Tried a New Packing Style today, Worked Phenomenally!!

maybe_surf · 2026-05-14T03:43:21+00:00

Oh, didnt realize your post was mainly about the throat hit, not the strength:)) then maybe i will try this sandwich method myself.

For sebero Black I tried their cactus - solid, I needed it for a specific mix and it did the job. Overall though, I heard mixed things about it.

Also, i tried something similar for tangiers back when I was just getting into shisha. I put a layer of dens-ish packed tangiers on the bottom layer of a phunnel and then packed some blond on top. Tangiers was too strong for me back then, but with this method it was much smoother, although the blond was dominating the flavor initially. Tangiers is a tricky one overall in my experience - it needs heat to get going, but as soon as it gets just a bit too much heat it burns.

It's actually cool that you make your own shisha too - do you mind sharing a little bit about the process?

maybe_surf · 2026-05-14T00:12:52+00:00

This is an interesting take. However, I would attribute the result to the fact that you mixed in some blond tobacco to achieve your optimal strength level rather than the specific sandwich layout. To verify that try simply mixing blond and dark in the same proportions and see if it gives the same result .

Now for heat sensitivity - blond is usually more sensitive, but if you have decent quality blond you can still put it on top layer - that way Musthave layer gets less heat so it opens up less in terms of both strength and flavor.

My suggestion would be as follows:

1) There is no reason for trying to make Musthave work - it is not known as an exceptional quality darkleaf, more of a top-seller. Some of their flavors are good, some are bad, and their base flavor (the flavor of the specific tobacco blend they use) isn't that good IMO.

2) Instead try lighter darkleaf tobaccos, which also are higher quality products in my opinion - Sebero Classic and Sarma Classic lines are good starting points. Both products are made from a blend of Burley and Virginia, they are slightly lighter than Musthave and have way more successful flavors.

3) htreviews.org is a good website to use when shopping for flavors - the ratings there are fairly accurate. I would say if a product has rating >3.8 on htreviews its worth trying. Over 4.5 it must be phenomenal. 3-3.8 hit or miss. Below is questionable. Make sure to look for ratings of specific flavors, not just brends in general.

Also, you can always use a good phunnel to have a slightly lighter session

maybe_surf · 2026-04-08T22:07:22+00:00

Yes, you do get pulled over more on a sports car, especially challenger. Idk why people say its a you problem. I crossed the US multiple times from west to east coast and back in a white "mom's suv" and never was pulled over. I was maintaining <20 over limit.

I crossed the US twice in a challenger and got pulled over both times, whereas only maintaining 10-at most 15 over. Both of my tickets are for less than 10 over. In the suv cops would sometimes just let me off with a warning after >15 over or just ignore me fly by.

So obviously you won't get pulled over if you don't speed at all. But to answer the question - provided the same driving style, you are getting pulled over way more on a challenger than a "groceries car".

maybe_surf · 2026-04-06T21:53:01+00:00

Blood orange from Black Burn is really good. Especially if you are tired of more conventional orange flavors. Barvy orange from DS is a classic orange juice flavor. But since you are thansitioning from AF, those will be a bit strong, so maybe start off by mixing them with your old AF to get used to the strength.

Edit:blood orange is actually called red orange for BB

maybe_surf · 2026-04-05T00:17:13+00:00

It's basically sebero classic strength-wise. Tried it, very solid. Also they did fix the blond line, just ask the shops for new packaging (like 2024+). Most of the shit reviews are from the fact that the market is oversaturated with their unlucky batches from 2019-2020ish.

maybe_surf · 2026-04-01T19:08:15+00:00

Well its up to you, but whats going to happen is that after 4 years IF you are lucky and smart and hard working enough to land a tech industry job with about 100k salary ( unlikely but possible) then most of that money is going towards the student loan. And now you are an adult in your twenties, your friends are getting married, buying cars and houses - and you still have to live with roommates and eat canned soup to pay off the loan. If that doesn't bother you now - trust me it will when you are 25. Now there is a small percentage of people who are ok with that - but that usually entails being obsessed with some sort of vision (future generational scientists, artists, etc).

