Briquets vs Lump

I have a long story and then a simple question to present to you. Recently I moved to the Sonoran desert community of Bisbee, Arizona. In the process, I temporarily left my family and my smokers in southern Oklahoma. There, Mrs. Bo professes to be cooking as good or better Q than I have ever produced. The children, of course, agree with her. Of these facts my delema is born....

Being lonely, bored and listening her tell me about the ribs, brisket and fatties she was smoking, I went to Lowes and bought a Blue Rhino table top gas grill the first week end that I was here. Please understand that money was tight and that's all I could afford at the time. For at least a few days, that grill appeased my appetite for outdoor cooking.

But, the next week I got a pay check, went back to Lowes and bought an ECB, a new chimney and some lump. Bear in mind that this is my first foray into lump as a fuel for any cooker, this cooker is new to me and money was still tight. ( My family and smokers will be here soon.)
A trip to Safeway later, I had a 7# brisket flat, a fatty and some pork ribs that were about to be subjected to what I thought was "low and slow" smoking. Boy was I wrong on that one......

Everything is prepped and put on the ECB which is filled with lump because I had no briquets. Nu-Temp probe is inserted into the flat and set to 170 so I can spray and wrap when the time is right. All is good or so I thought... The flat was done in 2 hours and the ribs and fatty were toast...

Here is my simple question...
That lump burns really hot compared to charcoal briquets doesn't it???????



Has any one used this brand before???

The air control (or lack of it) was the biggest problem then. I did another cook today with a small roast and a couple of fatties. Only this time I used charcoal with just a little lump in the pan. Things went much better this time than the first two did.

If things go as planned, the family and every thing else will be here in less than a month and I can put the ecb on Freecycle....:eusa_clap

When I get my WSM down here, I'll experiment with the lump / charcoal mixture and the air flow to get longer burn times for the all nighters.
Understood about the additives in the briquets but they haven't killed me yet. I sold my Bandera during the winter because I had trouble getting it up to temp and keeping it there. Now I wish I'd kept it since I've learned that it was just me not putting enough fuel in it to get it there. My bad for sure.