QUESTIONS and some cafe reviews

[yashman19]

1. Hotplates are fine, but seem like they would take forever to fully
light. If you have access to a stove, and electric would be great, but
any stove would work better than a hotplate. Also, I suggest getting a
torch. I got my propane torch from Home Depot for 12 bucks. It comes
with one standard valve, and a bottle of propane which lasts me a solid
4-5 months on one tank. After the tank empties, just go buy another one
at Home Depot for 1.99. Can't beat that.

2. Search "coals" in the forum function. People like 3Kings or Golden
quicklights, or Nour Natural fingers. I personally use nour fingers
exclusively.

3. Everyone smokes mixes of their own, but most of the time people are
looking for reviews on specific flavors of different brands, not mixes.
There have been a few threads on favorite mixes though, try searching
for that.

4. People have all different sizes of bowls. I have a standard porcelin
bowl that holds roughly 25grams? Give or take. So I suppose I could get
around 10 bowls worth.

5. roughly around 2-3.

But this isn't the same for everyone. Some people who use large bowls
fill it all the way to the brim with ma'assel, while others only use a
spoon worth of ma'assel. Its all in how you pack it.

Skim through a few pages back and check out some older threads, or like
I mentioned earlier, use the forum's search feature to look up key
words. You will be able to answer a lot of your own questions that have
already come up in teh past.

Welcome to the forum though, and ask any more questions you might have that you arn't able to find.

[Sonthert]

1. I recommend using Japenese charcoals...you won't need a hot plate...just a cigarette lighter. There are to classes of the Japanese charcoals: the light and the heavy. The light contain more glue and binder...the break apart easier...but smoke more poorly dues to the extra binding materials. Golden Charcoal are light ones, Abu Hitham are heavy. Additionally, they are about the same price and the light ones don't burn as long as the heavy ones. There are many FAKE Japanese brands. Imitation is the highest form of flattery...2. See above. If not Japanese coals, I prefer natural charcoal. Mesquite is the most common, since it would be most commonly used for BBQ. If you live near a large city or near a BBQ capitol, you might be able to find plain, natural charcoal (less flavor than mesquite, obviously). They should like hunts of blackened trees...if they aren't, if they are preformed briquettes...Don't use them!! Preformed briquettes often use poisonous or flammable chemicals as binders to make the charcoal light easier.3. No Comment4. About 10. My company makes a bowl that could hold nearly half of a 250g, so bowl size matters quite a  bit. 5. About 1/5 of the 250g box.