Zaghloul and Mola Mix Question for Hassouni

You think cigars are old? Pipes? Try the art of Narghile. Although today's youth think a "hookah" is simply a means to smoke highly flavored tobacco with names like Blueberry Bubblegum, the real art of the Narghile is anything but. Narghile is an ancient practice, traditional, spiritual, ubiquitous worldwide and until recently free of the marketing monkeys. Thanks to Hass for the amazing contributions herein.
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da'rum
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Zaghloul and Mola Mix Question for Hassouni

Post by da'rum »

Hey I'm looking at buying some Zaghloul and someone somewhere suggested mixing in mola lix instead of glycerine.

Oops back two steps, Germany has a law that Tobacco cant be sold with more than 5% moisture so to raise the Mu'assal to the right/ correct level we must add glycerine or something else.

So Mola mix? Good? Bad? Ugly?

Any tips on uses or brands?

Cheers M
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da'rum
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Post by da'rum »

Looks like I jumped the gun. I should of gegoogled a bit more.

This is good reviewed stuff but as far as I can see it's sugar water with flavour.

(Ingredients; Molasses, Glycerine, Water and Honey)

So if I heated some water and honey with vanilla I could save myself the trouble of spending 3€ for 100 ml.

Any thing you may know on the subject would be eagerly heard Hassouni.
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Hassouni
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Post by Hassouni »

I know about the German restrictions. There are a lot of products on the German market for re-moistening tobacco, but honestly all you need is vegetable glycerine and if you want, honey as well.

Zaghloul has a tendency to be quite dry even outside Germany, so I doubt very much the German product is changed.
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Post by da'rum »

I don't get it. If zaghloul is just unflavoured tobacco then wetting it with plain glycerine would be a waste of time wouldn't it? If I was to treat this as wet tobacco that I wished to vaporise whatever is clinging to it then plain glycerine would be pretty boring. If I were to smoke this tobacco for the tobacco's sake with the coals directly on top then I wouldn't want it as wet as the lolly stuff would I? Is the Zaghloul oriental tobacco? Therefore a bit spicy and flavourful by itself? Or is this just some burley that could just as easily be used in a cigarette?
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Post by Hassouni »

It's dry enough that it won't really smoke with foil. The glycerine adds some moisture back and keeps it from scorching, and you still vaporize the vaporizable components of the tobacco. Even then it's nowhere year as wet as the "lolly" stuff. In fact, wet isn't accurate at all, moist and sticky is more the right description.

That said, iff you prefer direct combustion, with the coals straight on, then don't bother re-wetting it. It will burn better if it's dryer, as you rightly assume.

The tobacco is spicy and flavorful on its own, though I'm not sure what strain of tobacco it is. It does have a sort of sour or bitter note, as well as an earthy quality. When it's mixed, the former fades and the latter dominates, which is very nice. Personally, smoked unmixed, I prefer Nakhla's Khan al Khalili or Qass Super varieties, which have more of the rich, robust earthiness and less of the bitter/sour element, or Salloum plain, which is earthy and sweet. That being said, Zaghloul is probably the biggest selling unflavored mu'assal on the market, and plenty of people are quite fond of it on its own. Zaghloul is, incidentally, Nakhla's first ever product, dating back to 1913 (or is it 1912?)
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Post by da'rum »

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions. I will look for those brands you mentioned.
cheers
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Zig Zag...


Apparently our Hookah Bar experience with the Al Fakher (well-named) Apple tobacco really put off Sue Sea who found its artificial, candy-like flavor a real turn off. I didn't mind so much. So even though the Nakhla Double Apple was far superior to me, that early experience stuck with dear Sue Sea. She has every right.

So with hope (we like to do things together), she agreed to try the Zaghoul as she put it "the plain tobacco, not that cherry stuff". I'd mixed half of the Zag with honey and glycerine per you Hass, and saved the rest just to experience Zag as the old-timers do. We have a certain respect for tradition, age and wisdom. So in the pursuit of tradition, I packed a level bowl - not particularly tight - in the shallow Egyptian bowl (pictured elsewhere) using the Zag as right out of the package (no honey et al). This time we punctured the foil with a sharp toothpick, for a much better pattern of smaller holes.

Again heated two Hawaiian coconut coals on my hot plate (they really do glow well, no discernable smoke), transferred them to the bowl and to the Mya QT, and cautiously got it going. To be fair I was expecting a rather old-fashioned, strong tobacco sensation (unlike the aromatic and gentle double-apple). Was it stronger? A bit, yes but not even close to a cigar, but what I'd gentle and complex, more like a pipe tobacco. Sue Sea joined in and made clear that this was much more to her liking, certainly more than the Fakhered up stuff, and more too than the Nakhla DA and Zag mix. The amount of smoke was modest, but quite enough: pleasantly aromatic with a tobacco undertone. Neither of us found the slight sourness we'd heard of.

Still, she didn't stick with it and we ended the smoke early. I noted the dried puck and wondered whether the honey/glycerine might have improved things. In sum we'd definitely recommend the Zag, which may not please those who are into outspoken aromatics but who like us, have enjoyed good cigars or pipes.

Very easy smoking with nice natural aromatics. Nice. We liked it.
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Post by Hassouni »

So hang on, you used the un-treated stuff with foil and got it to smoke? I find I have to mix it with it with at least a bit of glycerine to get it going with foil.
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

In a word...


Yes, used the untreated stuff as noted, level and not particularly packed (as we were not interested in a long smoke), foil shiny side down and well pierced as noted. No huge clouds, not even what I'd guess are medium, but certainly comparable to a cigar or pipe (which we are used to). But I do intend to try the honey/glycerine batch I made, will report.

I don't know if it makes a difference but we used the Egyptian bowl I posted, here...

. . . . . . .Image

Just a tad (and I mean a tad) wider than the standard (small) Mya QT bowl, and definitely shallower, but with nice large holes. Small enough that two Hawaiian charcoals barely fit across the diameter.
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Post by Hassouni »

Yeah Zaghloul and similar tobaccos aren't easy to densely pack anyway, they have a sort of resistance to being squished.
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Post by Hassouni »

So I'd like to report that officially pretty much anything Nakhla - or Nakhla-like mixes great with Zaghloul (or Salloum or Khan al Khalili or any of those unflavored "black tobaccos") for giving the smoke some more oomph and depth of flavor.

Last night did Nakhla sweet melon and Zaghloul, great combination also.
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