lumkp coal

[mike g]

I keep on reading about people using lump coal, this that different than charcoal. The reason I ask is because I smoked some ribs and ended up using almost a whole bag wood chucks

thank you mike

 

[bbq engineer]

Hey Mike,

Here is a brief primer on charcoal. Charcoal will usually come in two different varieties.

1. Briquettes - These are compressed wood char, binding agents, Minerals, press release agents, ignition aids, etc., etc. Think Kingsford when you think of Briquettes.
2. Lump Charcoal. This is wood that has been charred in the absence of oxygen, resulting in an almost pure carbon form.

When people in the BBQ world refer to lump, they are talking about number 2 (lump charcoal) from above.

I will attach a couple of links for you that you might want to look at. The first is a description of charcoal that you should look at, and the second is the best lump charcoal resource on the web, complete with tests of all the brands that they can get their hands on.

• http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/charcoal.html
• http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

I will tell you that there are as many philosophies on charcoal as there are people that use them, but I will tell you that I prefer lump. Simply because it is wood char, and that is it. Having said that, I must emphasize that the operative word is "Prefer". Even though I prefer Lump, I have a garage full of Kingsford as well...My budget will dictate what I use irregardless of my preference, and I got a screaming deal on a lot of cheap briquettes. I do use this rule for my smokers...I sometimes think that Kingsford has a bit of a funny smell when it is getting started, and as soon as it ashes over it is gone. Because of this I will only add lit briquettes to my firebox. If I am adding lump, I can do that without hesitation. This is what works for me.

 

[bigsteve]

A whole bag of lump charcoal, or a bag of wood chunks? Not the same thing. Wood chunks are unburned wood, lump charcoal has been burned already. Which did you use as the primary heat source?