Coco Nara's Vs. Jap Coals (square Golden Canary)

[shesha1]

I have never used coco's before. I love golden canary square coals. If I try coco's what can I expect?

[EternalSoil]

hard to light but good stable coal that puts out alot of heat.

i havent used the golden canarys though so cant compare.

i actually realised a few days ago that exoticas have a slight taste...

my torch ran out so i couldnt light coconaras and used exoticas and it wasnt too great.

[SimplexCoda]

YA like the clean burning-ness of cocos, but i have one problem with them. No matter how much i light them. Typically i light them till they are red on one side and flaming, then flip do the same thing then flip till flaming then repeat. it is always all red when i get them off then when i put them on the hookah the bottom portion of the coal kinda dies out so i have to flip them over pretty often so that they stay going.

[ZenSilk]

Chemicals.

[EternalSoil]

i did notice that they don't stay completely lit too.

i keep lighting them a bit after they are all red and they still die down a bit but it doesnt hurt anything.

Zen ?

[ASUSEAN1]

Chemicals.

?


i think a lot of people use fake jap coals.. the ones that are like 4-5 dollars a box.. so its prob hard for a lot of people to compare..


the golden canary's are good though

[ZenSilk]

My old CocoNaras would act weird... though they had been sitting open ever since i bouth them in January so that's of course OK. They would sit on my electric coil burner, and the parts touching the metal WOULD NOT light up. SO I had to blow on them and then they caught on fire and it was fun to watch.

Most coals go out on the bottom. That's why you flip em. The only problem with QL or Japanese coals going out on the bottom is they take about double the time to light back up compared to Natural Coals.

Exoticas I just cannot use. You have to break them, they always impart a taste, and they are more inconsistent then a confused hermaphrodite with Bipolar Disorder. You do get TONs of coals in one box, especially when you break them into fourths.... but they make your session that much worse, so i don't think they are worth buying.

Plus they aren't made of renewable resources like CocoNara's are supposedly. Totally a Plus to all us Global Warming haters.

I love ntaural, all my ChapStick only contains Natural Ingredients (like my Lip Butter from ChapStick), so I LOVE Coconaras. They are the most natural a Ntural coal can get.

[ZenSilk]

YA like the clean burning-ness of cocos, but i have one problem with them. No matter how much i light them. Typically i light them till they are red on one side and flaming, then flip do the same thing then flip till flaming then repeat. it is always all red when i get them off then when i put them on the hookah the bottom portion of the coal kinda dies out so i have to flip them over pretty often so that they stay going.

I have had the same problem with Exoticas, Golden Ql, Golden canary's , 3K's , and the one Japanese Coals that come in the black box... kinda hard to explain, but very easy to find. Lack of O2 to the bottom of the coals causes that of course. They are on the bottom, and if you don't poke holes in your bowl like a serial killer, it's gonna happen. It happens MUCH slower with a Windcover over it though.. so get one and use it (if you don't of course).

[DarkParade]

YA like the clean burning-ness of cocos, but i have one problem with them. No matter how much i light them. Typically i light them till they are red on one side and flaming, then flip do the same thing then flip till flaming then repeat. it is always all red when i get them off then when i put them on the hookah the bottom portion of the coal kinda dies out so i have to flip them over pretty often so that they stay going.

try making a foil cover for your stove that seems to get coals burning really hot and all the way threw
might be worth trying out

[ZenSilk]

YA like the clean burning-ness of cocos, but i have one problem with them. No matter how much i light them. Typically i light them till they are red on one side and flaming, then flip do the same thing then flip till flaming then repeat. it is always all red when i get them off then when i put them on the hookah the bottom portion of the coal kinda dies out so i have to flip them over pretty often so that they stay going.

try making a foil cover for your stove that seems to get coals burning really hot and all the way threw
might be worth trying out

Definitely works. Good call Dark.

[iamscott06]

YA like the clean burning-ness of cocos, but i have one problem with them. No matter how much i light them. Typically i light them till they are red on one side and flaming, then flip do the same thing then flip till flaming then repeat. it is always all red when i get them off then when i put them on the hookah the bottom portion of the coal kinda dies out so i have to flip them over pretty often so that they stay going.

try making a foil cover for your stove that seems to get coals burning really hot and all the way threw
might be worth trying out

Great thinking Dark! I'll give this a go tonight, hopefully it speeds the process up a bit..

[SimplexCoda]

Well i have to have the fan going to get them to relight once i turn them over. and i turn them over seriously all the time. Didnt mean to thread jack, just trying to give my view of the cocos. Plus i have noticed that all coals do that and i realize that its a lack of oxygen, it just seems to me that the cocos have to be turned way more often. But on the plus side and to me far outweighing the turning over issue is the fact that they burn and taste so clean. Almost no ash what so ever. When I used exoticas i would use about 3/4 of a stick total and the tray on my KM would be filled up and with cocos there is litteraly almost no ash in the tray.

[Scoop]

ive finally gotten around to using cocos, given a gift of a handful from a friend.

they are good coal, better than exoticas. however i still like golden canary the best so far.

