Shisha Charcoal Quality & Specifications, Explained for Wholesale Buyers
By Mohamad Sinno, Charcoal Expert · Last updated · Reviewed by Budi Dharmawan, Head of QC,
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Nearly every specification table you will be shown for shisha charcoal is a promise, not a measurement. A published band says what a factory intends to hold. A certificate of analysis says what an accredited laboratory found in one named sample, on one date, under a named test method. Only the second can be checked — so this page gives you ours, with the report numbers, and names the three figures we have not measured.
A specification is a promise; a COA line is a measurement
Two documents that look alike carry completely different weight in a dispute: a specification sheet is a band the seller intends to hold, a certificate of analysis is a result found in one named sample on one named day. Which one you can hold someone to after the container lands is the whole distinction, and it is worked through in full — what a batch COA proves, what it cannot, and how long it stays current — on what a certificate of analysis proves, and what it does not.
What an accredited laboratory measured in our charcoal
Three lab reports, one named laboratory. All three were run on samples named to PT Coco Reina Global Charcoal by PT Beckjorindo Paryaweksana, accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 by Indonesia's national accreditation body, KAN, under registration LP-090-IDN. Accreditation here belongs to the laboratory, not to us.
Method is a per-report fact, and we do not average it. On all three certificates, moisture and volatile matter are run to ASTM D1762-84 — the standard test method for the chemical analysis of wood charcoal — while the ash and fixed-carbon rows are run under the laboratory's own in-house method, IK.BPL.7.4, Points 6.3 and 6.4: inside the same ISO/IEC 17025 scope, but not ASTM. Each method above is read off the certificate that carries it, not inferred from the others, which is why the report is the thing to ask for. How to read a charcoal COA line by line shows where the method column sits and why an unstated method is the thing to worry about — a named lab method is not.
| Parameter |
Beckjorindo COA 000957 17 June 2026 |
Beckjorindo COA 000964 24–25 June 2026 |
Beckjorindo COA 001061 23 July 2026 |
What it governs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ash | 1.58% | 1.34% | 1.20% | Residue left in the bowl; cleaning load |
| Fixed carbon | 77.03% | 78.21% | 80.84% | The fraction that actually burns as heat |
| Volatile matter | 18.33% | 17.82% | 16.61% | Smoke and odour at ignition |
| Moisture | 3.06% | 2.63% | 1.35% | Ignition behaviour; weight you pay for |
Read across, not down: ash 1.20–1.58%, fixed carbon 77.03–80.84% as received, volatile matter 16.61–18.33%, moisture 1.35–3.06%. The spread between the three columns is one product's batch-to-batch variability measured three times across two months — not three different grades. Which shapes and sizes that product is pressed in: the briquette range and its wholesale loading terms.
The limitation that comes with them. Each report is a single sample. A COA describes the material it was drawn from and nothing else, and the trade convention is to treat one as roughly 90 days current. No report certifies a future container. If you are contracting, require a report drawn from your production run and write the parameter and its ceiling into the contract.
The three figures we do not publish
Every competing spec sheet we reviewed carries all three of these. We have no measured value for any of them, so we state that instead of filling the gap:
- Calorific value (kcal/kg). None of the three reports includes a calorimetric test. A published kcal/kg figure would need a bomb-calorimeter result behind it, and we do not have one.
- Burn time. No burn test on file. A burn-time number is meaningless without its conditions anyway — cube size, airflow, and whether a heat-management device or foil was used all move it substantially.
- Drop or shatter test. No drop test on file. Where suppliers publish one, the breakage criterion is usually undefined: "survives a 1 m drop" does not say how many pieces from how many, or what counts as a failure.
If any of the three is decisive for your order, ask us to commission the test against your batch rather than accept a number from us today.
What each parameter actually changes
Ash is the residue left in the bowl. Fixed carbon is the share that burns as heat. Volatile matter is what leaves as gas early and shows up as smoke and smell. Moisture is weight you pay for, and the one parameter that moves in transit. What each figure means for any charcoal — not just ours — and the market conventions attached to each, are set out on what each charcoal specification figure actually means. This page stays what it has always been: the numbers our own laboratory reports produced.
"Platinum" and "Premium" are sales labels, not grades
Tier names look like a standard and behave like branding. Compare two suppliers' own published pages and the words stop meaning anything transferable:
- One markets a "Platinum" tier at 2.2% ash maximum and a "Premium" tier at 2.5% maximum, separating them mainly by destination market and stated burn time of 75 versus 60 minutes (Omnico, omnicococharcoal.co.id, viewed 8 August 2026).
