Shisha valve balls - why do you need them?

Have you ever wondered what the little balls that come with your shisha are all about? You're not alone! Many people don't know what valve balls are actually good for. The name at least reveals the area of ​​application of the beads , which are usually made of glass, but are also available in plastic and have a diameter between 5mm and 12mm.

Shisha valve balls and their area of ​​application

The valve balls of the shisha have a very fundamental task for your smoking pleasure. They ensure that your shisha is tight. Without it, you would inhale air when you smoke. Valve balls are always used for the blow-out valve . Here the valve ball ensures that the opening is closed when you pull on your shisha. When pulling, the ball is pulled into the sleeve, thus preventing the supply of external air. When you blow out the shisha, the ball is moved upwards, opening the opening. This makes it possible to blow the smoke out of the shisha. However, this only works if there is no valve ball in the hose adapter. If there are valve balls in both the blow-out valve and the hose adapter , you can still pull on your shisha, but you can no longer blow it out. But why should you put a valve ball in the hose adapter?

Smoking shisha with several people

If a shisha has several hose connections, valve balls should also be inserted into the hose adapters to prevent the supply of external air. After all, you only want to enjoy the smoke from the shisha and not the surrounding air. Especially when having a sisha session with several people, it is much more pleasant to smoke with valve balls in the hose adapters so that you have a permanently closed system. You can then no longer blow out the shisha, but otherwise everyone who is not pulling on the shisha would always have to keep their mouthpieces closed, which doesn't exactly contribute to a comfortable shisha session. Although there are a few approaches to smoking a pipe with several people and still blowing it out, they haven't really proven to be effective in practice

Valve balls made of glass or plastic?

Shisha valve balls are made of glass or plastic. The classic glass balls are usually included in the scope of delivery of a standard hookah. However, these are of course heavier than the plastic balls and therefore more pressure is required to blow out the shisha and allow the smoke to escape. You can also easily purchase the plastic valve balls in a shisha shop or online to make things a little easier for yourself. However, it is important to pay attention to the correct diameter.