Charcoal for Grilling & BBQ — Natural Recycled Hardwood Charcoal Logs — Reusable Lump Coal with no Binders, Additives, or Chemicals — 22lbs Pack

I’m on my third 22 lb box of Prime 6 and have always had charcoal to reuse. Often I don’t need to add fresh for the second burn. have a PKGO grill that i use for chicken, grilled vegetables, yakitori, etc. Works well in both direct and two-zone modes. Using Weber firestarters, gets fully lit in less than 30 minutes with or without a chimney. Excellent charcoal!

I did not have the trouble others did getting it started. Yep, it takes a little longer but if you watch their video and stack it correctly. A couple of chemical-free starters did it for me.It does burn longer than lump charcoal that's for sure. For my evaluation, I was using a Kamado "Egg" style smoker and used this for a pork shoulder and a batch of pork bellies. We're headed into winter so outside temps were also not in our favor (High 30's low 40's F) so it takes a little extra fuel to keep things up to temp. While the bellies area short smoke at 250 degrees (about 3 hours) there was plenty left. Snuffing it was easy and I reused it on the Shoulder which was about a 8 hour smoke.Typically, I'll need to refuel at the end or near the end of any 7+ hour smoke. It's just the predominant winds in my area seems to cause that for me. That wasn't the case when I used this charcoal. So in terms of cook time, I think it does burn longer/hotter.I did feel like, both smokes, I ended up with MORE smoke flavor than I wanted. Using the same techniques I've used for years. Couple of small chunk hardwood with the charcoal. Both the bellies and the shoulder both came out 'over smoked'. So in my world the next cook I'll need to use less smoking wood too. Which could also potentially save a few bucks.I'm not sold on the price of the product in line with the perceived value though. I'll likely stick with chunk charcoal once I use up this box.

I really want to like this charcoal, but it's just SO hard to get lit, and if/when I can finally get it started, the slow-burning nature of the stuff makes it take FOREVER to get going good enough to be usable.My first attempt to use this charcoal: I just threw pieces into a charcoal chimney with a single "twisted wood wool" firelighter underneath, as I would with regular lump or briquette charcoal and walked away. I kept checking on it, waiting for the inferno to take hold - it did not. I tried lighting the chimney from underneath with a propane torch, I could get the charcoal to glow, but after more waiting it still seemed like nothing much was happening. In the end, the only way I really got this stuff lit was by mixing it with lump charcoal and lighting them together. Eventually, the Prime 6 charcoal did finally really get going, but dinner was very, very late.The next day, I took the partially burned Prime 6 coal, stacked it neatly in the chimney (with no lump coal mixed in), and attempted a regular lighting process again, hoping that being partially burned would help it light more easily. It took some time, but seemed to light pretty well, so I decided just the FIRST lighting was the huge challenge, and closed up the grill to put it out.A few days later, I tried lighting the same coal and had similar results to my first experience - I just could not get it going with multiple firelighters and also the torch. I eventually had to give up and just lit some lump charcoal to burn around the Prime 6. In the time it took me to grill burgers and tuna steaks, I don't believe the Prime 6 ever really got going, and dinner was very, VERY late.I think I would look at this as a sort of "special purpose" charcoal. IF you can find a way to light it reliably, it still takes a very long time to really get going. This comes along with the slow-burning nature of the stuff as I'm sure if it lit quickly to a full burn, it would also not be as long-lasting and reusable so many times, but it burns so slowly that it really creates a problem. If you're throwing a big BBQ and need a grill to keep going for hours, this is the stuff you want for sure, but you still might be better off starting with regular coal, just to get the Prime 6 coal lit. If you could keep it from going out (it seems to suffocate VERY easily), this coal might be a great choice for a charcoal smoker. I haven't tried, but I hope someone does and writes a review. I would worry that it might be difficult to maintain a low smoking temperature without suffocating the coals, but if this wasn't a problem, this could be a great smoking solution.I see that Prime 6 also sells their own fire starters, that claim to burn for 40 minutes. This should be an indication that the company KNOWS how long it takes to light their charcoal, as regular starters don't burn more than 10 minutes or so, and that is plenty of time to get regular coal lit. But their starters are about $2 EACH, way more than typical starters, but also more geared towards their charcoal. So again, we see that the Prime 6 coal is clearly best suited for long-term grilling. If I was lighting a grill to burn for several hours and I had the time to wait for this stuff to light, a $2 starter doesn't seem out of line at all. I might get a 6 pack of these eventually just to see how well they work with the Prime 6 charcoal - when I have several hours to devote to grilling. But in my case, I like quick weeknight grilling - light the coals, prep the food while they're getting started, and be ready to grill within 30-60 minutes. If this is the kind of grilling you do, Prime 6 charcoal is NOT for you.

Let's start with the good. Once you get this stuff burning, it's amazing. It is exactly what you see in the promo picture, and it stays hot for ages. You can grill for a crowd without running out of heat. Just fantastic!The problem is getting there. First, it's hard to light. You'll think you have it lit, only to find out that you don't, after all, have it lit and you have to start from scratch. Again and again and again. Then, just about the time you give up, you realize it's finally taken.But then it takes a loooooong time to get to that heat point.We have discovered a helpful tip: instead of following the directions for stacking, go ahead and use a chimney. Although lighting the charcoal can still be an issue, it is much easier to get it heated in a reasonable amount of time with a chimney.We want to like it because of its effectiveness after it's finally hot. But, we just need to figure out a trick for getting it to that point more efficiently.

I bought 5 boxes in both sizes and every one was 8% UNDERWEIGHT! The charcoal is way overpriced to start with and then they defraud you with underweight boxes. As for performance, it is very mediocre, certainly not worth the luxury price they charge.

This Prime 6 Charcoal for Grilling & BBQ — Natural Recycled Hardwood Charcoal Logs — Reusable Lump Coal with no Binders, Additives, or Chemicals — 22lbs Pro Pack burns hot, and has a long burn time.It also appears to burn cleaner than briquettes.However, this stuff is not the best for cooking/grilling, although it did BBQ a mean steak.This issue is that it is quite hard to get going. Very hard in fact. What worked was some regular briquettes and this on top of them. I used a electric starter. I would say this is best for coal heaters/stoves, where you have a stove that burns charcoal rather than wood for long term winter heat. This would be ideal, as the long burn time means you would have heat for quite some time.Or perhaps for some grilled food you want to cook slowly.But for regular grilling, this would not be my first choice.