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34 tobaccoasia The fact that the ceramic head is glazed and not made of porous clay brings several advan- tages. Firstly, it does not absorb the aroma of flavored tobacco. ticeable changes in taste and the general smoking experience. Furthermore, once burning charcoal pieces have been placed on top of the capsule, smoking can commence practically at once, as the contained tobacco attains the right temperature almost immediately. "This is because of the men- tioned heat-conducting properties of aluminum. Traditional shishas require five or even more puffs before one can draw the first smoke, and often you go blue in the face due to the strain," joked Jalloul. To produce the innovative capsules, Shishap- resso S.A.L. developed its own proprietary, fully automated "all-in-one". But, "Even the agitator elements are shaped right in that machine. Out comes a ready-to-use capsule." Top-class tobacco for shishapresso The company didn't leave its tobacco supply to chance either. "We never wanted to compromise our product by using blended tobaccos, so we acquired majority shares in a UAE-based firm called Layalina Tobacco Manufacturing FZC." This move secured Shishapresso S.A.L. a steady supply of single-source, natural tobacco leaves to be used in its new innovation. Partnering with Layalina also brought the additional advantage that Shishapresso capsules are now available in more than 150 different flavor varieties. Electronic shishas to challenge age-old traditions The other development that is predicted by many industry insiders to bring about a major shake-up in terms of how shishas are going to be enjoyed is the introduction of electronic shishas, or "e- shishas" for short. Of course, the niche must be considered an almost natural progression from e-cigarettes, which as an alternative to tobacco smoking have become so tremendously successful that even leading tobacco multinationals have in the meantime taken to marketing their very own e-cigarette brands. Definite demand for e-hookahs In principle, it's only a very small step from an e- cigarette to an e-shisha, and nobody has perhaps recognized this better than the myriad of Chinese manufacturers who today supply the vast bulk of electronic smoking products. "After already hav- ing experienced outstanding success with our ex- tensive range of e-cigarettes and – for the past four years – our disposable e-cigarettes, we embarked on some market research and found that there was a definite consumer need for e-shishas; or e-hoo- kahs as we prefer to call them, because that's the term mostly used in the West," said Steven Zhang, sales manager at Shenzhen-based Desonic Elec- tronic Co. Ltd., one of the top three e-cigarette manufacturers in China. Shishapresso ceramic head with tobacco capsule. "It's in the ceramic head where the true magic happens" Secondly, unlike fired, unglazed clay, ceramic does not store heat well, which effectively means there will be very little heat transfer during smok- ing. "One problem with traditional heads is that they eventually transfer so much heat to the to- bacco that it burns on the outside, while the core remains unburned. You basically only taste the charred tobacco." Since ceramic does not store heat and because aluminum on the other hand is a very good heat conductor, this assures that the tobacco in the capsule burns evenly through and without the need of having to stir up the charge as in a traditional shisha head. "It's very economical. One single Shishapresso capsule lasts for at least one hour compared to just 20 to 30 minutes for a traditional shisha," said Jalloul. …And in the capsule, too. Yet at least some credit also ought to go to his innovative aluminum capsules. After all, each and every Shishapresso capsule delivers consistent taste due to its design always featuring the same number of ventilation and drawing holes. One is- sue with traditional shishas is that slight variations in the preparation procedure can bring about no-