Do all hookah sizes smoke the same way?
Its like comparing an apple to an orange, really.
If you take a shower and find that the only clean towel left is a washcloth size towel, its going to do almost just as good a job of absorbing the water, but you can’t wrap yourself up in it very well!
Same thing if a person has a bowl of soup to eat and only has a teaspoon to eat it with, It’ll just take longer but with the biggest fork in the world you won’t manage.
How about the time I had a friend over to play ping-pong and all we found around to use as a ball was an old tennis ball? It can be done, and its harder to control or get english on it, but at least we had a few games.
With hookah there are 3 basic sizes: Mini, Junior and Large.
I’ll deal first with the mini.
The mini isn’t something for little people to smoke with . Its a full fledged Hookah. They come in different sizes ranging from around “7-10” inches high.
(When any and all of the companies write “18 inch” or 26 inch” or “32 inch” they mean to say that its been measured with and including the regular standard size tobacco bowl which is exactly adding 2 and 1/4 inch. Thats a big percentage of the measurement on a “7 inch” mini hookah.
Then each and every online company will tag on exactly 1 and 1/2 inches to be offered to “Abu Ali ” as a wishful thinking” offering.
So…your 10 inch mini is minus 2 and 1/4 inches of tobacco bowl ,1 and 1/2 inches for lowering their shipping costs.
Since every manufacturer and selling company online adds on the measure of the tobacco bowl, and the 1/2 inch for naught, then at least you know their language and understand that you are not being cheated. Its relative from one company to the next.
One 8 incher is of a small glass half- bowl which screws onto a half metal bowl attached to metal ready for smoking tobacco bowl with metal pipe to smoke from.I bought one and was sorry since the shisha burned my throat. Its only good for smoking weed or other like non-legals.There is room for a bit of water, not much. Bad buy if you want to take it and smoke shisha tobacco at the beach,its not for you.
I today recieved a quick order from EastCoastHookah.com of one 8 and a half inch Pumpkin” shaped ” mini (28m”m). Including the measurement of the tobacco bowl. Its listed at “about 10 inches”. Bravo.The bowl is a bit more than 2 and a half inches high, circumference around 9 and a half inches. It does hold a lot of water.
The shaft is strong solid metal and can be disassembled in 3 parts.Its shaped very nicely with 2 nobs. The shaft is about 3 and a half inches high. I measured all these myself. Now add to it the 2 and a quarter inch tobacco bowl and the 2 and a half inches for “Abu Ali” and you’ll have you’re “about 10 inch high mini hookah”.
It comes with a very well made leather Syrian hose in thin diameter but pulls strong, 31 inches long.
The mini I received also has a nice, strong padded on the inside little mini suitcase with bare room for the hookah and hose. You’ll need to take the shaft apart if you want to stick in tongs , tobacco and a bowl.
Now how does it smoke? Mine is a one hoser, but as you probably know, you can unscrew the air pressure nob off and add a hose attachment if you’ve bought, and then you’ll have a two-hoser!
That could be a great idea since with this mini the “tail is wagging the dog”.I put the mini inside a small pot so that it will not tip over, but that didn’t stop it from moving around Just barely moving my hose had too great effect on the sturdiness of the mini hookah.
I couldn’t enjoy the smoke from being afraid it would tip
What I plan to do is to take a heavy duty cardboard box, cut a circular hole 9 and a half inches around, and the mini will fit exactly into that and keep it very, very sturdy. Then it could even be placed on a table. (Same can be done with plywood-better you can paint the wood too.) A heavy duty metal bowl or pot would also be good providing it was the size of the measurement around of the water bowl bottle at it’s widest point, or even a bit more but not too much so that it can fall over.
I smoked the “mini 10 inch” simultaneously with a “junior size” hookah I also received at actual size of barely 15 inch high including the 2 and a fourth inch shisha bowl as well as my “32 inch high” “Chiller hookah” which really does make the difference on a cold smoke.This is the second time I’ve ever smoked more than one hookah at a time and the first time 3. It was only in the name of science and not pleasure that now I can report on all 3.
The “10 inch mini” with its great hose still had bad suction and the shisha tasted pretty bad. The bowl was a regular 2 and a fourth inch high bowl, but probably for that little amount of water I should have started with half a coal. Each hookah got a full coal.
(Later I did put 3 straws cut to length so that in each direction they hit the bottom of the mini bowl and splayed outward.This lengthened greatly the shaft into the water and the suction is now much better, but it’s still kind of a hot smoke.I have the mini on a table and its more stable than on the floor.)
The 15 inch “junior size”, basically a copy of the mini, but it uses a standard size hose, holds its weight firmly and barely moved a little.Its very well made also.
The actual pull of the “Junior” when I sucked air on the hose was very powerful, even more so than the 24 inch chiller.(I gave chiller a large diameter hose and maybe need to add water. )
So of the best smoke, the “junior “won. The larger hookah had a cool shaft ,cooler even though the water was a day old and tepid. The shaft of the Junior was quite warm.
I think that the problem of the “mini” is that its lower part of the shaft in the water is way too short. I’m going to try adding a folding plastic drinking straw into the bottom of the shaft to lengthen it, just as I did so sucssesfully when I did that to my large hookah with 4 cut straws.(As mentioned above, the straws really helped!).
I used 3 fruit flavours while smoking and I could taste the difference between all 3 smoking “Al Sultan” brand of apple in the mini, banana-milk in the Junior and Orange in the Large 24 inch Chiller hookah.
For a really good comparison I should have used only one flavour, but I’m not a masochist . At least NOW I know also that every “Al Sultan” flavour is different from its other flavours.
Friends and neighbors my ” 32 inch high chiller hookah” just lost 8 inches of its written heighth when I now measured it at 24 inches with shisha bowl. But as Alfred E. Neuman used to say “What, me worry”? Since it really smokes well and cools off the smoke.
Results: The mini is a go anywhere hookah if you are out for a picnic or trip. Especially if you have a padded case or bag for it. The smoking is really nice.  The Junior smokes great and can easily be brought out to your back yard or camping trip. It dis-assembles.  The larger hookahs are great for the home and for multi-hose smokers or even a few people using one hose since its so sturdy but probably a hassle to take out of the house unless you are willing to dis-assemble and clean it back and forth.
So size is just a matter of style and personal taste.¬† I have no real reason to use the mini unless I want to use it outdoors. The junior I’ll use mainly at home but why not take 2 when we’re camping or having a picnic?
The chiller 24 inch I keep right next to my p.c.
Hookah 1