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.

This much.Worth every penny. It's like writing with a $200 pen. You think it's stupid until you do it. So many things in our lives are cheap approximations of what they could be. They're driven down by a demand for things to be as cheap, and yet as profitable, as possible, usually leaving the consumer with garbage dressed up to look like whatever it claimed to be. This is why I've come to appreciate the odd slightly more costly item. Usually, it's either worth it, or it isn't actually expensive as you think because it lasts longer and performs better.Remember these words next time you buy house paint, garden hoses, body soap, steak knives, office chairs, and mushrooms. And definitely next time you need charcoal.Jealous Devil heats more evenly, sparks and pops less frequently, ashes more cleanly, and lasts much, much longer than any other "hardwood" or "lump" charcoal you can buy at the major outlets. I close the vents on my grill when I'm done and relight the coals on my next bbq, getting me 2-3 cooks out of one chimney-full. I add a few lumps as needed. Four of the 20lb bags will last me nearly all year and I grill for two at least 4 times a week in the summer and perform frequent all-day smokes in the winter.Worth every penny and highly recommended.

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.