Hookah bowl is a container located at the very top of the hookah shaft. It is here where the process of heating tobacco and the formation of hookah smoke takes place. Accordingly, a quality bowl should be well and evenly heated, not allowing the tobacco to burn. Preparation of the bowl begins with filling it with tobacco, after which it is covered with a screen (foil or kaloud), and only then - on this screen - hot coals are placed. There should be no direct contact of tobacco and screen with coals! The heat will reach the tobacco mixture, passing through the holes made in the screen surface.
Hookah bowl mounting
The bowl itself also has holes. One - mandatory - is located in the leg, with which the bowl is attached to the shaft.
A bowl with one hole is called a phunnel. It is well suited for those who like a dense tobacco filling.
For those who prefer a more loose - "airy" - clogging, there are bowls with additional small holes. They not only thin the smoke, but also reduce the risk of ash particles getting inside the hookah. If such a risk remains, you can put a crumpled piece of foil in the foot of the bowl.
There are two ways of attaching the bowl: external (when it is put on the shaft) and internal (when it is inserted into the shaft).
In either case, the bowl must sit flat, tight (so that the coal did not fall out of it) and be extremely tight (so that the hookah smoke does not leak out). For this purpose, there are usually special grommets in the place of attachment to the shaft.
What a hookah bowl is made of?
The most popular (and, according to many, the most practical) are clay bowls. This is a classic, literally proven over the centuries. Firstly, they are inexpensive, secondly, they heat evenly, and the tobacco in them does not burn. The most heat-resistant is considered to be red clay. Disadvantages of clay bowls are very few. Perhaps some aesthetes will find them not too beautiful, but there, as they say, for taste and color ... A more serious disadvantage - the fragility of the material. Clay bowl is easy to break - but taking into account its cheapness, it is not such a problem. Therefore, experienced hookah smokers immediately have a spare copy with them.
Silicone bowls are almost as good as clay bowls. They hold heat for a long time, almost do not overheat, and they are easy to clean. Silicone bowls are used only with cauldrons and are very convenient for beginners. Experts call the only disadvantage of this bowl that it is good only for light tobacco, and for strong - the desired heat still does not give ...
Porcelain or ceramic bowls, covered with glaze, usually look very beautiful. But their material heats up faster and tobacco can burn (this is contributed by enamel coating). On the other hand, such bowls do not absorb odors and will last much longer than clay bowls.
Metal bowls in general are "unbreakable", but the tobacco in them can burn much stronger than in ceramic ones. In addition, some smokers complain that the smoke begins to taste like metal.
All these disadvantages are virtually devoid of heat-resistant glass bowls, but they cost, of course, more expensive than those listed above.
Interestingly, the disposable bowl can even be made from fruit - for example, from half of a pineapple. Such a "natural" bowl will give the hookah smoke an extra flavor.
Buying a hookah bowl
As we wrote above, to protect the cavity of the hookah from the ash, it is better to buy a hookah bowl not with one large hole, but several small ones. The upper edge of the bowl should have no chips and in general be flat, so that the screen from the top fit hermetically enough. So when buying check this parameter by turning the bowl upside down and putting it on a flat surface. The size and depth of the bowl depends on whether you smoke alone or in company (for the company it is desirable to buy a larger bowl). However, remember that in a voluminous bowl tobacco heats up more slowly.
Since the bowl is one of the most inexpensive parts of a hookah, experienced smokers buy several similar bowls at once. Or several different bowls for different kinds of tobacco (for example, one for Al Fakher - double apple and another - for Al Fakher - peach). There are even special bowls that allow you to smoke several tobaccos at once. It can be a bowl with dividers and sectors (each sector for a different kind). Or several bowls set on one leg. With such a "multi-story" bowl, you can experiment right in the process of smoking, combining different flavors and changing their ratio.