Stargate Natural Finger Coals

[NonstickRon]

After trying and not liking the flavor from a few quicklights I bought some of those Stargate Fingers cause they just had them at my smoke shop. I was a bit nervious about lighting and keeping them lit. (my stove is a glasstop).

I remembered I had a torch in my workshop that was left in there when we bought the house. They sell in a kit for less than $20 at the hardware store but since I already had the torch part I just had to but a new canister of propane. Was less than three dollars. Hold the charcoal piece firmly with bbq tongs and in 60 seconds that torch has the coal burning nicely. Burn a section with the torch, blow on it, rotate and repeat. Stays lit the whole time.

[Plain Old Me]

Stargate Fingers

Ease of Lighting: Easy to light, at least for a natural coal. However, the sticks are very soft and crumbly (at least in comparison to the Diamentes that I usually use) and you can easily waste charcoals when you are breaking the stick up.
Smell: Smelled nasty in the bag and while lighting, but after it got going it was not too bad.
Taste: Had a noticable effect on taste. Not overpowering or anything, but not good. It left a bit of an aftertaste.
Ash: Wierd ashing pattern. Kinda had big pieces of ash, not fine at all. The coals did not easily break after they got going though (my usual Diamentes usually get a tad weaker as they heat up and sometimes split).
Longetivity: This was the most impressive characteristic. Coals kept going up to 2 hours.
Heat: Heat was OK, although the heat produced throughout the session was very inconsistant, with tons of heat in the middle (I only had one piece on during the middle of the session) and a lot less heat at the beginning and end (I had 3 pieces).
Overall: 6/10. I got these because I needed more coals and they were all that was in stock and were cheap ($6 for a bag). However, I am going to stick with Diamentes for my main smoke because these have an aftertaste that I find annoying and the heat managment is a bit annoying. I was expecting more based on the reviews of this stuff; maybe I got a bad batch or something...

[vegasvic]

Stargate Coals

Ease of Lighting: 8/10. Heated on electric coil burner. Fully lit after about 10 minutes, turned over once

Smell: 4/10. Not as bad as quicklites, but still a very noticeable odor during lighting

Taste: 0/10. I bought these coals based largely on fantastic reviews in this forum and on other sites. I was extremely disappointed with these primarily because of the strange, chemically tasted that is imparted on the smoke. It definitely gets worse later in the session, until you finally have to quit smoking. I would actually feel like a coating on the roof of my mouth from these.

Heat: 5/10. Produces a lot of heat. You really have to tend to these coals or it will burn your shisha

Overall: 2/10. I can't recommend these at all. I'm going back to natural olive wood