Romancing the Smoke: How to prepare and pack your Tangiers

1) Your Tangiers tobacco will show up in a cellophane wrapper that is vacuum packed, and has a large colorful factsheet wrapped around it. The current words from Eric, the creator, is to start off by squishing the bag in your hands, kneading around the shisha for about 3-4 minutes to try and get it to reabsorb what juices have leeched out of the tobacco. You then open it, empty it into a wide, shallow container (like a tupperware dish) and fluff it with a fork. Even if it smells good, it is suggested that you leave it out, open, and exposed to the air for at least four hours, giving it a good stir every hour or so. The reason for doing this is because Tangiers is very sensitive to humidity, and needs to adjust to the surroundings. If it smells like soy sauce, barbeque sauce, rubber or sulfur, it needs more acclimation time. One method that I've heard is to let it acclimate in the open air for 4 hours, and store it sealed air tight for 20 hours. When it smells like the flavor that it's intended to taste like, then it's ready!

** It's important to perform this acclimation process wherever you plan on smoking. If you air it out in your kitchen, but smoke in your basement, the difference in humidity might be enough to mess up all of the work that you put in. **

3) Here's a brief overview if you're not into videos. Keep in mind, there are various packing methods, this is the most common: pack the tobacco tightly (about as tight as it was in its original packaging) up to the inner spire, right below the outer rim. Just make sure you don't underpack it, which is a common Tangiers mistake.

4) The Foil Test - Place a piece of foil on the bowl and press firmly with the palm of your hand. What you are shooting for is a depression in the foil that is barely below the rim. This will ensure that the tobacco has just enough breathing room, while it is packed tightly enough. Lift that foil off, you don't actually want it laying on the tobacco when you cover your bowl.

5) Get your foil extra taut over the top of the bowl, and poke a fair amount of holes that are slightly larger than holes you would poke for standard shisha - this can be done with an oyster fork if you have one handy. The necessity of the hole size is due to the increased heat sensitivity. Tangiers is a heat-sensitive tobacco, so try to use a low heat coal (natural coals are preferable) for easier heat management. I've seen some suggestions saying to cut your coals in half, and use 3-4 halved coals so that there is a lower heat that covers more surface area. Start the coals out on the edge; you can then move them in slightly as they die down in size. If it tastes like burning, you packed too much or are using too much heat. If it tastes harsh or rubbery, you packed too light and aren't using enough heat.