Natural Coals: The Showdown

[ih303]

One surprising difference I only recently discovered is due to the difference in shape between the coals. Coco's are a little taller than the CH's. I noticed this when everytime I would take a drag once the coals had burned down, the vibration would move the coco nubs towards the center of the bowl. I contribute this to the slightly bigger coco's higher center of gravity.

Small as it may seem, having to move the coco's after every pull was kind of a hassle.

[evilded777]

I have only used the CH quick lights, and while I do like them... I am going to have to agree with the high ash/low heat factor. I must also say that they some times impart a distinct nitrate tang, and its hard to tell how soon after they have ashed that its safe to use them.

Coco's... if only they made them half size! I like mine split in two, so four halves or so on my phake small phunnel work so well.

[ih303]

Update

At lunch today, I decided to do an experiment to compare different brands of coals. I came up with some surprising results.

Start Time: I put one of each Coconara, Chronic Hookah, and Exotica, each identical in size, on a coil burner to start. While I didn't have a timer, I observed that the Exotica was the first to start, followed by the CH coal and then the Coconara. Interestingly enough, all were fully lit in roughly the same period of time with only very slight period differences. ADVANTAGE: NONE

Odor: While starting, I noticed a very toxic odor coming off the Exotica. This has been noted before. The CH coal also had a distinct odor but not nearly as strong as the Exotica. The Coconara coal had no noticable odor. ADVANTAGE: Coconara

Burn Time: This was the most surprising result. After coals were fully started, I placed all three of them on top of a standard MYA bowl to have a smoke. Again, I had no timer, but I noticed the CH coal and the Coco coal seemed to burn at almost exactly the same rate. Ultimately, the Exotica burned out the quickest. This is contrary to my previous observation that Coco coals burned longer. This error can be attributed to the fact that most Coco coals are bigger than CH coals lending to their longer burn time. ADVANTAGE: Tie - CH/Coco

Conclusion:

Until today I was convinced that Coconara coals are superior to CH coals and was prepared to switch. However, after my little experiment this afternoon, I am happy to say that I will continue using CH coals. I feel they are very much comparable to Coco's and may even burn a little hotter. All of this combined with CH's lower price equals winning product, IMO.

[JDHarding]

I've been messing around with John's quicklights lately. I've used coco naras, and usually require 3 halves for a phunnel. John's I gotta use 3 whole coals to get working right. But I gotta say the flavor with John's is better than with the cocos. However, the quicklights stink bad while lighting, so that's a major point deduction. I'll try getting some of the natural ones and see how they are.

John's also ash like mad, and they're tough to bang the ash off of. They're pretty tough coals, and stay together pretty well, no matter how hard you bang them against the tray. Cocos too.

I'd say I like them both equally, really, but John's are giving me better flavor with all of my shishas. I don't know why. They're not as hot, and I can place the whole coal, face down, on the bowl instead of having half of it hanging off the side like cocos.

[theophylaktos]

...neither are as good overall as Exoticas.

I also have a box of exoticas for comparison. I like them but feel they are a bit of a hassle. How big do you cut your exotica fingers down to and what do you use to cut? I've been using a dremmel tool with a cutting attachment. Works good but mighty messy.

Garden snips, 10 bucks. Bust exotica's into WHATEVER sections you need: very very useful.


Coco Nara > AF Coco's > Exotica's (taste, heat, ash)

Haven't had Chronic yet.

dude i do the same thing haha

[4d1ct3d]

You americans really have to try tom's cocobricos / cocochas best coals I've ever tryed! (including coconaras, ch coals, exoticas, 3k, golden instant lites, exotica japs and a few more)..

And they are really cheap too