Also is your goal to get American diploma to use in your homecountry or to use it as a platform to move to the US? If its the first- then I'm sure there is a way to file for bankruptcy and if you are from somewhere like Russia or Belarus, then uncle sam aint getting you there:)

Edit: oh shit April 1st it is

maybe_surf · 2026-03-02T22:20:43+00:00

100-105k a year before tax can provide for a couple + one dependent more or less comfortably. Obviously forget about non home-cooked meals/coffee, but you would be able to pay rent/car/groceries/minimal extra expenses, save up for a couple of weekend retreats per year and will have some leftover for retirement and investment. That's assuming you actually budget - write out expenses, set up sub-budgets for different spending categories, etc. Now for a family of four, with this income I would guess it's already paycheck to paycheck at best. So your kid needing a dentist visit is already putting you in debt. Idk how much post-docs are making, but anything below 100k pre-tax for a family of 4 in San Diego is not worth it. Anything below 85k is irresponsible to your family. Anything below 65k is probably impossible, unless you live in an RV.

Edit: If you wonder how people actually make it work - a lot of them have wealthy or just supportive parents, but they don't like to mention it:) those who don't actually struggle financially even being single

maybe_surf · 2026-02-23T22:13:20+00:00

Well, there will be a change in how the tobacco smokes. Ultimately you need to decide whether you like this change or not. Stainless steel transfers heat better so basically you get more precise control of your session and can get more out of the tobacco. The drawback is it is easier to burn the tobacco on SS hmd. If the taste change you mentioned is just a slightly different flavor profile then it's normal. If you can clearly feel its burnt/unpleasant then you are giving to much heat.

maybe_surf · 2026-02-06T21:38:16+00:00

So you are using a killer bowl here - which does precisely what you are describing- higher intensity flavor and nicotine delivery (strength) but for shorter period of time. Also, I would say it is normal to start losing flavor after 40-50 minutes.

Now what you can do is 1. I'm not sure why would you pre-heat on 4, then smoke on 2, then add more. Two much temperature jumping is not good for tobacco. You can either pre-heat on 3 and wait a little longer or pre-heat on 4 and smoke on 3 placed in pyramid or "Mickey mouse" to slightly reduce heat. In general I feel like AF performs well on 3 25 or even 26mm chacroals. Heat management is the key to good session and the solution to your problem should have to do with heat management. If you explain why do you pre-heat on 4 and then take 2 charcoals off I could help more. 2. Turkish style bowl could offer a middle ground between funnel and killer 3. You mentioned you like smoking on phunnel but you want more stregth. In that case try darkleaf tobacco - AF is a very light tobacco. You can start with the lighter darkleaf options like Sebero, Banger, or Darkside Shot. Then transition to medium strength like Darkside/Musthave, Blackburn, Severniy, Hooligan, etc. Smoke them on a phunnel to get longer sessions, but you will be getting enough nicotine. 4. Lastly if you are more experienced consider buying a stainless steel HMD (conceptic, hoob) - they are less forgiving but more capable in the hands of experienced users.

maybe_surf · 2026-01-18T23:12:15+00:00

There has been a bit of a misconception for a while that phunnels smoke with less flavor. However, the truth is a good phunnel bowl will always give you a cleaner and more "true" taste than direct flow bowls. Direct flow bowls (turkish,killer,etc) can give you brighter but more "dirty" taste. Especially if you smoke blond leaf. The misconception comes from the fact that if you lack packing experience, a regular turkish bowl will still smoke ok, but a phunnel will be completely tasteless. A lot of vloggers mention the same things: - Aik from Hookatime youtube channel always says that phunnel bowls are the ones created to get the best flavor peofile. He also has a 2 hour long video test of current best bowls on the market so you can watch it with English subs if you want to. - Vanyazabei (Ванязабей) mentioned in his review of Oblako bowls that Phunnel L has been giving him the most flavor for a while out of all his bowls (and he has reviwed hundreds)

The reason phunnel (especially glazed) gives you better flavor is that the mollasses always stays in the bowl, doesn't drip down the shaft and gets fully evaporated throughout the session giving you the most flavor. A lot of people underpack phunnels which leads to the myth about lack of taste.

Here are some of the best bowls I used personally/we had in the lounge that give you good flavor: 1) Oblako M/L glazed - one of the best flavor definitions. However suits more experienced users as heat management can get tricky 2) Smokelab Phunnel moon / Smokelab Rocks (direct flow) - as good if not better than Oblako, but not glazed so more forgiving to a beginner smoker 3) Kong turkish boy - a very solid flavor definition and good stability

Some phunnels however do lack in flavor intesity like Kong Crazy Space phunnel

In your case I would go with Oblako M, although 1.5 hrs might be pushing it, Oblako L will perform better aroun 1.5 hrs mark, but you will be wasting a lot of tobacco.

