Hookah bowls are one of the most important parts of any hookah session, and the hookah industry has a variety of bowls to offer. The often overlooked bowl is actually the Center of the action on your hookah. It is where you control your hookah smoke. All other gears such as the hose, base, and shaft only transport the bowl’s work to your mouth. Smokers always prefer absolute efficiency, and hence bowl manufacturers are coming up with more proficient bowl designs. Even though there are available in variety of shapes, sizes, and materials, they all serve the same essential function.

Conventional hookah bowls are clay bowls with holes at the bottom. But like in the case of any other smoke implements, in case of hookah bowls as well, there are new entries in market. A bowl holds the shisha tobacco. Your choice of coal warms it, creating smoke that passes down the stem. Water at base filters the smoke before traveling through the hose. The way of packing your bowl, quality of shisha in it and the type and manipulation of the coal, all determines the density of smoke is created. You can get many different types of bowls, made of different materials such as ceramic, clay, glass and metal. Bowls with materials that retain heat are better as they keep shisha tobacco warmer.

Variety of hookah shisha bowl is a little overwhelming with the different hole placements and sizes. Let’s go through some of the common shisha bowl types

Egyptian shisha bowls: These are clay or ceramic bowls with 4-6 holes at the bottom. Egyptian bowl is the most widely used one because they come free with most of the hookahs and are inexpensive.

Syrian hookah bowls: These bowls are similar to Egyptian shisha bowl, but are with a narrow base that fits into the pipe of the hookah. They come with 4-6 holes on the bottom of the shisha container. The major difference between a Syrian and an Egyptian shisha bowl is that in case of Egyptian, the hookah tube goes inside the base of the bowl. While on a Syrian bowl, it is just opposite, the base of the bowl goes inside the shisha pipe stem

Phunnel hookah bowls: Phunnel bowls do not have holes at the bottom of it. Instead they have an open hole spike at the middle of the bowl. This is one of the most popular bowl styles among modern hookah lovers due to its design features. The Phunnel bowl comes with options that most hookah pros desire to control of, such as the width of the spike and interior depth. As they do not have holes at the bottom, Phunnel bowls hold the tobacco juices for longer time.

Vortex shisha bowls: Vortex bowls have a spike at the middle of the bowl with 4-5 holes at the sides of the spike. Vortex bowls work similarly to other common types of shisha bowls. But the capped spike prevents any juice from leaking into your hookah. A tight foil application creates a vortex flow of air to pass through the tobacco. A fluff pack method with this bowl will save on your shisha consumption.

Hybrid Phunnel hookah bowls: These bowls are new versions of classic phunnel bowls. The hybrid phunnel bowls are designed to increase airflow. They prevent your foil from being sucked down and cutting off the air flow.

Apple On Top hookah bowls: These are relatively new entrants in hookah world. These bowls are similar to vortex bowls, having a spike with 4 holes at the middle of the bowl. Though these shisha bowls are made of aluminium. These bowls come with a layer for the coal. So, you do not require aluminum foil here.

Glider Bowl: This product attempts to resolve the messy task of packing a hookah bowl. This design provides different trays for coal and shisha tobacco. Shisha juice stays for longer time. The juices do not drain easily like with the bowls that have holes at the bottom.

If you keep on exploring through bowl options, there are many other designs such as lipped shisha bowls which provide a more secure fit, inverted shisha bowls which provides two different bowls or electronic shisha bowls which works like electronic cigarettes. Every hookah smoker holds their own ways and preferences when it comes to preparing hookah sessions. But experimenting with new bowls is always worthy as it either makes you happy with a better hookah session or makes you satisfied about the old one in your arsenal!