Shisha Charcoal

Buying quality shisha charcoal is the foundation for every session to taste great with a steady heat. At Hispacachimba you'll find natural coconut charcoal from several brands and in various sizes, in formats ranging from single bags to multi-kilo packs. If you're looking for hookah charcoal that lasts, delivers strong heat and doesn't affect the tobacco, here's the full range with honest prices and no surprises.

Types of shisha charcoal: natural vs quick-light

Natural coconut charcoal makes up most of our catalogue: it's lit with an electric burner, takes a few minutes to heat up but then holds an even glow for much longer, with little smoke and no off-flavours. Quick-light charcoal, on the other hand, contains an accelerant and lights straight away with a lighter. It's faster, but produces more odour and ash, tends to burn out sooner and gives a poorer flavour.

• Natural coconut charcoal: long burn, clean flavour, requires a burner.
• Quick-light charcoal: instant lighting, designed for occasional emergencies.

If you smoke often, natural charcoal is worth it for its performance and clean flavour, which is why we stock it in every size and brand.

How to choose charcoal by size (26mm and 27mm)

Most shisha charcoal comes in two sizes: 26mm and 27mm. The difference is the size of the cube, which gives more heat output and a longer burn, but not all tobaccos or heat management devices work the same way.

• 26mm: the most common size, suitable for most tobaccos and heat management devices.
• 27mm: a slightly larger cube, designed for dark-leaf tobaccos that need more heat, and for longer sessions.

If you're not sure which size to use, we recommend starting with 26mm, as it's the most popular and the easiest to manage.

Available brands: CocoRose, CocoLoco, King Coco and Crown

We stock several brands of natural coconut charcoal, each with its own pressing and density. CocoRose is one of the best known, available in 6-piece bags and 1kg boxes. CocoLoco comes in a standard version and a more affordable Horeca line, such as the CocoLoco Horeca 26mm 1Kg Natural Charcoal, from €6.50. We also carry King Coco and Crown, the latter with its Max Flow variant in the Crown Max Flow 26mm 1Kg Natural Charcoal, for €7.95.

No single brand is best for everyone; people usually judge by heat output and how much ash it produces.

Charcoal packs: from 1kg to 20kg

If you smoke now and then, a 6-piece bag from €1.00 is all you need. For more regular use, the 1kg box is the most popular choice, with prices from €6.50 depending on brand and size. And if you smoke daily or run a shisha lounge, the large packs offer better value per kilo:

• 4Kg pack, from €19.95.
• 10Kg pack, from €44.95.
• 20Kg pack, from €89.95.

These large packs are restocked regularly when they sell out, so if one is out of stock it's worth checking back later. Please note that packs cannot be used with discount coupons.

Shisha charcoal prices

Shisha charcoal prices in our shop range from €1.00 for a 6-piece bag up to €89.95 for the 20kg pack, including 1kg boxes (from €6.50) and the mid-size 4kg (from €19.95) and 10kg (from €44.95) packs. The price difference between brands isn't usually big in the 1kg format, but it shows when buying large packs, where the cost per kilo drops considerably compared with buying single bags.

How to prepare charcoal before smoking your shisha

Before placing the charcoal on the bowl, you need to light it properly on the burner until the whole cube has an even glow with no black spots, and turns bright red when you blow on it. This stops the tobacco from burning unevenly and saves you from constantly having to revive the draw.

• Heat the charcoal on the burner until it's glowing red on all sides.
• Place it using tongs, never by hand, on the foil or directly in the heat management device.

Using a Provost-style heat management device, such as the HC Flavour Top HMD, helps keep the temperature stable for much longer so you don't have to keep adding charcoal.