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How to choose the good Shisha charcoal 

Charcoal for hookah or shisha charcoal smoking must be hard, high density, easy to ignite, and burn longer with persistent heat. Coconut charcoal is getting more popular among hookah community because they simply satisfy all of above requirement. But with so many brands in the market, many consumers are confused in choosing which one is suitable and will add great pleasure in hookah smoking.

Hardness

Shisha charcoal must be hard enough so it will not be broken when you do de-ashing or when you hold it with a tong. You can see how hard the shisha charcoal is by doing the simple trampling test:

Put the shisha charcoal on hard surface and under your heel

Slowly press it with your heel by lifting your other foot up

If shisha charcoal is crumbled under this test, it means shisha charcoal is not hard enough, therefore it’s not good for shisha or hookah smoking.

Density

Coconut charcoal has higher density dan heavier. The specific gravity of coconut charcoal is more than 1.3, it means it’s heavier than water. You can do the dunk test to find out whether shisha charcoal is made of coconut shell or not:

Get a glass of water and put shisha charcoal in the water

If you have a real coconut charcoal, it must sink in the water due to its high specific gravity.

When shisha charcoal is in the water, it must stay intact. Most of low quality charcoal will be crumbled when you put it in the water.

Ignition Time

Depends on the size of charcoal, time consuming for initial ignition over the gas stove or electric coil should be around 7 to 10 minutes. You will know that charcoal is ready to use when you find out that almost all surfaces are covered by a thin layer of ash. This video shows how to ignite shisha charcoal over the gas stove.

Longevity

Depends on the size of charcoal, charcoal should last more than 1 hour of hookah session. For example, flat shape size 25x25x15mm (1″x1″x0,6″) should be lasting enough for more than 60 minutes. While cube shape size 25x25x25mm (1″x1″x1″) must be lasting more than 90 minutes of hookah session.

Characteristics When Burned

The good charcoal must be burned with stable and persistent heat with the following characteristics:

Temperature and Flame stability: 40 – 45 minutes

Hardness: shisha charcoal is not easily breakable while burning

Surface temperature: around 320 ºC ( 608 ºF)

Middle temperature: around 350 ºC ( 662 ºF)

Odorless

Smokeless

No sparkling

Red color flame

No off-taste

Ash Characteristics

Many hookah smokers prefer to see white ash color. But based on our experience, ash color is highly depended on the soil chemistry where the trees grow. If the soil is rich of Calcium, then the ash color will be white. On the other hand, soil that has a lot of Potassium will make ash color brownish. Even some briquettes factories include such ash colorant like limestone in the ingredients to make white ash (Read here ). So, we are of the opinion that the idea saying white ash is better than brownish ash, is just a myth.

No matter of what the color of ash, the good quality charcoal in general must produce ash less than 6% (weight basis). Nevertheless, the European Standard EN 1860-2 for high quality charcoal requires ash contents below 8% only.

Supreme Carbon Indonesia is the manufacturer of many best well-known brand of coconut shell charcoal for hookah, shisha, arguileh, and BBQ that available in the world market. Order now with confidence.