As I walk my dogs, Gwen and Swifty, around the neighborhood on a warm summer night the scent of smoldering mesquite, oak and hickory is in the air. Occasionally I catch a whiff of something very disturbing, something so morbid that I stop in my tracks. No, not my dogs… I’m talking about the smell of charcoal lighting fluid. There are a surprisingly large number of people, some acquaintances of mine included, that still use charcoal lighting fluid to ignite their charcoal. Aside from the awful smell, that never quite leaves, and the residual taste of toxic petroleum distillates on you food it’s not the safest way to light up the barbecue.
If you know someone who uses charcoal lighting fluid… might I suggest that a charcoal chimney starter makes a great gift. Charcoal chimney starters are not that expensive (around $12) and will save him or her money in the long run. I have even seen one made from an empty coffee can that had both ends removed with church key holes along the edge.
If you have never used one, the charcoal chimney is extremely easy to use. All that you need is the charcoal chimney, some paper (a couple of pages from yesterday’s newspaper works great), some charcoal and some matches or a lighter. Crumple up the paper and stuff it loosely into the bottom of the chimney and fill the top section with charcoal. Place onto a non-flammable surface (I put it on top of the grill) and light. In about 20 minutes your charcoal will be ready to pour into your grill.
Charcoal Chimney Starter atop a BBQ Grill just getting started
Once it is lit, the flames start going
Swifty and Gwen love going on walks and BBQ
31. August 2005 at 9:57 am
The large dog is quite handsome. The small one looks a bit fem, like Paris Hilton would own or something. But the other is definately butch. Mad butch.
This is a great site. I always wanted to learn about those chimney things. Very informative. Your photography is second to none in the food blogging world. I smell Nikon.
p.s. I am a total bbq junkie too.
31. August 2005 at 12:49 pm
I reject the chimney. For one thing, I’ve never bought into the idea that you can still taste the lighter fluid after the coals have been burning for half an hour or more. But more importantly, one of the most fun things about barbecuing is the dramatic blast of flames when you first light the coals. On the first BBQ day of the summer, I like to crank up “School’s Out” the moment I light the flames, signaling the beginning of the season. The gradual heating of the coals with a chimney just isn’t the same.
31. August 2005 at 5:28 pm
I’ve been using charcoal chimneys for 10 plus years or longer. My first ones were coffee cans with holes cut around the base.
Here’s an article from the Sacramento Bee last spring, where garden writer Dan Vierra tested several charcoal lighting methods, including Match Light, charcoal chimney and lighter fluid.
The chimney came in at 17 minutes for 50 briquettes vs. lighter fluid. It’s two tests were 22 and 24 minutes.
My April 23, 2005 blog can be viewed at: http://roundthechuckbox.blogspot.com/2005/04/charcoal-light-test.html
31. August 2005 at 7:14 pm
Yea for the chimney. We haven’t bought any lighter fluid in over 10 years and we have the same chimney purchased then. It works and it has to be safer (no burnt eyebrows).
1. September 2005 at 11:18 am
Yeah I find lighter fluid to be quite distasteful as well. I do a lot of smoking if you use lighter fluid on something like brisket that takes 8+ hours you will find that the meat will end up taking on a lot of the chemical taste. Chimeny starters are cheap and I think it’s a lot cooler to dump out a load of burning coals that to have a brief explosion of flames. Looks a lot more professional.
btw great site. I just moved back to the SoCal area and it’s great to find other BBQ freaks like me.
11. September 2005 at 9:49 pm
I went “camping” this weekend…and bit into the starter thing thinking it was candy…you would not be proud Big man Not be proud!.
1. December 2005 at 8:56 pm
The chimney doesn’t light enough briquettes. I would need 3 to produce enough volume.
Biggest Problem: I can close the Weber up after grilling, and choke off the coals. Next time, about half are still left. With a chimney, these “leftover” briquettes would NOT light. Why?
And I have never been able to get mesquite charcoal to light.
16. February 2006 at 8:31 am
We do things differently in South America. It is completely unthinkable to use lighter fluid… how can I begin to explain? The whole BBQ experience is such a back-to-basics idea, just grilling meat on fire, that using such chemical products, aside from giving a horrible taste and smell, simply goes against the whole concept of BBQ. Might as well order Kentucky Fried Chicken.
We often use something similar to the chimeney system: you simply place a can whose ends have been removed on top of the pile of charcoals you are trying to light. Once it’s lit, simply remove the can.
Alternatively, you place a bottle with paper wrapped around it on the BBQ, then place charcoals all around it, making a sort of mountain. Remove the bottle, leaving the paper. Ignite the paper and the whole mountain will become a volcano. Works great.
Also, you can get a flower pot, remove the bottom, prop about 6 cm from the ground with an iron pot-holder, and use it as your chimeney. Also works great, and has the added advantage that you can be continuously producing hot coals as you need them – you simply collect them at the bottom (they just kind of lie there) while putting new ones in.
Great pictures by the way.
30. May 2006 at 10:59 am
When I tried my chimeny for the first time, all of my charcoal did not light. I had to break out the lighter fluid to get the charcoal bruning. What did I do wrong with the chimeny?
30. May 2006 at 1:15 pm
Amanda, you might have over-stuffed the bottom with newspapers. You only need one or two sheets lightly crumbled.
I don’t recommend using lighter fluid… a great trick for lighting is to use one sheet of newspaper with about a tablespoon of cooking oil poured over it, crumple and stuff it underneath the chimney. This gives you more heat and longer burn… it also lights the charcoal about twice as fast.
