Al Fakher Cocos Vs Ch Naturals

[mitchard]

After talking up the AF coconut coals I just got, arcane wanted a review. So, here we go.

Also, feel free to move this to the review section.

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Just to give a comparison, I chose to use one AF coal and one CH nat.



I paid $8.95 for the box of 60 coals from Hookah Company, which works out to about 15 cents per coal.
CH comes in a box of 132 coals (according to John's site) which comes to 10 cents per coal.




AF, AF, CH
The CH coals definately have a better consistancy as far as size goes. The AF coals are misshapen and vary slightly in size. To be fair, I picked through some of the coals and found one similar to the CH coal in size/shape.

For the rest of the review, AF ON THE LEFT, CH ON THE RIGHT.



2:30 minutes into lighting. Note that I do use a foil cover over the burner to keep the heat in. The CH nat is definitely lighting faster. The AF coals are labeled as "Easy Light", but they are obviously nats that need a little more than a lighter to do the trick.



3:45 min into lighting. CH is lite up quite a bit more.



Both coals are ready to go in 5 minutes. Through the lighting I did get a stench, but I will attribute the majority of it to the CH. when lighting the AF coals separately I get a must fainter coal smell then I usually do with the CH.

[mitchard]

Lit coals on the bowl.



First hit of Nakhla Sweet Melon. Nice clouds right off the bat. They only got better after a few pulls. Took the first pull just seconds after placing the coals.



5 minutes in. No real damage to either coal.



10 minutes. Ash and flip. The CH lost a little more mass than the AF coal.



20 minutes.



30 minutes. Still hitting strong. Both coals are starting to go down in size faster.



40 minutes.



One hour. Hardly getting smoke at this point. A tiny layer of the CH broke off the top when ashing it. Literally the height of a coin. So not much is missing from it. The AF coal still has a little more life in it.



Overall:

CH coals win in the consistency of shape/size department, as well as overall price.

The AF coals get the points for no smell, while the CH light a little bit faster.

Both coals have no real taste to them.

The AF coals ash in a finer, sandy ash. The CH ash looks more like tiny pebbles.

The CH coals burn a little hotter from experience. Two often times gets too harsh for Tangiers, while two AF coals is pretty close to perfect.

AF coals burn a little slower, which I suppose may be attributed to the lower temp?


Both of these coals are awesome. Each have their high and low points. It's hard to say which is really better. They are very similar in most ways as far as the coals themselves go. Heat management for the AF coals seems to be a bit easier for me. Less harsh points when smoking the same tobacco in the same method. Either way, I highly recommend both brands.