One of the most ignored parameter of shisha charcoal quality is standard deviation of size of briquettes. In simple words, it is how consistent or how spread out the differences in briquette size are.
It has a direct influence on the smoking time and heat output. For example, if you smoke shisha using 25 mm cubes (72 pcs per 1 kg), you assume that all briquette cubes are the same size.
Visually, it is the same size, but if you measure it with a caliper, you will be shocked to see that the size of the briquette can vary by 0.5 to 1 mm in each dimension.
What does it mean for you? If one of your charcoal cubes is 24.8×24.7×25 mm = 1.5314 cm3 and another cube is 24.3x24x24.5 = 1.42884 cm3, then the difference is about 7%.
Obviously, by eye, you cannot see the difference of fill the difference in the weight (unless you use a very precise scale, like a gold scale), but during the smoking session you will notice that one cube is standing longer (+7%) and giving you a higher temperature than the other.
Naturally, during production (extrusion), the size can vary, but how much it varies – this is the main question.
At our factory, the maximum variation in size on each side is 2.5%. That makes you sure that during shisha smoking, all cubes (or other shapes) will work constantly and at the same heat output level and burning time.
How do we measure the deviation? Simply by checking 4 times per day the distance between cutting knives (in the morning before the first production shift starts, afternoon after the lunch break, then before the second shift starts, and in the evening at the time break of the second shift)
The same we measure to extrusion heads (we are using solid, laser-cut extrusion, so it helps us maintain the same size during production
Always make sure that your charcoal factory is measuring size deviation and have strike rules about its size.
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