[cymptom]

I bought Coconaras with the intention of comparing them to the Golden Canaries. They're definitely the best "natural" coal I've used (out of Stargate, Nour, Exotica, bulk lump) and they're far better than the Chinese knockoffs of Japanese style coals, but I think the Canaries and Three Kings still burn cleaner. They do last quite a while, but they're also inconveniently difficult to light. I don't think I'll be buying them again.

[Codename067]

Coco Nara hands down. The batch I got from Lebanon was freaking amazing.

[MechAnt]

Coconaras are good coals. I like Jap Canary Goldens too. They are both really good coals. The Canarys are a bit messy cause you have to blow off the silver and their ash sticks and only have to ash them a couple of times. Coco's do ash a bit but not all that much. Coco's last longer but with Canarys, you can control the length of you session well because the coals don't last TOO long. Either one is a win.

[Scoop]

i start the golden canarys on each other and dont even worry about the silver.

[antouwan]

Coconaras are good coals. I like Jap Canary Goldens too. They are both really good coals. The Canarys are a bit messy cause you have to blow off the silver and their ash sticks and only have to ash them a couple of times. Coco's do ash a bit but not all that much. Coco's last longer but with Canarys, you can control the length of you session well because the coals don't last TOO long. Either one is a win.

you can also control the length of the session with the cocos, although it isn't really advertised you can extinguish the cocos with a few drops of water, and then they're ready to relight after a minute. literally.

a month ago i lit some cocos preparing for a session with my friends. right when the coals were ready to put on the head my friends come up with the brilliant idea of going to go get some fast food. i put the coals unger some running water and then when we got back threw them back on the stove and they lit right back up.

[Anxiety]

cocos are definatly an amazing coal, although like everyone is saying here they take some serious heat to get going. I bought the charcoal heater off of HS and it gives off some serious voltage and gets them red hot all around in about 5 mins, i remember one night i was too lazy to light up the coco's and used my golden QL's and it was just a horrible session....once you go natural you never go back....imo at least

[AzZ]

I ordered some Golden Canary coals so when I get them I can compare them with Coco's. The only drawback to Coco's is the time they take to light, but it's toally worth it as they burn for a long time and produce literally no ash. I can confirm they can be re lit once extinguished, at least with a blow torch anyway.

[Geiseric]

I'm gonna have to go against the trend and say I like Exoticas better than Jap coals AND Coco-Naras. Don't get me wrong, coco-naras are good, and Exoticas DO have that slight taste at first, unless you light them perfectly, but I find if I factor in ease of use, heat production, length of use, and most importantly, PRICE, Exoticas are the best choice. If Coco-Naras suddenly became gram-for-gram the same price as Exoticas, I'd probobly use them equally, becuase I really do enjoy the shape of Exoticas.

I've never had any issue lighting Coco-Naras on a stove, its just that they are so small, so short lived, and so damn pricey.

[Bulldog_916]

I agree Geiseric. Right now I'm using the Easy Lite Japanese coals and they are good enough. They dont impart any taste and they are dirt cheap. I liked exoticas for the same reason, I just cant bring myself to make an order online yet. I like inexpensive, good coals and dont really care how much or how little ash they produce as long as they are good on the longevity side and produce good heat without going out. It would do nothing but piss me off if I had to take the coal off every ten minutes and blow on it to get the whole thing red again.

[theotherone31415]

I've used 3 kings, canary goldens, romman bulk, "silver flint" japs that HS sells, al ajdad, exoticas, and nour coals and the canarys are my favorite. they're easier to light than anything but the 3 kings, they ash BLACK (chemicals make other coals ash other colors i've heard, but i don't know how much i believe this cause romman lemonwood ashes gray and they sure as hell have no chemicals in em), and they're a great size: 3 of them seems to get any tobacco going reeeeaaal quick on a small phunnel. i do want to try coconaras though, they seem to have the same shape as the canarys and they're all natural AND no trees cut down! they're also cheaper than the canarys. i dunno, we'll see once i tried em. all i know is exoticas are a pain in the ass to light in my dorm on a hotplate

[PuRecHi]

:shrugs:

I've used 3 Kings, Exoticas, Coco-Nara's, Gold Canary's, and some off-brand QLs at a friend's house.. I personally prefer the Coco-Nara's above all the others I've tried. People say they're difficult/take too long to light; this hasn't been a problem for me due to the fact I begin lighting the coals before I'm preparing the hookah. So by the time I'm done packing the bowl, getting water in the base, etc - the coals are lit and all is well.

QLs are no good anymore after going Coco-Nara, I was using some QL coals last night and it's definitely a noticeable difference between Coco's and Quick-Lites.. ;; Edited May 8, 2008 by PuRecHi

[Eifah]

I'd like to add that coconaras are really hard to light. I use a blowtorch, so I have to light my coals after my hookah is set up, and it adds a lot of time having to light each coal for so long.

I've been away from the boards for a while, but when I was posting a lo of people were getting bad boxes of exoticas (having to throw them away). Is this fixed? Or did we decide it was just a few isolated occurances? I'd like to try them since they will light quicker.