charcoal chimney starters

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maxwell7

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May be a dumb question--but--I've been led to believe that what you use is important. Cook's illustrated did a testing and determined that the Weber rapid fire chimney starter was the best on the market. What have you folk experienced?I'm about to try some serious smoking. I won a Aussie smoker on Ebay , but more about that later. It appears to have the same goofball unvented fire pan that the Brinkmann uses , but won't know until I receive it!:?:
 
I use a Weber starter and like it, I am not sure it makes a difference, as my BIL has some old beat up thing that worked fine too. Then there is always a weedburner.
 
I had a cheapie from wally world and it worked okay. I actually still have it and use it sometimes but after buying the Weber Rapid Fire chimney it is WAY better. It holds more charcoal and gets it going faster. It is also better quality. The cheapie i bought was around 9 dollars and the rapid fire is about 14 everywhere I've seen it so might as well get the weber. Good luck!
 
Smokey Al Gold said:
I had a cheapie from wally world and it worked okay. I actually still have it and use it sometimes but after buying the Weber Rapid Fire chimney it is WAY better. It holds more charcoal and gets it going faster. It is also better quality. The cheapie i bought was around 9 dollars and the rapid fire is about 14 everywhere I've seen it so might as well get the weber. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Same here, have both and prefer the Weber anyday over the cheap Walmarx one. I almost got burnt once using the cheap one from Wally. After finally getting the coals going I went to dump them into my kettle and as i inverted it the metal came out of the wood handle, dropping hot coals all around me. Be forewarned, the metal only goes into the wooden handle about 1/2".
 
I had a cheap one that I bought from HD or the grocery store and liked in general with the following complaints: The space between the bottom of the coals and the bottom of the chimney was too tall for my taste. It worked, but since I place my chimney on top of a camp stove, it just meant I got to use more propane:( The handle was wood, which allowed it to rot, and ultimately burn when it got left on some hot coals. I eventually threw it out when I acquired a Weber.

The Weber has some nice qualities, but some things that make it worse: I think the shape of the screen on bottom is superior on the Weber, and the handle is plastic, but that's about it. The metal on the Weber is softer and bends more so than the cheap one (mine is currently dented) and the larger diameter combined with the denting makes it less stable on my camp stove. I have to brace it up. I will not buy another Weber.

dmp
 
I've had both and like the weber better. Gets things going faster(in my opinion) and you can use it upside down for small start ups. I use my turkey fryer propane thingy to get things going super fast!!!:biggrin: Ya and it holds more coals. In a real hurry I get my weed burner out too.

Paul B
 
I have both and yes the weber is WAY better. but now I just set either of them on top of my turkey fry stand and start the propane. takes about 2-3 mins and presto ready to dump!!!

JA
 
Paul B said:
I've had both and like the weber better. Gets things going faster(in my opinion) and you can use it upside down for small start ups. I use my turkey fryer propane thingy to get things going super fast!!!:biggrin: Ya and it holds more coals. In a real hurry I get my weed burner out too.

Paul B
Click to expand...

YOU BEAT ME! Damn cell phone!

JA
 
Just don't leave the Weber or any other on the "turkey fryer propane thingy" too long, it WILL over heat the grate in the bottom and distort it to the point that you have to bend it back into shape so it will hold charcoal... Don't ask me how I know!
 
paid 15.00 for my weber rapidfire at the HD and it works like a charm every single time. don't know what I did before it.
 
For a long time I used a gallon olive oil can with the top removed and holes punched all around the bottom rim. It worked fine, picked it up hot with tongs wearing welding gloves. Cost = $0.00 which is about the way I like it. :)

But eventually a coupla others followed me home as I bought/sold cookers. I don't know for brands, but they all work about the same.

seattlepitboss
 
I use my weber chimney starter to hold the coals while I start em with a weed burner. Now that I have a GOSM, I don't use charcoal [gasp] for now. But I won't part with the weber chimney since it is such a good tool.

Go with the weber.
 
What's everyone use to light their chimneys??

I use paper towels coated with olive oil. Makes for a nice slow burn with little ash leftover. Worth a try if you've never done it that way.
 
polishdon said:
What's everyone use to light their chimneys??
Click to expand...

As mentioned before, I use a propane camp stove. When I'm out of propane I use newspaper, twisted into kindling. If I am out of that too, I've been known to use paper towls. I've heard people talk about dousing paper with cooking oil to help it burn, but I've never found a need.

dmp
 
MTHank said:
Just don't leave the Weber or any other on the "turkey fryer propane thingy" too long, it WILL over heat the grate in the bottom and distort it to the point that you have to bend it back into shape so it will hold charcoal... Don't ask me how I know!
Click to expand...

And that is the beauty of the Weber

I am on my second. My first might still work, but the bottom grate has warped/distorted repeatedly using the turkey burner started. I slid the grate clips back through the holes and secure them with roofing nails for a few years till I broke down and bought a new Weber one.

The off brands, I have had the nice black one with the wood handle. Looks really nice. Black paint melts off in first burn. Welds holding charcoal grate melt on the second burn. And this is using newspaper to start, not a burner or anything.
 
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