For a lot of people 3 Kings coals are the first charcoal they are exposed to.
Coconaras are the current king of the hill for natural coconut charcoal.
There are a lot of differences between these two charcoals and this article is to help you compare without spending a bunch of money on a charcoal that might not be right for you.
3 Kings:
- A quick light charcoal that many consider to be the standard for QL coals.
- Crumbly, fragile and will leave a lot of charcoal dust behind.
- They come in the standard disk shape that is most associated with QL charcoal.
- Made from compressed wood.
Coconara:
- A natural charcoal, meaning that you will need a constant heat source to light them.
- Very dense and durable. Almost no charcoal dust on my hands.
- They have a square shape.
- Made from compressed coconut shells.
I lit up one of each, put them on the same bowl and compared their performance. I started the 3 Kings coal after the Coconara was fully lit and ready to smoke. Right off the bat we notice that the Coconara take much longer to light because it is a natural style coal. The 3 Kings produce the usual nasty stink that QL coals produce when lighting. That’s nothing surprising and it’s not as bad as some other QL coals. A couple of the last 3 Kings coals that I have experimented with didn’t completely light themselves until I blew on them for a few minutes. They finally sparked up again and were completely red.
The Coconara seems to give of a little more heat which I prefer. The 3 Kings seem to have a tendency to split and crumble that I really don’t like. I smoke outside but, if I smoked in my house my carpets would have lots of little burns from 3 Kings breaking up. The Coconara stays completely solid and I have never had one fall apart.
For duration, the Coconara wins again. The 3 Kings coal was pretty much gone 45 minutes into the session. The Coconara, on the other hand, was putting off good heat up to an hour and probably could have gone longer.
Lastly is ash production. Coconara wins again. I’ll be uploading some pictures in a little bit to show the different amounts of ash but you can trust me that the Coconaras produces less ash.
If you are smoking at home and have access to a stove then I would recommend Coconaras (Hookah-Shisha.com is one of our trusted stores). If you are on the road or don’t have access to a stove then Coconaras are a little useless (perhaps then use Three Kings). That’s why I keep a Coleman Propane Grill in my trunk! I’m always ready to start natural coals.
great point you should also try hookah johns chronic hookah coals they put off the perfect amount of heat compared to coconara but also 3 kings and other ql coals have chemicals in it to initiate that ql which cause headaches with some people also known as hookah headaches
I used those coals for a while but I haven’t tried them in a long time. The last time I smoked with them I was not really impressed. They added some flavor once in a while that I didn’t like. The QL version is the best QL on the market IMO but added a nasty flavor to the session sometimes and were pretty toxic when you lit them. Hopefully one of the new batches is better than that last batch I had but I went through like three versions and I preferred coconaras to each one.
Hhmm than im glad I did not try an old batch because the new 2011 batch is perfect imo. I have yet to try there ql but as of right not I have no need lol
To be honest, I prefer the QL coals to the coconut naturals. The coconut naturals burned fast and never smelled or had a funky taste. But they only lasted for about 15-20 min for me, while the QL coals, for all of their downfalls are easily lit with a lighter, and burn your shisha evenly for longer periods of time.
Just what I’ve noticed so far.
That’s odd. What kind of coals were they? Coconara coals last for about an hour easily.
i was going to say the same thing cause 30 mins ago i used the same coals from a previous bowl and made a new bowl i smoked fine large clouds cocojumbo 🙂
Needing a lot of heat to light a coal can really be troublesome sometimes and does these coconut coals add any taste to the hookah? This is very interesting for me, in my country coconut coals do not exist.
They add no flavor to the session. I understand how natural coals can be a bother but they are the best an worth the extra work IMO.
And what about the shape, isn’t the block shape making it harder to spread heat over an area?
Not at all. The square shape makes it easier to adjust the heat as you need it and the heat is spread out perfectly.
O.k that interesting, think I should import some of these coals and try it out. Gonna boast about it in front of my friends,haha