the pros and cons of this unique bowl.

First we talked about the basics of hookah anatomy. Then, we got into the gritty details of hookah charcoal. This week, we’re going to discuss what it takes to pack your tobacco in your bowl and get a great smoking session out of it. So, lets get started.

If you’re reading this guide, there’s a good chance you’re not using a specialty bowl, such as a Vortex or phunnel bowl. Rather, you’re probably using the bowl that came with your hookah. That’s a standard bowl. It may be an Egyptian bowl, a mod Bowl or a Mya bowl, but regardless, the routine for packing pretty much any of these will be about the same. So, for this guide, we’re going to assume you…

Al Fakher Guava is a candy caricature of the real guava fruit. Most people familiar with the real taste of guava will probably notice the resemblance right off the bat. The taste is fruity and a bit tangy, but in terms of fruity flavors, much less sweet. The taste is simple, with almost no undertones. It makes an excellent ingredient for mixing with other Al Fakher flavors, such as Mint or Strawberry. Additionally, the Guava scent and the Guava flavor mirror each other very predictably.

As any regular hookah smoker knows, an excellent smoke session is all about heat management. Too much heat and your smoke will get thin and be unpleasant to inhale (not to mention, taste terrible!). Not enough heat and your smoke will just be plain thin. While there are many elements to good heat management, an important (often overlooked) one is your hole pattern in the tin foil. To further complicate things, depending on what bowl you use, your hole pattern will vary.
So, without further adieu , here are some hole …