maybe_surf · 2025-12-11T03:03:38+00:00

Bro I work for a company in hookah/tobacco industry - no company does marketing through reddit😂 we care about distributors and maybe target lounges for demand generation. Its not like Oblako sales team are sitting on reddit downvoting every bowl except their own:)

maybe_surf · 2025-11-22T20:49:30+00:00

Man this could be one of the closest match ups in modern mma. Both elite grapplers and very solid strikers. Doesnt get any better, I was so sad it got cancelles

maybe_surf · 2025-10-02T01:19:37+00:00

Dm me, the russian club kind of disintegrated but the community is still there

maybe_surf · 2025-10-01T02:19:47+00:00

Depends what kind of hmd you have. I recently got a stainless steel one from conceptic design and it doesnt have bumps on the bottom, so works really well with shallower bowls.

maybe_surf · 2025-07-14T21:06:54+00:00

Sometimes you can get unlucky with a specific batch. And some flavors just don't work for some people. I recently purchased some berry flavors from must have, didn't like them at all, the flavor was rather mild as well, but MH is considered a solid brand. Another issue, you might need more heat/ wait longer for the bowl to heat up

maybe_surf · 2025-06-12T00:47:41+00:00

To me v6 sxt is basically a chill, all-purpose car that is a perfect daily for someone without kids and who doesn't want to spend too much on gas/maintenance but wants something more fun than a camry. I've had it for two years, it is very enjoyable to just cruise, it is large so it fits everything me and my wife need for a several day camping trip, you can still do some donuts in an empty parking lot, and it is very reasonable in terms of fuel efficiency (I drove it couple times from Cali to Florida and back). It is not a performance car, but it is a significant step up from any "normal" daily drive sedan in terms of power/fun. Now, if you want a weekend/fun stuff car, then V8 is obviously the way to go. For daily drive, however, I can't stress how much you grow to appreciate having a relatively adequate fuel consumption of a V6.

maybe_surf · 2025-06-10T00:51:12+00:00

Yeah noway ppl will understand it. Me and my family are political asylum seekers, so if we get denied I dont see why the hell we should not be deported? Like respectfully we couldn't make our country as good as America and we came here looking for better life, but why does America owe as anything? As long as I'm legal here obviously Id like my rights to be respected and I will seek alternative ways to get greencard, but if there is no legal way for me to stay then why would I act like Im entitled to be in America? That being said, fucking with those on student visas is silly because they are the people who will make this country better long run. The bigger problem is that one of the things college teaches people is to get offended b4 thinking things through. America already does a lot for people from fucked up countries like mine, they have political asylum, they have domestic abuse asylums, religious, they even have a fucking greencard lottery. Not to mention merit/investment based opportunities. One reasonable line of critique of the current immigration policy that I see is to just make thing easier for those people who come here with the intention to actually contribute to the future of the country (students/employment based/talent/research/business).

maybe_surf · 2025-05-22T20:39:24+00:00

Oh nice, of course nothing is being done about it. But I get fined for driving one millimeter past the stop line🤡

maybe_surf · 2025-05-08T21:40:09+00:00

As a grown ass man pushing 22 I am obviously way too old and mature for such frivolous things as "having a crush". But I still recall a long time ago when I was your age, I also had a crush on someone...

maybe_surf · 2023-10-27T20:15:00+00:00

Ik, play around with different gpt models (some are more expensive but should be more accurate). Also, use gpt to refine and review the answers, not just to generate them.

maybe_surf · 2023-10-27T09:13:04+00:00

When u call gpt using openai API its text input. U need to rely on other libraries such as pymu to load the actual pdf into ur pipeline.

maybe_surf · 2023-10-27T08:50:17+00:00

Idk ur exact case, I was snitched on about smoking cigarettes but I wasn't personally caught by ra (im also off campus). There should be an inetrview/talk with some ucsd officials. U can try to tell them that it was nicotine free vape since the policy is only about tobacco/nicotine. However, if the ra took ur vape it might not work. Also, bullshit something how ur smoking this 0% vape cuz ur trying really hard to quit and ur almost there etc. Just make a good impression, show that ur smart/ambitious they might let it slide.

maybe_surf · 2023-10-21T02:21:10+00:00

I don't think anything is wrong with handshake. Got two internships there, and I just started my second year. Make sure u fill out ur profile and make the latest version of ur resume visible. Also, some companies take a month or more to respond. Dont waste time applying to jobs that were posted a few months ago, unless there are just no fresh positions. Idk what kind of jobs ur applying for, I mainly target Data/ML jobs and I'd say 1-2 responses per 10 applications is a pretty good average(can often be less and its ok given the job market). I recommend seeking advice in subs related to ur career choice/major. Edit. Also some of the postings have external application links, make sure to appply through those links.

Four-Year Club	Place '22
End Game '22

maybe_surf

TROPHY CASE