How to Make a Hookah

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The best tips and tricks for easily preparing a hookah at home

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Last Updated: August 13, 2023 References

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Traditional Hookah Assembly

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Fruit Bowl Hookah

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Apple & Garden Hose Hookah

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Tips

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Warnings

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Things You'll Need

Smoking tobacco from a hookah is a major step up from smoking dry cigarettes. You can purchase many different flavors of shisha to make smoking as pleasant as possible. If you don't have a place nearby to buy a hookah, then you can create your own out of household items. Then sit back, relax and enjoy this amazing smoking experience.

Things You Should Know

Set up a traditional hookah by filling the vase with ice water, attaching the tray and hose, then packing shisha into the bowl.
Make a fruit bowl hookah out of an apple, mango, or other round fruit. Cut the top off of the fruit, poke a hole in the bottom, then pack shisha into the fruit bowl.
Cover the bowl with foil, poke holes into the foil, light the coals, place them on the foil, and enjoy your hookah.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Traditional Hookah Assembly

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1
Fill the vase with ice cubes and water. Put just enough water into the base so that the down stem is submerged about 1" (25mm)^{[1]
X
Research source} to 1-1/2" (38 mm) into the water.
- You need to leave just enough room in the vase so that your smoke doesn't bubble up into the hose.
- Avoid putting milk or dairy into your base. Adding dairy will ensure an unpleasant smell, mold, foaming in the vase and ruined hoses.
The grommet is a seal that joins the stem to the vase. Most hookahs come with a rubber or plastic seal. Silicone is the best material for a seal, but you an also simply seal the vase to the stem with electrical tape.^{[2]
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You need to put it on before you put the bowl on because the bowl may not fit over the tray.
If your hookah has 2 ports, then you can purchase a rubber seal to close off the other port.
5
Prepare your shisha. Follow all of these steps for the best smoking experience:^{[3]
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- Evenly mix your tobacco so that all of it is covered in flavoring and molasses.
- Fluff up your tobacco and drop it loosely into the bowl. Leave 2 millimeters of distance between the top of the tobacco and the bowl so that the shisha doesn't touch the foil when you put it on. Burned shisha will add a nasty flavor to your smoke.
- Buy a good quality shisha. The quality of your shisha will determine the flavor of your smoke. You can also mix and match flavors for a great-tasting smoke.^{[4]
  X
  Research source} Buy 50-gram portions of shisha so that you can try it out without spending a lot of money.
- You can cut up your tobacco leaves with kitchen shears to more easily pack them into the bowl. However, don't cut them too small or they'll fall through the holes and clog your bowl.
6
Put heavy duty only foil over the top of the bowl. Your foil piece should be 2" (5 cm) larger on all sides so that you can form a tight seal around the bowl.
- Keep the foil tight so that wrinkles don't distort the heat distribution. If you only have thin foil on hand, then double it up.
- When you're finished, your foil-covered bowl should resemble the head of a drum.
7
Poke about 15 to 20 holes into the foil with a toothpick, a pin or a sharp-tipped pen. Take care not to shred your foil. You can try a couple of different patterns based on the kind of bowl that you have:
- Egyptian bowl: Start with a circle of holes around the perimeter and spiral inward.
- Funnel-style bowl: Make 3 concentric rings: 1 around the edge, 1 around the spire and 1 between the 2 circles that you've already made.
8
Light the coals.
- If you use Quick Light Coals, hold the coals with a pair of tongs and light 1 corner with a match or lighter. Because sparks will be produced, you should either go outside or stand near a window.
- Always use the tongs that come with most hookahs to light or move your coals. Avoid using kitchen tongs, which may have been coated in a polymer to provide a non-stick coating for food prep and easy cleaning.
- When the coal starts to sparkle and emit smoke, pull the flame away. The coal should continue sparking until all of it turns bright orange.
- If the coal still has some blackened patches that aren't burning, then blow on the coal to encourage it to heat up.
- Natural coals burn much longer than quick lights but require something much hotter than a lighter to ignite them. Most people use either a single coil stove burner or a butane torch to light their naturals.^{[5]
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- Set natural coconut coals on an electric coil burner until glowing on one side and then flip. Let each side heat up until glowing red before transferring coals to your hookah bowl. Natural coals take between 6-8 minutes to heat up.
9
Set the coal down on the foil using your tongs. The sides that were covered by your tongs should be unlit. Blow on these parts to cause them to burn orange. Let the coal sit on the foil until each one has a coating of ash over it.
- Never light the coal directly on top of the foil. The particles released from the coal will get into the bowl and change the flavor of your tobacco.
Avoid washing the hose unless you know that it is washable.
Allow the bowl to heat up naturally. Don't take hard pulls to accelerate the heating process because you'll just end up burning the tobacco. Take your time while you smoke. A good hookah can last between 45 minutes and 1 hour.

Part 2

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Fruit Bowl Hookah

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Apples, mangoes or oranges make good choices, but you can use any large round fruit that you have on hand.^{[6]
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Leave about 3/4 of the fruit intact. Make sure the top of the fruit is flat so that charcoals will not fall off.^{[7]
X
Research source} Dig out the flesh, leaving a 1/2" (13 mm) of flesh attached to the sides.
You can use a corkscrew, potato peeler or another sharp object. The hole should be the size of your index finger. (It is recommended to create a horizontal placing using toothpicks on the bottom of the fruit to prevent the tobacco from falling into the Hookah body).
Leave about 2 millimeters of empty space at the top.
Poke small holes throughout the foil that are evenly spaced.
Light the coals and smoke the hookah. Because of the coolness of the fruit, you may have to use a few more coals than usual to get your smoke going.^{[8]
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Apple & Garden Hose Hookah

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Dig out the flesh, leaving a 1/2" (13 mm) thick layer on all sides.
Use a potato peeler, a corkscrew or a paring knife.
Screw the apple onto the top of the hose, and seal the connection with some plasticine.
You can use a burning cigarette or other concentrated heat source to make the hole.
The connection should be tight. If you see a gap between the plastic and the straw, then seal the gap with more plasticine.
Cover it with foil, poke holes in the foil, light your coals and place the coals on the foil. Enjoy your homemade hookah.

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Tips

If the tobacco is dry, revive it by adding some honey or molasses to it.^{[9]
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In many Middle Eastern countries they will use a base of milk or juice to enhance the flavor and thickness of the smoke.^{[10]
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Research source} Standard procedure at Ali Baba's Hookah Bar (est. 1760 in Istanbul) is 1/3 parts milk or juice to 2/3 parts water. Just be sure to rinse your hookah thoroughly if you use dairy so that your hookah doesn't taste like spoiled milk.

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If the smoke ever becomes harsh and tastes bad or hurts your throat, simply breathe into your hose very lightly. You should see smoke escaping through the release valve or the top of the bowl, clearing out the stale smoke inside. Don't blow too hard, or you will shoot water over your coals and ruin the shisha.

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Warnings

Do not use household charcoal as it produces an excessive amount of carbon monoxide. Use commercial hookah coals, either quick-light or natural, for smoking a pleasant hookah.

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Do not breathe in during the sparking of the chemicals in quick-lighting coals. The chemicals contain various carcinogens and other unhealthy substances.

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According to the World Health Organization, a hookah session exposes the smoker to 200 times the carcinogens of a cigarette.^{[11]
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Trustworthy Source

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Main public health institute for the US, run by the Dept. of Health and Human Services

Go to source} Also, passing and sharing a hookah can spread diseases like tuberculosis or hepatitis, so be careful.

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