How Long Does a Hookah Last? - Hookah 101
By Amir / April 29, 2024
Share
How Long Does a Hookah Last? – Key Components
How long does a hookah last? Perhaps the most complicated question in the world of hookah shisha. The number of factors that can control the outcome of your next hookah session is endless. That’s what makes shisha so fun! Experimenting, learning, finding your personal preferences. It doesn’t come down to how much you spent on your pipe, or the type of shisha tobacco alone. The duration of your smoking session is a combination of many small details.
For the average hookah smoker, a typical smoking session will last around an hour. This time can vary greatly depending on several components. These factors include but are not limited to, the hookah bowl type, material and size, ingredients of shisha tobacco and pack methods, type of hookah charcoal, heat management and your own personal preferences. SouthSmoke.com breaks down each component and provides ways to extend how long your hookah lasts! Let’s dive in.
Hookah Bowl – How it Affects the Length of a Hookah Session
The first hookah part to consider when trying to extend how long your session lasts, is the hookah bowl. A quality shisha bowl can do wonders for your hookah session. First off, size matters. This should go without saying, a large bowl that holds more shisha will last longer than a smaller bowl. The type of material used to produce the head affects the duration as well. Materials like clay or stoneware provide the best heat retention and circulation, baking your shisha more evenly. Bowls made of glass or metal get much hotter and may burn your tobacco prematurely. Be aware of your hookah bowl material if you are concerned about longevity.
Last but not least, the type of hookah bowl affects the length of your hookah session as well. A shisha head with a raised center spire like a phunnel bowl or vortex bowl, allow the shisha juices to remain inside. The juices are what creates the vapor or smoke. The longer the juices stay in your bowl, the longer the hookah will last. These bowls also create better airflow and help to maintain temperature throughout a session. Other bowls, like the classic Egyptian bowl with holes in the bottom, allow juices to slide down into the pipe. This effectively shortens the smoking time.
Shisha Tobacco Ingredients and Packing Methods
As you probably know by now, there are two main types of shisha tobacco. Blonde shisha tobacco and dark leaf tobacco are quite different and each type can vary slightly by hookah tobacco brand. These shisha types are produced with separate techniques, need dissimilar packing methods and are affected by heat in different ways. All of this means that each shisha type produces varying session lengths.Blonde Leaf Tobacco
Blonde leaf shisha is washed, meaning it contains less nicotine and natural tobacco characteristics. Lighter shishas tend to consist of more juices like glycerin, honey and flavoring additives. The amount of juice makes the tobacco more heat resistant, which means they need more heat over the bowl. This in turn, bakes the shisha faster, generally. Blonde leaf tobacco is also usually cut into larger pieces. Larger tobacco leaves need to be packed fluffier for better airflow. This also means less shisha can be packed into your bowl and a shorter session because of it.
Dark Leaf Tobacco
Dark leaf shisha is quite the opposite. Unwashed tobacco leaves containing more nicotine and a natural tobacco taste. Dark tobacco leaf is also mixed with glycerin, molasses, and flavoring juices but in different amounts. It’s cut into much smaller, finer pieces. This means that the packing method must be tighter and denser for a preferable bake. A dense pack takes more shisha to fill your hookah bowl and in turn, creates a longer hookah session! Dark leaf is very heat sensitive and more care is needed with heat management to make sure you don’t burn the shisha too quickly.Charcoal Types Affect How Long a Hookah Lasts
Once again, you have two main options when it comes to hookah charcoal types. The differences in quick lighting hookah coals and coconut coals are immense. The quality and duration of your session can vary greatly between the two charcoal types. Quick light charcoals, while convenient, simply don’t last very long. They burn much quicker and with less heat. Natural coconut coals on the other hand, provide a much longer smoking session with a more even burn for an ideal smoke. Coconut charcoal shapes like cubes, xl cubes and flats may also change the session length because of the different sizing. This is pretty straight forward as a larger coal will obviously last longer.