**Canadian Charcoal Motherload**

Check this out!

I picked up 24 bags (8.8lbs) of Maple Leaf Natural Hardwood briqs from a craigslist ad in Seattle today. Did a quick Google search on it and came up with a couple forum hits with good reports, the Naked Whiz recommends the Maple Leaf Lump but not much info on the briqs.









Turns out the guy is an Egghead and bought up the remaining stock of an out of business Spa & Stove shop in Eastern Washington and loves the lump and used the briqs in his Weber, but found he was using the Egg more-claims these have a sweet flavor to them, I think I got a sweet deal $2.50 a bag you do the math, I will give them a try this weekend.

Anyone ever tried them?

**First Cook Impressions**

Tried it in the drum this afternoon with some Apple chunks for smoke.

First impression: Took a bit longer than the other "natural" charcoals (I'd say about the same as Rancher) to get up to temp, and it had a real strong smell at the start. Laren (Hog-Que-Holic) can attest to this, but he felt it was crud burning off the charcoal basket. When the drum hit @225* it was burning nice and clean and I added the Apple chunks and it did have a nice sweet aroma to it. Cooked 2 Turkey Breasts and 2 soaked Corned Beef Points for Pastrami.



So- the temps held rock steady for 8+ hours but it burns faster than the others. No "flying ash" from the fats dripping on the coals like Rancher. I only used one bag (8lbs) and will probably have to finish the points in the oven if they don't smash through their plateau soon. The turkey was fantastic! I think I'm going to like this in the drum, but will need to use more next time.

Norcoredneck said:

Hell at $2.50 I'd make adjustments. How much ash left?

Click to expand...

My sediments exactly! Hard to tell on the ash, but it looks like it could be substansial. I just cleared the ash from my last cook to the sides away from the basket and vents and loaded the Maple Leaf in, the coals died out and I'm finishing the points off in the oven (not the first time today) but it looks to be up to the bottom of the basket. Gotta try it in the WSM, I can already see it'll be good for grilling.