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!

I got 2 bags for grilling season. My first experience was perfect. This is natural hardwood charcoal, so yes there can be considerable variation in size. One bag did have a minor tear so it's leaking some dust. But that's a minor complaint, I didn't lose a lot of mass that way. My first bag is a good assortment, from pebbles to fist-size chunks. The large chunks are not difficult to break up - just whack 'em on a hard surface "with the grain" to fracture off a layer. I filled most of a chimney-style firestarter, crumpled up some brown paper, and everything lit wonderfully well. In fact, my firestarter was roaring at 15 minutes when briquettes can sometimes take 20-25. I got a great cook from my coals, and the flavor was very mild. I'd say these actually have less "charcoal-y" flavor than briquettes, which is a good thing. You get the best of both worlds. Totally satisfied with my first experience. Good, natural charcoal that lights fast and cooks well.

I have tried at least 25 different kinds of charcoal in the past 20 years in my Big Green Egg. Jealous Devil is the best, bar none. This is truly Excellent lump charcoal. Large chunks but not too big. Almost no dust or small chips. Easy to light with electric or propane torch. Very little sparking on ignition. Burns anywhere from 180 to over 800 degrees in my BGE. Burns long too. 24 hours at 275, no problem. Great flavor, not too overwhelming. If you want more smokiness in the flavor, it is easy to add whatever combination you like without having that flavor overwhelmed by the JD. I cannot recommend this charcoal highly enough.

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.

I've tried several charcoals based on "The Lump Charcoal Database" Shout out to The Naked Whiz www.nakedwhiz.com. Interesting that someone took that much effort to research charcoal, but I'm glad they did. Jealous Devil is the best I've ever used and I've been using it exclusively for about three years now. I have no reason to switch. I use Kamado cookers (Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe) and I'm never disappointed with Jealous devil lump charcoal. More large chunks, less dust and useless smalls, and NO mystery chunks or debris. If you're looking for a bargain brand, stick with good old Royal Oak, which is also made for and sold by retailers under store names, like Kroger and BGE. Not in the same league as Jealous Devil but consistently recommended for the price. Remember: FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS USE BRIQUETTES or liquid fire starter!

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 normally do not write reviews or buy fancy charcoal but I did this time and wow! This hardwood lump charcoal be made with special wood because it burned much hotter and longer then my typical common brand one. It definitely cost more but the taste was undeniably different. We mad dry rub chicken thighs on the grill which we normally do with our Kingsford brand. This time, we used Jealous Devil and the grill burned so much hotter and smoked during the process. The chicken skin came out crunchy and extremely tasty. The difference was well worth the money and made a typical chicken thigh extra tasty and gourmet. Now I finally understand why the professionals use this brand....it really does make a difference in the taste. Next will be steaks and I can only imagine what a difference that will be! Wow!

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.

What is there to say about charcoal. Good stuff

All good 👍

I was disappointed with this, It spat sparks everywhere when using it as if it had either not been dried properly or had gotten wet. Once the sparks settled down which took some time it was fine for what I needed it for. At a pinch I'd buy it again just because it's easy to use amazon to have it delivered.

Looking forward to saving money and eating bbq food over Christmas/ new year.

Was happily using this charcoal when I started finding bits of old tile in there - happened 2 nights in a row! How dodgy is that !!