3 kinds of Charcoal i) Bamboo ii) Wood from Laos PDR iii) Eucalyptus wood
The use of charcoal (carbon) is considered one of the oldest methods of water purification that can be traced back to ancient Egyptian cultures in 2000 BC. Carbon works by adsorbing pollutant molecules in the water and therefore helps to minimize health risks through the elimination of harmful chemicals and substances. A piece of charcoal can be used to remove chlorine, benzene, radon, volatile organic chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides and hundreds of other man-made chemicals that may unintentionally wash into the system. However it is important to note that charcoal is not effective at removing bacteria, dissolved inorganic contaminants and heavy metals such as arsenic, asbestos, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, fluoride, mercury, nickel, nitrates and others that may be in the water.
I have been using bamboo charcoal to simply improve the taste of my tap water for the past few months due to a decline in the water quality and higher concentration of chlorine. This additional treatment is further to having already passed the tap water through my Amway filtration system. I find that the effects of the bamboo charcoal to considerably improve the taste and feel of my drinking water. The taste of chlorine is no longer detectable and the water feels noticeably cleaner and smoother in the mouth. - The other 2 different kinds of charcoal wood (above photo) are items I have recently picked up and will be experimenting with in future to see how the results compare.
References
Wikipedia - Carbon filtering
Livestrong - What Do Carbon Filters Remove From Water?