What are some naturally flavorful hookah tobacco varities?

[oceansgreen]

so im just getting into the whole homegrown baccy scene fro the purpose of growing it (being that im a plant geek) and figured that if im the one to be growing it, i might just trust it to smoke and though there are always cigarettes and pipes, i'd also like to use a hookah from time to time, ive used them once before and i liked the method of smoking though baccy isnt my fav and they used artificial flavoring in the bowl

so my question is the same as the title, whats a good flavored baccy or two to grow for hookah purposes?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The possibilites are almost endless. I do not know a lot about Hookah's but I do know the tobacco that is uses is intensley flavored. Smoking pure tobacco in it will be quite different since there will be no intense flavors. With that said, I like the taste of BSS-Maden, Monte Calme Brun, Silver River, Mopan Mayan and many more. Each has it's own unique and very subtle flavor to it. You'll have to do what the rest of us do.. grow grow and grow until you've grown 50 or more different varieties. At some point you'll probably find a few that reayl stand out and that you will decide to grow year after year.

As to flavor, I am not sure what happens to the flavor of pure tobacco once it goes through the water. Does it become even less noticeable? Can you flavor the water instead of the tobacco?

 

[leverhead]

I steamed the Tombac I bought, I just can't bring myself to soak tobacco in water. In a conversation with istanbulin, evidently the intense flavoring is pretty recent, about 20 years. From what I can find on the internet, so it has to tempered as to accuracy, sweetened tobacco seems to be the base. About equal parts of tobacco and a light molasses or honey or a mix of the two. Sometime later it became equal parts tobacco, sweetener and fruit. In my experiments, I've tried pineapple, apple, fig, dates, raisins and prunes with light molasses and/or honey. I've also been adjusting the moisture content with 1/2 to not quite 1 part of lemon juice to stave off mold, I keep it refrigerated. I've had no mold problems, some is a month old and the lemon juice doesn't pass a flavor. Of the fruit I've tried, fig and raisin are the most interesting, flavors get muted in the hooka.

Last weekend I bought a variety of fruit molasses to try, pomegranate, grape, date and carob. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise. istanbulin offered an interesting thought for the rolled up Tombac, to include fibers of liquorice root. Liquorice extract can do wonders for Burley, so it's something I want to try.

 

[istanbulin]

Last weekend I bought a variety of fruit molasses to try, pomegranate, grape, date and carob...

Use the pomegranate molasses in your salads it's very sour. But carob molasses is my all time favorite, both in tobacco and in breakfast

... whats a good flavored baccy or two to grow for hookah purposes?

There is only one strain used in hookah for centuries, tombac.

 

[leverhead]

Use the pomegranate molasses in your salads it's very sour. But carob molasses is my all time favorite, both in tobacco and in breakfast

Thank you for the tip! What do you put it on for breakfast? I'm going to have to make some Shisha when I get home.

Steve

 

[istanbulin]

As to flavor, I am not sure what happens to the flavor of pure tobacco once it goes through the water. Does it become even less noticeable? Can you flavor the water instead of the tobacco?

When smoke goes through the water, it gets cool and filtered (small ash particles and some water soluable compounds). Cool and smooth smoke is the most desirable thing in a nargile. Most of the beginner nargiles are generally small sized so the distance between bowl and the glass (water container) is short. With time hot smoke (coming from the bowl) make the water warmer. A warm or hotter smoke is a bad feeling, therefore adding ice into the water is a good solution. Even if you have full size cast nargile use ice (I do )
We've discussed something about flavoring water with alcoholic drinks here.

Thank you for the tip! What do you put it on for breakfast? I'm going to have to make some Shisha when I get home.

Steve

You may spread it on a pancake with some walnut pieces. The simplest method is dipping a piece of bread in it. It may be weird for you but yogurt-pekmez (especially grape molasses) mix is pretty good to me.

 

[Boboro]

I've got some frezze dryed fruit and jurkey. but I haven't had time to try them yet. Is tombac seed easy to get?

 

[oceansgreen]

quite helpful instanbulin

edit: ninja'd

 

[istanbulin]

... Is tombac seed easy to get?

A new adventure is beginning for me I'll try to find some next week.

 

[Boboro]

I think If you mix them you can make mince meat pie shisha.

 

[leverhead]

I've got some frezze dryed fruit and jurkey. but I haven't had time to try them yet. Is tombac seed easy to get?

I don't know, maybe it's just me. I don't think I'd put meat or fat in there. I got my Tombac for $ 20 at the Phoenicia Market here in Houston, it caters to Mediterranean and Near Eastern foods. I got my Hooka at the same place, I think FmGrowit had something similar to Tombac. This is the package I bought, it's very dry whole leaf.

 

[istanbulin]

While looking for different leaves for nargile I found some info. They classified tobaccos according to their strength as a hookah tobacco. I've never tried a leaf other tham tombac in hookah but notrack always says flue-cured is good for this purpose. Here's the list;

- for light hookah tobacco: Virginia, Xanthi

- for normal hookah tobacco: Samsun, Burley

- for strong hookah tobacco: Adonis, Havana

- for very strong hookah tobacco: N. rustica

I never fritter away some of these beatiful leaves by smoking them in hookah (e.g. Xanthi, Samsun, Havana). Also some of them have really thin leaves (e.g. Samsun) that is not suitable for hookah smoking. On the other hand, for preparing a hookah tobacco (let's say tombeki style) with Samsun or Xanthi it's nearly required to use the all leaves of one plant at a time, I think this is a real crime ! IMO, bigger (and may be thicker) leaved tobaccos (e.g. Burley, Virginia, Dark etc.) may worth to give a try. I'm not sure about N. rustica varieties as a stand alone smoking but they may add some nicotine to hookah tobacco blends.

 

[leverhead]

Later this year I hope to try Shirazi in the Nargile, I'm not sure where that would fit into the list.