Jealous Devil All Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal - 20LB

Used last night for the first time when making some pizzas, long burning and kept my oven at a steady temperature. You can tell its great quality because there's almost no smell meaning they dont use crazy chemicals that would harm you. Huge bag, should last me a while, therefore it's a great value for the money!

Sooooooo, here’s the thing. I damaged my Akorn Kamado grill using these because I am a moron. Or lazy. Or bit of both. I will let you decide. A bit of back story. In my 40 so years of life I have only ever bought grocery store lump charcoal. However, one day while wasting time on YouTube, I watched a comparison video on different brands of charcoal because I am just that kind of nerd. This brand scored really high so I bought some not fully knowing what I was buying. This is not just charcoal this is the stuff stars are made of if you are not careful. Because of its BTU density it took a little effort to get good and lit. But when it did.... Here is where I went wrong. I barely had my vents open on my grill but I was rocking some 450 degrees which made short work of my chicken. I had noticed earlier that there was something bits that needed to be burned off of my heat defuser and had planned to increase the heat after to heat clean my stainless steel grill. Due to my ignorance to the reactant mass in my grill I opened the taps and let the fire breathe. This bit me bumm. I went away for a couple of hours. When I returned the thermometer was off the scale. I had never seen it go past 600 before and this was now past 700. It was so hot I couldn’t touch the handle. I used the grate scraper to lift the lid from a distance. I have now seen the fires of Hades. The grate at the edges were a dull red and where the het defuser was it was a bright red. The edges of a typical fire are defined by colder air. In my Akorn there was no colder air. The fire from this charcoal was nothing like anything I had ever seen. It was like looking into a maelstrom of heat. I moved as if living. I am not exaggerating. It was ethereal. So, I closed the lid and the dampers and came back the next day. There was still a good bit of charcoal left over and my stainless steel grill is not rusty. I looked up the temp that iron turns a dull red. It is 900 degrees. I don’t know what bright red it but wow that was something. I will use this product as long as I can get it. As normal cooking only uses up the smallest amount of coal and smoking meat consumes a negligible amount.

I’m not an expert griller. I take my time because I enjoy the process. I’m used to the briquettes and my gas grill. This stuff is different and it takes a few times to learn how to use hardwood charcoal. This stuff burns hot but the nice thing is you don’t need as much to grill a few burgers or when your not on a grilling marathon. Also, you can reuse the lumps that didn’t burn out last time. Try that with briquettes. When I’m done grilling, I spread the coals out, close the lid and the lumps burn out. But they don’t turn to dust like the briquettes. Now you can use the left over lumps again. Also, the flavor the Jealous Devil hardwood puts out is awesome. I have a gas grill that I use for quick meals (when I don’t have time for a few beverages while I get the grill going) but my family knows instantly when I used the charcoal grill because the flavor the hardwood puts off is so much better than the gas grill. Sorry for the long review, but if you want some charcoal that’s different than the normal briquettes, give this a try. That’s what grilling is all about right?

I am a newcomer for using my Kamado Joe the last six months. I have only tried 3 or 4 brands but I like this one the best. The flavor to me is almost neutral in the food so I add flavor by throwing in wood chunks throughout the charcoal. The temperature control is quite even but I can't say if that is due to charcoal or give credit to the Kamado Joe. Either way, I don't fuss much with temperature once the oven is up to temperature.My complaints:1) I think this product is very expensive. $28 for 20 lb bag at the BBQ store and a whopping $46 per bag shipped from Amazon. I bought from Amazon this last time because of staying at home during the virus situation. So much for free shipping, they just raise the price of the product to compensate. My 2 bags were punctured from the Amazon delivery even though they were protected in a shipping box.2) Yes, every lump charcoal bag is going to have dust, but my opinion is there is a lot of dust in the bag. I transfer the charcoal from the bag into a plastic storage bin and when I'm finished my hands and clothes are black. I have unsuccessful in keeping the charcoal dust contained.3) More on the bag - I find it difficult to pour the chunks from the bag into the storage container. The zip lock top keeps the opening too small and I have to pull the chunks out by hand to keep it flowing. Hence, why I get so dirty. Next time, I am just going to cut the top off completely to create a larger opening. If you keep the charcoal in the bag for storage, this may not be an issue for you.Aside from my complaining, I think this is a good product and my cooks are turning out great and the food is delicious.

I've tried several charcoals based on "The Lump Charcoal Database" Shout out to The Naked Whiz www.nakedwhiz.com.Interesting that someone took that much effort to research charcoal, but I'm glad they did.Jealous Devil is the best I've ever used and I've been using it exclusively for about three years now. I have no reason to switch. I use Kamado cookers (Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe) and I'm never disappointed with Jealous devil lump charcoal. More large chunks, less dust and useless smalls, and NO mystery chunks or debris.If you're looking for a bargain brand, stick with good old Royal Oak, which is also made for and sold by retailers under store names, like Kroger and BGE. Not in the same league as Jealous Devil but consistently recommended for the price.Remember: FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS USE BRIQUETTES or liquid fire starter!