Magnifying it, it looks like 100% lava rock to me too.
Easy to test. Is it hard and heavy - If so then lava rock. Is it soft and light - then charcoal
Growers would choose lava rock because it doesn’t break down and thus is low maintenance. It may accumulate salts/toxins and thus need to be flushed, but I’ve never seen hard evidence of that.
The downside is that it doesn’t retain much water so requires more frequent watering. That Cattleya looks dehydrated so I guess it didnt retain sufficient water for the previous growers watering regime..
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