I picked up a bit of this truly amazing binchotan charcoal at Anzen Hardware at 309 E 1st street in Los Angeles. of course naturally I was planning to use it in my cute little grill that I picked up but the properties of this stuff are just so bizarre and out of character for any charcoal that you would normally encounter in the United States. It's certainly miles away from the normal compressed sawdust briquettes that you see at the grocery store. It almost has a metallic glassy sound to it when you hit it. and the broken ends have a metallic glassy sort of look. and so just for the hell of it I got out my multimeter and measured how well it conducted electricity. Turns out, it's pretty good! I'm not 100% certain on how they produce it, but I do understand that it gets heated to an incredibly high temperature. about a 1000° Celsius or 1,800°+ Fahrenheit. The guy that ran the hardware store was quick to point out that this stuff is really difficult to get started. on the other hand, he said once you're done cooking you can put the coals in a coffee can and seal it up and easily reuse it two or three more times....Which is a good thing because it's very expensive. This particular stuff was made in Laos. The stuff from the particular region in Japan and probably the particular kind of oak tree can be $40 a pound. It's a lot of money for charcoal. And what's more, this stuff is really dense! I can't wait to try it out in my new grill. I tried some natural mesquite charcoal, but this stuff is in a whole different league. if there are any carbon experts in the world, please weigh in on exactly what's going on here!
As for Anzen Hardware, it's a critically endangered species that's about to be swallowed up by the neighborhood. Pay a visit for some unique housewares and fantastic tools before it disappears in to the past.