"Dana" wrote in message
...

Dave is on the money here, obviously. There are those that work with
Kingsford briquettes and swear by the results, but lump is the real
deal without the work of burning wood down to coals. Original Charcoal
Co's lump briquettes are basically like working with lump that's all the
same size, though. Highly recommended.
--
"The work of burning the wood down to coals" isn't really all that big a
deal in my experience. I cut my fruitwood into shorts of roughly 8" and once
I get my lump burning nicely, I pile the fruitwood on it as high as it will
go and turn down the draft and damper on the Kamado till I can keep it
steady at the desired temp.

The result at the end is enough lump charcoal -- produced from the
fruitwood -- left over from the day's BBQing, that I don't have to add a lot
of lump from the bag for my next Q. Sometimes I don't have to add any --
unless I'm grilling at higher heat.

I can darn near get through a whole season on one 20-pound bag of lump. I'm
not a fanatic about that -- if I need more I just go get it -- but producing
your own charcoal is less daunting -- and more fun -- than some might think.
--
ivan