'baccy and a new bowl

Finally, after months of not being able to fund any new stuff in the world of Hookah, I managed to sneak by a few things. I wanted to purchase a phunnel type bowl - I used to have one, a MED Tangiers in fact. Purchased about a year from MNHookah, also with the glass mod to go in it.

But I think a MED is really a LARGE... I hate to see how big a true Large is. It held so much tobacco that it was kinda useless for me, a single smoker. I can stok about 1-2 hours out a plain clay bowl, why do I need 3-4 out of a phunnel. I ended up selling it.

Now why you ask, is she telling me this? And what the heck is a phunnel?

Ok, let me give a quick run down. The Phunnel is the bowl itself - normally sold without the "mod" piece. Basically it's a modified hookah bowl that holds the tobacco in a lip/bowl section around a center opening. The reason for this is to keep the tobacco in it's own juices, which allow for more flavor and longer smokes, as well as keeping the extra juice from dripping down the stem when heated. Now, it may still drip some, but lot less than not using a phunnel would produce.

The tobacco is packed in the outer lip, with (or without) the mod (which has openings in the edges) over the center hole. Reason for the mod is to help with airflow (pushing it down and thru the tobacco instead of just over) and to take up space, allowing you to save on the shisha tobacco itself.

On top of the mod/tobacco goes the foil - the hole patterns people will suggest can vary:
~ if using a mod, I only place 3-4 rings of tight small (toothpick sized) holes along the outside edges of the foil.
~ if not using a mod, I put 1 larger center hole and random small (toothpick sized) holes all over the lip/bowl section.

When drawn on, air moves past the coals, heating the tobacco. It is them pulled up and underneath the mod section into the center hole and down into the hookah.

Originally made for a brand of tobacco called Tangiers, it was found out it will work with any of the drippier tobaccos. Dry brands like Nakhla and Sahara will work, but it can be harder to keep the smoke from going harsh.

Now.... back to the matter at hand. I wanted a SMALL phunnel - reason: The New Cut of Al Fakher. It's horrible, tiny almost ground cut that is very similar to Hookah-Hookah. It's also VERY drippy and tends to clog up most bowls. Now a members @ HP has figured out how to "pack" AF's new cut, but I've been wanting a new phunnel, which IMO I believe will help.

So.... off I went, looking at various vendors - trying to find someone who not only had a Small Phunnel (either clay or glass) and some of the newer AF flavors I've been wanting to purchase. I wanted to purchase from a vendor I hadn't delt with (or purchased from in a while) so that kinda narrow my rather difficult search from the get go.

MNHookah sells Small Phunnel, Glass Funnels and their new line of funnels. They also had the flavors I wanted in a nice (3) 250g pack set.

Chronic Hookah also had phunnels, although listed as Large/Med, so did look smaller. They also had the flavors I wanted, but not as a (3) pack.

And Sahara Smoke just came out with a new Vortex bowl, their spin on the phunnel design. They also had a (3) pack of 250g AF's (that turned out to be on sale).

After comparing prices,. shipping and chatting with the vendors on HP, for now I ended up going with SS's Vortex bowl and (3) pk. Grand total everything w/ shipping ran $38.01. I will of course post up my videos of the package and the items when they arrive later this week.

Now, I also decided to purchase a glass funnnel from MNHookah, but I will have to wait till later when I have more money as the bowl itself is pricey (and MNHookah only ships by USPS which can sometimes be more than FedEx or UPS).

CH will be the place I turn to for my next hookah purchase - I STILL am sans a KM and/or MZ, since a certain vendor ignored me and disappeared. I understand shyt happens, but it left a bad taste in my mouth that will take time to hopefully correct.

So for now, know that I am slowly working thru my shisha samples & making videos. I am finally back in the swing of things and will only (hopefully) be picking up speed soon.

~Peace~