Natural Hardwood Charcoal Briquettes

Now that's a fire… Fire…the tender ballet of the flames and wisps of smoke, set only to the musical snap, crackle and popping of the air pockets in the wood. Give me a fireplace, pellet stove, fire-pit, chimney starter but mostly, my smokers…any of them will do. The most vital aspect for a bbq grill or smoker is the fuel. Without proper fuel, you can't maintain temperature or proper burn rate or smoke level. When you're cooking something low and slow for 12-15 hours, consistency of the burn is a key factor. Holding temperature for a long, long time, and not having to re-fuel is of the keys to success. The quality of the charcoal and wood doesn't just affect heat and length of burn…it's the base flavor profile. When you're “smoking”, not only are you cooking with the heat, but also flavoring with the smoke wafting around the meat. As is obvious, you need quality charcoal to satisfy these various elements. To that end, I am constantly searching for the “perfect” charcoal. There are several types of charcoal on the market, and hundreds of manufacturers. There's the common briquette, Kingsford, both standard and “blue bag”, which is a more natural, and meant for “professional” grillers or smokers. Competing in this realm is a variety of natural, hardwood briquettes, without chemical fillers: Weber, Royal Oak, Stubbs and store-branded bags from Trader Joes, to name a few. These briquettes are consistent, as they are all shaped the same. Using Weber, Stubbs and Trader Joe's, you'll discover that they are made strictly from natural hardwood, and have a natural, “campfire” odor. This type of charcoal, the briquette, is my preferred and recommended type when using a Weber Smokey Mountain cooker, or my Assassin 28. For my eggs, I prefer natural lump, which is just pieces of hardwood burnt down into coal. But in the quest to find just the right fuel source for the gravity fed, Assassin 28, I am pleased that I stumbled into Original Natural Charcoal.