Coco Nara Square Coals Review

Coco Nara Square Coconut Shell Charcoals

Home Site: www.coco-nara.com
Site: https://www.coco-nara.us/default.aspx (For US based customers)

Site is simple, uses drag-in-drop interface to add items to shopping chart. Has a “Home”, Wholesale, About Us and Contact Us Sections – no direct address for the company or telephone number listed. Whole site shows up as {https://}

Box insert has Tell/Fax number: 961-1-870881, Cell: 961-3-885206

Only 2 items available for purchase: 16 count package for 2.99 and 84 count package for 12.99.
Shipping was very cheap - .99 to my location (Southern VA), expected in 3-4 days.

Site accepts (according to icons on bottom): Visa, MasterCard, Amex, and Discover.

Placed order and later received 2 emails: 1st was a confirmation of the order. 2nd was an invoice from PayPal for the item, with a note that my “Credit Card Number was Incorrect”. I used a Visa ATM/Debit card and I’ve gotten this error before. Already had PayPal account, sent funds. If you contact them before ordering, they may be able to send a PayPal invoice outright.

Order Date: 01/25/2008

Date of Arrival: 01/28/2008

Packaging & Shipping carrier: USPS, padded envolpe

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m53/lazria/hookahs/box_package2.jpg

Charcoal package itself: Cardboard outer box, plastic bag inside – tapped.

Appearance of coals: 1” x 1”x ½” square. Black in color. Sides are smooth, bottom & top are rough. Very dence, unable to break by hand.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m53/lazria/hookahs/coals_2.jpg

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m53/lazria/hookahs/coalsonbowl2_35min.jpg

Smell
before cooking: none
during cooking: none
after/smoking: first 5 min picked up slight “wood” smell

Ease of Lighting
Source needed: substainded heat – lighters will NOT work.
Time Needed: 8-10 mins to glowing red hot and ashed over.

Ash
Appearance: On coals, thin grey coating. When knocked off, crumbly pieces mixed with red-hot embers. Very small amount.
Frequency: Only needed to ash 4 times total for entire smoke session. Did not overly block heat output.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m53/lazria/hookahs/first_ashing.jpg

Duration: 1 hour 25 min

Heat amount: Good – required 2 square to heat 1 clay bowl to “Thick” cloud level. Did not need windcover till end of coals (over 1 hour mark with 1 coal). Did not see "heat lines" but most defiantly felt the heat.

Reusable: test still pending

Overall Score: 9/10

Recommend: should be good, but want to use a few more times before recommending 100%

It appears the 16 count box is equal to about 1 standard (10 piece) roll of Quicklights (3 kings or Goldens). Needed 2 coals to smoke session, but heat was uniform and constant. No noticeable smell or taste, other than first 5 minutes on bowl – had a faint “woody” smell.

Box had a small insert that listed facts for the coal:
· Is a charcoal made from Coconut shell and vegetables
· Is 100% natural· Burns 3 times longer than any other charcoal
· Leaves less than 4% ash· Is more economical to use
· Is easy to light
· Is an environment friendly product “Not a single tree was cut to make the product”
· Is ordorless and tasteless
· Is easier to handle and cleaner to use
· Is a tropical product adapted for the Arab market

Box states that coals should be RED hot before using. 8 mins produced a “glowing” coal, but coal wasn’t completely ashed over. This coal still produced similar heat and may have been source of “woody” smell. After 35min of constant smoking, semi-ashed coal was fully cooked.

After 45 min, put 1 coal out in water for testing (re-lighting) but 1 coal was still able to produce enough heat to smoke (medium smoke). After 1 hour 15 mins, the coal required windcover to continue to smoke (med to thin smoke, but full taste). After 1 hour 25 min coal was too small to continue to smoke. May have gone longer if BOTH coals were still on bowl, more testing is needed.