The Basket came from Thom and Kyle Emery, the West Coast Distributors for Spicewine smokers. The U-shaped basket helps with a slow burn of the charcoal. You fill the basket with unlit charcoal except for the small section in the fron on the left. You add a small amount of lit charcoal to that section. The middle is left empty. The charcoal will burn it's way around the "U" giving a 10-20 hour burn depending on how high you run the temps.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.