- Another publishes no tiers at all — a single standard at 2.5% ash maximum, with a stated burn performance of "minimum 3 hours" (Magnus Java, magnusjava.com, viewed 8 August 2026).
So the same word covers a 2.2% ceiling at one supplier and nothing at all at another, while burn time runs from 60 to 180 minutes with no shared test conditions stated anywhere. There is no accreditation body behind the tier names — ASTM D1762-84 defines how to measure the material, not what to call it.
So we separate two things most suppliers run together. A measurement grade we still cannot offer: three single-sample reports cannot establish three measured bands, and presenting them as one would describe a single product's variability as a product range. That has not changed and the reports above are why. What we do publish is a commercial band — five of them, each carrying an ash ceiling we hold to in the contract and evidence per shipment with that batch's COA, priced and dated with a monthly review. A ceiling you can enforce is a different promise from a grade someone measured, and it is the one we can actually keep: the five tiers and their prices.
How to check any supplier's numbers, including ours
- Ask for the report, not the sheet. If a supplier answers a COA request with a specification PDF, you have your answer about which one exists.
- Check the sample is named to the seller. A report naming a different company is a trading house passing through someone else's factory, or a borrowed document.
- Read the report itself, line by line. The method column, the basis of each figure, the validity date and the signature each carry a check of their own — how to read a charcoal COA line by line walks one of ours top to bottom, including the red flags worth knowing.
- Verify the entity behind the paperwork. Our legal entity and tax registration are listed on the factory and the people behind it, and the wider due-diligence sequence is set out in what each check on a supplier costs and what it proves.
Ask us for the current reports against a live production run, or for a 1 kg sample to test yourself — how the free sample programme works, or WhatsApp +628213924038.
Three branches off this page
- What each specification figure actually means — ash, fixed carbon, volatile matter and moisture for any charcoal, and which market conventions are convention rather than standard. Then the two figures buyers specify first, in detail: ash content and fixed carbon and volatile matter.
- What a certificate of analysis proves, and what it does not — and how to read one line by line, walked through on one of the certificates above.
- What "identical to the last batch" can actually mean — retained samples, the audit before the claim, and the reorder QC checklist.
- Charcoal problems, diagnosed — a symptom index that ends at your batch code and the claims window rather than at a sales pitch, with sparking and chemical or sour smells diagnosed in full.
- The three bench tests you can run yourself — burn, drop and ash, the standards behind each, and the honest answer to which of them has a current public charcoal method: the drop and shatter test, the burn test method and what ash colour tells you.
Buyer quality questions
What ash content should I require for shisha charcoal?
Published supplier bands for coconut shell shisha charcoal generally sit between 2.2% and 2.5% maximum. Our three lab reports measured 1.20%, 1.34% and 1.58%. Specify a maximum you can enforce against a COA rather than a marketing grade name, and require the report that proves it.
More on measured, claimed and guaranteed ash content.
Is a supplier's specification sheet the same as a lab report?
No. A specification sheet states the band a factory intends to hold. A certificate of analysis states what an accredited laboratory measured in one named sample on one date, under a named test method. Only the second is evidence.
More on what a certificate of analysis proves, and what it does not.
Why do you not publish a calorific value?
None of our three laboratory reports includes a calorific test, so we have no measured figure to publish. Publishing an unmeasured kcal/kg number would be a claim, not a specification. A bomb-calorimeter test would be needed before we could state one.
What does 'Platinum' or 'Premium' grade actually mean?
Across the market, whatever the seller using the word decides it means — there is no standards body behind it. On this site it is not a grade at all: Platinum names our guaranteed 1.6–1.9% ash band, a ceiling written into the contract and evidenced by each batch's COA. The numbers are the specification; the name is only a label for them. Compare measured numbers and test methods instead of tier names, here as anywhere else.
How long is a certificate of analysis valid?
A COA describes the sample it was drawn from, not every future batch. Treat one as batch-specific and roughly 90 days current, and ask for a report against your own production run rather than relying on a report issued for someone else's.
More on our COA policy, and what validity actually covers.
Laboratory figures on this page are quoted from the three reports named above and describe the samples they were drawn from. They are not a warranty for any future consignment. Confirm current specifications against a report drawn from your own production run before contracting.