31. May 2006 at 7:15 am
I’m an occasional griller (maybe 5-6 times per summer – though our summer is only like 3 weeks long in Vermont) who just ran out of lighter fluid and am planning to get a chimney – is there any difference in brands or do they all basically work the same?
31. May 2006 at 8:46 am
I really like the chimney starter made by Weber, good quality and it has a heat shield along with an extra handle for pouring your lit coals. You can find it at your local hardware store or you can also order it from amazon.
28. July 2006 at 5:50 pm
I’ve never used lighter fluid in over 25 yrs of BBQ. My father before me never used it. He got me started on the chimney, and I’ve carried on. There was a time back in the late 70′s early 80′s when they were hard to find. I’m on my 3rd one (lost one in a move).
I’ve never had problems restarting old charcoal. I don’t know what Richard’s problem was, mine seem to relight just fine. Maybe it’s an east/west coast thing.
I’ve really become fond of lump charcoal and just hardwoods. I really like the tast when the meat’s been on the fire a long time at low heat using hardwoods.
Some of the problems posted here could actually be that the charcoal got damp, or that the venting isn’t correct on the grills. There are a lot of possibilities, those are a few…
Happy grilling!
29. July 2006 at 1:09 am
At 8,000 feet elevation the charcoal chimney just does not work very well. I added 2 feet stove pipe to the top of a charcoal chimney and it now works great. It actually becomes very hot. This charcoal chimney turns into a dangerously hot blow torch. Flames roar out the top. Keep the charcoal chimney away from anything flammable.
17. August 2006 at 8:07 am
I read a trick to take the newspaper and roll it from corner to corner, then take and turn it so you have essentially a crown or doughnut of paper leaving the center free. Now insert that in the bottom of the chimmeny and light it. The idea being it will let more air in through the hole in the middle then just jamming paper up there.
28. October 2006 at 3:07 pm
This is a great site. I used a chimney starter for the first time today with verbal intstructions from my brother-in-law. It seemed too easy, so I came in and checked your site to see if I had done it right. I had! I am cooking potatoes right now! (Can you tell I am a woman BBQing? I go inside when I get bored!) Unfortunatly no potato recipies on your web site… can’t win them all…. I wrapped them in tinfoil and smothered them with rosmary and thyme.
I do have one question, is your first comment on this page from the famous Rob Lowe? So, he like BBQing and commenting on if dogs look male or femail and nikon cameras, eh? Huh….
25. January 2007 at 7:15 am
I have had my Big Green Egg for a year now, and only use natural charcoal. For startup, I use a MAPP torch (like a plumbers torch) which is really easy to use (i’m not a handyman-type). They cost about $40 at Home Depot and auto-start with a trigger (no matches – easier than a bic lighter). The fuel tank lasts about 1 year and is cheap to replace. Just make a mound of coals on your grate, heat 3 spots for 20-30 seconds each, and in 15 minutes you have a roaring fire. No chimney, no fuels, no mathces or paper. Only downside is you may want to wear a mitt with natural charcoal for the occasional “pop” of ash during lighting.
5. June 2007 at 11:57 am
I love charcoal chimneys! I was taught how to use one this past weekend at a Girl Scout training thing. Must buy one now. We used “candle kisses” on top of a sheet of wadded up newspaper. And that was shoved into the bottom of the chimney. The chimney started with just a match. It worked great.
The “candle kisses” were made by cutting a 1.5-2″ chunk off a taper candle and rolling it up in wax paper, and twisting the ends.
I love cooking outdoors. Great site.
11. June 2007 at 6:56 am
I love the chimney, the only real problem I have is that fire sparks always shoot out the top of the chimney approx 4-6 feet high. This makes it a dangerous fire hazard in my opinion.
5. March 2009 at 7:39 pm
For my money the chimney wins hands down. I bought mine about 10 years for less than 10 bucks at the local hardware store and It’s still going strong. If you feel you need more charcoal just place a few unlit ones on top of your live coals. They will lite up with the heat of live coals in no time flat.
26. April 2009 at 5:20 am
Just saw one of these for the first time yesterday and thought it was a great invention. We live on an island so saving on buying lighter fluid is a good ting. Our friend uses a paper towel soaked in veggie oil over news paper he says it is less mess that way. Cute dogs.
7. March 2010 at 1:26 pm
Would you please translate your site into Italian since I’m not that comfortable reading it in English? I’m getting tired of using Google Translate all the time, there is a handy WordPress plugin called like global translator which will translate all your posts automatically- that would make reading articleson your sweet blog even more pleasant. Cheers dude, Lisa Mulhall!
20. May 2010 at 6:52 am
There is certainly a whole lot to know about this. I believe you made some very good points in Attributes also.
24. May 2010 at 9:38 am
I need some help. I’m new to barbequing so I have a couple of questions. Since I am so new I didn’t want to invest in something expensive so I purchased an inexpensive little barbeque from Walmart that is very basic; round with vents at the top and vents on the front; a small grill in the interior bottom for coals and the main grill (it looks just like a small Weber). I looked at the instructions and it said never to use the easy to light coals (which I assume contain lighter fluid). Why is that? If it’s ok to use lighter fluid on regular coals then why not use those easy to light coals? If I use regular coals, what is the easiest way to light them (I don’t want to use lighter fluid as I hate the taste). Also, when do you know the coals are ready?