If you frequent the major hookah community forums, you have no doubt heard of the famous $10 burner from Walgreens. This no-frills device is a perfect, cost effective tool for lighting your coals without having to get ash all (or stink) over the kitchen. And, if you break it, $10 isn’t going to be too much of a burden. Let’s take a closer look at the tool.

Long have I used a burner tool to light my natural coals. It’s cheap and effective, and if you have a favorite spot to smoke, a single burner can probably find a semi-permanent home nearby. Provided, of course, there’s an electrical outlet nearby.

Having used other burners in the past, the first thing that stood out to me was how tightly the coil is woven together. Many inexpensive burners have a larger radius, but the coil is farther apart. For some natural coals, this can be inconvenient since it will be difficult to rest the coals on the coil without having to place them at an angle. With the coil closer together, almost any coal can rest on the burner without any problem at all.

This particular burner has a chrome plated drip pan which will likely rust with time. The enclosure and heat-setting knob on the device is also made of metal which will get hot. So be careful.

This product, as far as we know, is only available at Walgreens, but appears to be universally available across all of their stores. This burner, of course, is not the only option. There are single coil burners available from Amazon.com, K-Mart, Walmart and Target, though looking at those stores, you can expect to spend $15-$30 on your purchase.