first thing.make charcoal then you have to find something that will increase the surface area of the wood or fruit peeling you want to make the coal out of. in my case lye will increse the number or pores and make them bigger there for activateing the coal. i use a food grade lye top quality i allow the lye water and wood to stay together 24 hrs, then i crush it, then filter threw a coffee filter to get anything out you dont want and then allow to dry then jar.