Review: Easy Lite Japanese Charcoals

[MR Bubble]

Cool. Just last year it seemed nobody liked the Japanese coals, but now I'm happy to see somewhat of a following. I found the Easy Lite brand a little inferior to say, the Golden or Abu Haitham brand. But, they do the trick. MRS Bubble only likes the discs, but that's for eas of use. My system is extremely sensitive to bad coals. I can't even smoke fingers without becoming very ill (High B/P, resulting in extreme dizziness, blacking out, migraines, and anything else that you can dream of as being bad.) so I pick coals carefully. Japanese coals pass the test, but my Easy lite coals were from a couple years ago, and I may have had a bad batch. They didn't break evenly, and sometimes would fall apart when breaking. Looks like I need to give them another shot. But I do prefer golden brand. I may have even smoked Canary brand too. Can't remember.

Here's how I light them in case someone is interested: First, I get a big can of German wine-kraut (Khune Brand). I enjoy a Polish dish I make with them called Bigos. Anyone interested in the recipe, PM me. Good-damned yummy! 8) . Or you can use a large can of tomatoes, like 16 OZ.

Next, after you're done feeding your face with Bigos, or Rigatoni (depending on what you got) clean the can well, inside and out. Get a church-key and punch some holes in the bottom. Break out with your Jap coals and put a couple in the can. With a standard Egyptian sized bowl, I get 2 coals. I then take a serrated steak knife and saw a break-line down the center of each square, so I can snap it in half. So now, I have 4 each one half pieces of jap coal. I throw these in the can, which I put on a stove burner and turn on "High." In a couple minutes, they catch on fire. Being in a can like this helps them heat up faster, and you can gently blow on them to help the process and get the coating off. Once lit all red and pretty, I simply put 3 of the small rectangular one -half pieces on the bowl, arranged in a triangle pattern. Works perfectly! I have a bowl that's a little bigger now, so I would imagine to use 2 whole squares like you guys are doing.

MR Bubble

[Guest Abide]

Go to target and grab one Dizz [url="http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-9/qid=1160648733/ref=sr_1_9/602-1514947-4674243?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B00006IUZY"]http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-...asin=B00006IUZY[/url]

[zzzzzT]

I love Easy Lights. I don't know why some people hate them. I have never gotten any off taste from them. Plus at Social Smoke they are super reasonable. You will never get a nasty carbon monoxide headache like with quicklights off them.

[benny]

i pay $5aud for a box. thats $3.75USD

I still dont like them!

[ksblazer]

Damm!!

$47.74 for a case of 24 boxes plus $30 shipping they still come out to be $3.24 a box :shock: My local smoke shop want $3 for a roll of goldens and by the time they get taxed :evil: I'm paying more than that for what I could get a box of these.

Hey Aron:

Since your from the Puget Sound, whould you be interestded in a case split? Send me a PM if so

[DizzyGuy]

Thanks, abide :D:D I've never pulled these from the back, but that doesn't mean that we don't carry them. Off to the magical aisles of D10-D17 to check out small apps!

[Sonthert]

Diamantes are also Chinese.

[PK]

Resurrecting an old thread

Also see: THIS LINK FOR RELATED CONVERSATION

I started off using quicklites, started with Nakhla quicklites and worked my way around Golden and then 3 Kings. They're all good in their own way, mostly for convenience. My first box of Japanese coals were Canary Goldens for $15 a box, definately not the cheapest way to burn shisha for sure. I was really impressed but started to notice how quick I was working my way through a box that I decided to search for a cheaper alternative. Once I discovered the Easy-Lites I found a place that was offering free shipping so I purchased 3 boxes for just over the price of 1 box of Golden Canary. I thought this was a deal and now I'm not quite sure.

They 2 burn much differently. Golden Canary's stay black and ash much better in my opinion. Easy-Lites tend to get a layer of chalky ash and to me this is exactly how they're starting to taste. I guess this is where some say tastes "soapy." I haven't been paying attention to how long they last but I don't see that much of a difference to agree with the 10-15 minute comparison posted above. Easy-Lites take longer to light but both smell the same when lighting IMO.

I just puchased a bag of Al Ajdad and will be trying those shortly.. my first bag of Naturals. I'm interested in seeing how they compare to the rest.


In conclusion: Easy-Lites may be cheaper, but I'm starting to agree that you pay for what you get.

[jtemes]

anybody ever tried Starlight Japanese Quicklights?

They're the only Japanese coal I can get here in Canada. I've used Canarys and basically the only difference I notice is burn time. And for the price difference I think Starlights end up being a better value.

[JoeLipinski]

YAY ERIC HAS CAME BACK!!!!

[DizzyGuy]

Dude, that post was from October 12th... lol

[cymptom]

I was gonna add my two cents but PK already said pretty much everything I was going to say. I find the Goldens to be much better... I'd rather use 3 Kings than the Easy Lites.

[aronparsons]

I think those of us who use the Easy Lite coals accept that they aren't equal to the Canary in every way, but I think they offer the best balance between price and performance. With the number of Japanese coals needed to smoke a 1-1.5 hour bowl and the cost of a box of Canary coals, it just isn't worth it (unless someone knows where to get them for less than $15/box). I have a number of 3 Kings, Nour fingers, Canary Japanese coals, and Easy Lites lying around. I switch between them occasionally and don't notice a huge difference between the two brands of Japanese coals; the difference is definitely not worth 5x the price (bulk buy of Easy Lites which came out to $3/box). Quick lights have their place for travel and fingers do if someone else wants to do the management throughout the session. Plopping two Japanese coals on a bowl of Starbuzz gives me the smoke I enjoy the most. Everyone has their own technique and style when smoking (as can easily be seen on this forum), so if something isn't for you, find what is and enjoy it. Don't worry about what someone else says is best.

[Sonthert]

Thats sweet, Joe. Here I am.

I've smoked both and Easy Lites are nowhere near as good as Canary or Magic Coals "Fumari Coals". In my opinion. That is. You might feel differently.

Who has tried both and not noticed a difference?

[kram]

i love fumari coals, love them!! but their expensive plus the international shipping its just crazy to spend so much. i mean the heat control is so easy with japs, they give relatively the same amount of heat per cube, just so easy. easy lites do have an after taste. cld u maybe do a review of them tangiers?

Thats sweet, Joe. Here I am.

I've smoked both and Easy Lites are nowhere near as good as Canary or Magic Coals "Fumari Coals". In my opinion. That is. You might feel differently.

Who has tried both and not noticed a difference?

[steve]

I have a ton of those like 60 boxes or so that I want to sell I was thinking abput selling them for 9 bucks a box is that a good deal and if you want any shoot me a pm

steve

[Sonthert]

i love fumari coals, love them!! but their expensive plus the international shipping its just crazy to spend so much. i mean the heat control is so easy with japs, they give relatively the same amount of heat per cube, just so easy. easy lites do have an after taste. cld u maybe do a review of them tangiers?

Thats sweet, Joe. Here I am.

I've smoked both and Easy Lites are nowhere near as good as Canary or Magic Coals "Fumari Coals". In my opinion. That is. You might feel differently.

Who has tried both and not noticed a difference?

I did, some time ago. I have become convinced that they are in everyway the same as Canary Golden Coals.