CREATING THE PERFECT SHISHA COCKTAIL

No, we’re not referring to cocktail drinks. Shisha cocktails are made by combining multiple shisha flavours or brands in a single hookah bowl to create a unique flavour, draw, and smell as compared to prepackaged shisha. Why would you want to mix several shisha flavours or brands? Similar to how a well-made cocktail (such as a Margarita, Fuzzy Navel, or Screwdriver) may cover up the taste of alcohol, a well-planned shisha cocktail can cover up the unpleasant flavours or brands of specific shisha. Similar to perfecting a dish recipe or creating a brand-new alcoholic beverage, it’s also a fantastic method for shisha smokers to showcase their creativity.

SHISHA COCKTAILS: BLENDING

When making shisha cocktails, it is necessary to combine various shisha flavours or brands before packing a bowl. Making shisha cocktails with flavours or brands that might be too potent, sweet, tart, abrasive, or wet on their own is a great idea. For example, you may always blend a certain shisha flavour with a creamy flavour to soften the smoking experience if you feel it to be too harsh after purchasing it. Similarly, if you find a flavour to be overly sour or bitter, blend it with a sweet or floral shisha flavour to equal the taste.

You can mix a wet shisha brand with a dry brand to absorb the extra glycerin, molasses, or sugar syrup when a particular brand is too wet and difficult to burn. To increase or decrease the effects of nicotine, some hookah smokers even like to mix herbal shishas like Heaven Leaf with conventional shisha tobacco brands like Al Fakher. However, flavours can easily get lost in a blend, so you might need to experiment with the flavour combinations a few times before finding the right combination. After blending, don’t forget to trim the shisha to guarantee a consistent cut and smoking experience.

SHISHA COCKTAILS: SECTIONING

Since the mixing is properly done in the hookah bowl, sectioning shisha cocktails is a little bit simpler than blending. It’s better to use 2-3 different flavours or brands for sectioning (although 4 can also work, albeit fiddlier). As the term implies, sectioning divides each flavour or brand of shisha into a separate area of the hookah bowl. To do this, place a single flavour or brand of sliced shisha into the bowl and shape it with your fingers into the desired shape. Sectioning, as opposed to blending, will enable the subtleties of each flavour or brand to emerge at different points during the smoking session. This gives the bowl a lot more variation but won’t cover any unpleasant tastes or odours as mixing does. Cutting the shisha into a uniform length can be a bit more time-consuming when sectioning, as you have to trim each flavour/brand separately.

CREATING THE PERFECT BOWL WITH FLAVOURS

Making a bowl involves creating a flavour experience rather than merely purchasing a packet of flavour, herbal, or tobacco. Consider the flavours of cigarettes you like to smoke: fruity, sweet, savoury, or conventional.

SHISHA COCKTAILS: STONES

You can mix different flavours of shisha steam stones in addition to leaf-based shisha while making a cocktail. The mixing process is the most effective and simple to use for steam stones. Put the desired quantity of each flavour on a plate, combine the steam stones, and then fill your hookah bowl. To achieve the best results, consider combining single flavours first (for example, mint and fruit-flavoured steamed stones) to avoid blending too many flavours at once.