FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS...

WHERE DOES CHAARQ COME FROM?

Wakayama, Japan! The birth place of binchotan or "white charcoal". There are many variants of activated charcoal and we understand from our supplier that there are even "pirated" versions.

According to him, everyone who is harvesting ubamegashi needs permission (of course with a fee) from the owners of the land, and these owners only grant permission to harvesters who inherited the business/tradition from their forefathers.

However, there are harvesters who ignore this and trespass these lands and harvest ubamegashi illegally. Bypassing the legal ways, binchotan harvested and activated illegal can cost significantly lower but may not bear the quality synonymous with Kishu binchotan.

WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT CHAARQ'S BINCHOTAN?

The process of making is similar if the craftsmen are experienced and well trained (by their forefathers).

However, what differentiates us from other retailers in Asia would be, most do not have binchotan in grain-form. To further distinguish us, we will have a new form arriving soon. Both forms adds to the flexibility on how we can design products to deliver binchotan's health benefits!

HOW TO "TREAT" CHAARQ?

With T.L.C. of course! Kidding here, but before first use, please wash it with clean running water. For grains, you need to wash it like rice, and you can put them in a pot to boil it once the water runs clear. For long and short rods, please wash it with a brush until the water runs clear and leave it in a pot for 5-10mins before boiling. Please refer to this blog post for videos of the washing process.

HOW LONG CAN WE USE CHAARQ?

For water cleansing, we recommend you to boil every 2 weeks of usage. This would last you approximately 2-3 months. A gauge of when would be the end of the life cycle for water cleansing would be, after boiling and reusing it, you will see less bubbles formed on the surface of long/short rods. For CHAARQ grains, this is not visible.

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For products with RF shielding, there is no time limit as the structural properties does not change over time (if nothing physical is done to it).

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For Ex-CHAARQ-Tor plates, you can sun them every 2 weeks and if odor starts to come back in places where you place it, please re-purchase them.

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For re-CHAARQ products, please sun them as and when you like it (we recommend once every 2 weeks), DO NOT WASH it. Like RF shielding products, there is no time limit.

WHAT ARE THE PAYMENT OPTIONS?

If you are an international customer, you can payment is via a debit/credit card. We accept all major card companies such as Visa, Master, Amex, Diners, UnionPay, Discover and etc.

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If you are residing in Singapore, you can do a FAST transfer to Wise Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Formerly TransferWise) with Account number 4002382.

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At this moment, we do not support PayNow payment method.

WHAT IS YOUR RETURN POLICY?

This can be found in all the product pages listed for sale in this website. As a rule of thumb, products that contain CHAARQ or binchotan cannot be returned or refunded due to hygiene reasons. For others, please refer to the "Return & Refund Policy"

Is yours is a "Less Frequently Asked Question? Or you have feedback or special requests? Feel free to Contact Us!