 The mainstay of Ali 's act was " water spouting " . After swallowing large amounts of water , 60 to 100 glasses at a time , he spouted the water in a continuous stream for a sustained period of time , sometimes approaching one minute . Another common trick was to swallow 30 to 50 unshelled hazelnuts ( although one of his posters advertised 40 pecans ) , followed by another nut of a different variety , such as an almond . Ali then brought them up one by one with the odd @-@ nut @-@ out produced at a mark called out by the audience . In another trick , Ali swallowed three to six handkerchiefs of different hues and then produced them in a color order requested by audience members . 
