A number of coking processes use hot particles to heat liquid bitumen or petroleum residue to cause cracking reactions. These particles may be mineral or coke solids. Interactions of these particles, in fluid beds, moving beds and other types of contactors, are governed by the liquid films on the particle surfaces. This paper explores the analogy between granulation and coking, and suggests that the key relationships that will govern the behavior of wet particles in coking processes are the Stokes number of the particles, the thickness or the liquid films, and the diameter and surface roughness of the particles. The implications for distribution of liquid feed in the reactor, fouling, and, defluidization or bogging are discussed. This analysis suggests experiments that can be performed under non-reactive conditions with scaled variables in order to study phenomena that cannot be observed in situ in high-temperature cracking processes.