Natural Coals....

[RayVer]

okay so I bought a pack of Olive Wood natural charcoals at the local hookah shop about 2 weeks ago. I've been smoking with it and trying different ways to set it up.

You guys have any tips on how to use these. So far my experience with them hasn't been to well, but then again it's the first time I use natural coals.

The heat managment on these is ridiculous... it goes from smoking good to barely lit to burning like crazy. They do last long.
when they start dieing out I wrap it bowl in aluminum foil making it like an air screen. After a minute it gets back lit up and smokes good again but then 2 minutes later the coals are red hot and it starts burning!

I want to put a review up on these in the review section but before I do that I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Give me some tips. Size of coal...amount...etc

[djbomberto]

what i did for my natural coals, was to break them up no bigger than your index finger. and no bigger than a quarter. i usually shot for a nickel thick. What i did was lit them on the stove, burning red (flipping several times) and just let them stay that for a while. Once ready i put them on a small cooking pan (to sit) and put to of the coals next to each other like a equal sign =. thats it. I had very good sessions with them.

[Zerodynamic]

Personally, I have a hand-held propane torch that I use for my coals... I can get natural coals good to go in 2 minutes, ftw!

[looloopoopie]

I use nothing but natural coals, and I think using them enough over time will signal to you what works best.

I usually try to look for a few good-sized pieces that are about 1" to 1 1/4"; you can use more, smaller pieces if you don't mind having to get up every so often to light more coals. Generally, I like to put 2 on my bowl across from each other and then leave a third one to replace as my session goes.

As for the bigger chunks, do your best to break them apart whichever way you can.

The best thing to light them on is probably a hot plate or on an electric stove - just leave them on there for about 5 minutes undisturbed and flip them, leaving them again for 5 mins. When you don't see any trace of black on the coals, you know you're good to go.

If you're like me and you like to take breaks between puffs, the coals are more likely to go out - in which case, just blow on the coals every so often to make sure they're still lit. I also think using a wind cover will help, although I don't have one - the lounges I've been to all use natural coals and put a wind cover on, whether it's inside or out, and they generally last a long while.

As for the coals being too hot, I don't think i've ever really had problems with that. If you mean you see flames on the coals, then yes, they're too hot to even consider putting on the bowl. When they aren't flaming hot like that, I think using natural coals are probably the best way to smoke.

Sorry for the saga, but I hope this helps

-loo