tahts just because the bowl is large. Bongs like this generate ALOT of suction, too much suction for the lighter. But as i can see you learned to jsut hold the lighter further away. And thats what you do. In my experience, if it has a large, steep walled bowl, you gotta hodl the lighter burther away. If the bowl is more like the usual shape, you can get the lighter deeper without it being sucked out.

ENJOY THAT THING! bust a lung or somethin!