I might not be the first to stumble onto this method, but I found it on
my own, so I'm claiming it. :-)

I've had inconsistent results lighting my chimneys with newspaper. Back
in the dark ages, when I used briquettes, it was no problem. But now
that I'm an enlightened burner of the One True Lump, I find that I
often have to shove another couple of sheets into the bottom of the
chimney to get the charcoal started.

I know that lighter fluid is heresy. But, I don't apply it to the lump.
instead, I squirt a couple of ounces into a sand pile near my smoker,
then set the chimney atop that. I have a couple of sheets of newsprint
in the base of the chimney, and I light the paper. As the paper burns
up, the lighter fluid catches, and the sand acts as a big candle. By
the time the chimney is ablaze, there's no trace of petro odor.

It's much faster than repeated re-lightings.

Kevin