Charcoal "review" Coshell coconut briquettes

[jdub]

Just thought I'd drop a post in to mark a spot, and share. Has anyone seen this stuff? Man is it weird!
I was in the froo froo grocery the other day-the guys i am BEGGING to re aquire Wicked Good Charcoal (its Philbrick's Lee Anne! thanks for stocking Karl's up.)-and here is this bag of charcoal, Coshells cocunut charcoal briquettes. Hmmmm Whats this/ Well i have seen these stories of the Japanese extruded super kryptonite, made only by monks in the jungles of bla bla bla coconut charcoal, so i grabbed it. Nine bucks for 8 pounds.
So i load a chimney full to check them out. just doing a chix breast and a couple burgers so i can't really go wrong, and set them on the burner on the performer. They are smooth, very hard, and kind of heavy for their size.

No big plume of smoke as the first briquettes hit fire. hmmm. What next?
The briquettes lit slowly and steadily, no smoke. none.
The smell. Almost nothing, hard to describe, just a hint of burning odor.
\Still no smoke
Dump them out into half the kettle and i notice right off the bat they are Hot as heck! Threw on the lid and waited. When I dump a full chimney into half my kettle anf put the vent on the far side the temp on the thermo spikes and settles around 400 thats wfo grill speed. these briquettes had the thermo up over 450.
I cooked a few burgers, capped the grill and left, so i didn't really get to see how they burned out till I returned, but there were small chunks of fire left and the dome was at 350 three hours late, no big deal there. have my lighs put away so I didn't get a good look at the amount of ash, we will see in the am.

so without really doing a real naked whiz review, i don't know anything other than these things are damn WEIRD. if nothing else it was interesting

Anybody use this stuff? What did you think?

[Frank Grimes]

Have never seen them. Sound interesting. Did the food have the standard charcoal flavor, or did you notice anything different about it?

[Harbormaster]

Doesn't Phubar cook exclusively on coconut charcoal?

[Dallas Dan]

I've read about them and have really wanted to try them.

[Smiter Q]

Originally Posted by Harbormaster

Doesn't Phubar cook exclusively on coconut charcoal?

I am pretty sure I see him use coconut on almost every cook.

[mbshop]

i got a new bag of it free from a store that sells it. the sales guy wanted me to test it for him. they get their stuff through true value. thanks for reminding me to use it !

[Phubar]

Yeah...I'm using these ones,most of the Dutch Brethren use these square briqs: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag96.htm

One of the best briqs you can get IMO!
The way JDub described it is the way it is...no smoke,no odeur.
I don't have troubles with high temps though...most of the leftover briqs I'm using for the next cooking session.

[jdub]

Originally Posted by Frank Grimes

Have never seen them. Sound interesting. Did the food have the standard charcoal flavor, or did you notice anything different about it?

Nope not that I noticed. Come to think of it I was in such a hurry to leave the house I hosed my burger down and didn't even bother to "eat it" (my mom would be very upset with me).

I guess I should have payed more attention i will re visit this stuff later, but like i said-Weird.

[cliffcarter]

Been reading about CoShell briqs for a couple of years now, not many places carry them yet, mostly in Illinois if I remember right. Encouraging that you got them in NH.
A few threads here about CoShell FYI- seems to very good charcoal-

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sea...earchid=659541

[mbshop]

i just tried some in my sj for some quickish grilling. i think i found my new love. sure its takes a very little bit longer to start but no biggy at all. yes, they seem a bit hotter but for me thats a plus. so with a very little ash covering them i started to grill some thin beef. nice light char and the heat seemed to drop a little but then maintained. cooked four of these beef slices two at a time. same results for the second round as the first. then i cooked four pork steaks two at a time. same results. seems this stuff maintains its heat no matter the ash buildup on the coals. also the outside coals stayed lit just as the inner ones. this is not like regular charcoal were the outer stuff tends to die down. this stuff for sure lasts longer than regular briq. so this morning i checked the remains. had to knock off the ash. i don't see ash buildup as a problem. the remaing briq were still a fair size and did not easily break apart at all. so i give this stuff a !

[mbshop]

just to bring this back around. i cooked again and again i'm really loving this stuff. i just cleaned out my sj and again little ash and more than half the briq are left and they are still hard. so though expensive initially, they can be reused easily which really cuts down on the cost. sold through truvalue. funny thing is that the truvalue site only shows the small bag of the instant lite stuff. so do go out and try it !!

[gtr]

I got a box of the Charcos coconut briqs. I've only used 'em once & need to get 'em back out again because I was impressed with them. They burn hot as fark and leave very, very little ash. Great for WGA indirect cooks like Phu does. I'm sure they're great for other applications as well but I just haven't tried them enough to say firsthand yet. Thanks for reminding me!

[mbshop]

where did you get yers ? seems unobtainium in calif. shipping etc would make it to costly.

[gtr]

^^^I got it shipped. It's definitley too costly to do as a normal thing but I was curious and wanted to check it out.

[caseydog]

I can see them as a good high-heat fuel for a thick steak, but not for Q, based on what I have read on this thread.

And, they may be eco-friendly if you live in Hawaii, but by the time you get them to Texas, I have to assume the carbon footprint has grown considerably. By the time you get them to the Netherlands, you may as well be burning used tires, as far as carbon footprints go.

Based on what I have read here, I am not seeing any reason for me to go out looking for them.

Can somebody change my mind? Why would I want to even try to find some?

CD