Natural Coal Problems

[MonkeyBiz]

I'm having problems with my natural coals. I bought a bag of the Stargate Natural Coals and I've been experimenting with them, and I've run into two problems compared to regular quicklites.

The first is lasting power. The naturals burn out within a half hour or less, compared with the quicklites at 45 minutes plus.

The second is consistency. Because natural coals come in cylindrical sticks, it's nearly impossible to get anything consistent in terms of shape.

So, if anyone has any suggestions for either, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, I'm going back to quicklites.

[ASUSEAN1]

have a few extra logs already lit. break them up into small pieces when you are putting them on the bowl, try to spread them evenly across the bowl

[billy]

I have some problems too, sometimes I can taste the coal or something and gets in my mouth....I think its probably the coals are cheap or so....I got the coals with my hookah which were free....

[killajakez]

I never have these problems. I have a hotplate that I bought from the local supermarket for 16 bucks.

Just throw them on there and within 5-8 minutes you should have red hot coals ready to go. Don't break them into smaller size chunks. Keep them at 1-1.5 inch across. With the hotplate they get red all the way through so don't worry about that. For me they last a good while, and new hot coals are always 3 minutes away (if you keep the hotplate on, if not, 5-8 min.)

[MonkeyBiz]

These coals are cylindrical with the circumference of a nickel and about 5" long. They're not like standard coals. What I've been doing is breaking them down the center line so they're about an inch long and shaped like a half circle. The problem is that they rarely break evenly, and always burn out fast. Also, they have a tendency to burn the tobacco.

Thoughts?

[Allia22]

A nickel?!? That's really tiny o_O