Buy lump charcoal and get 50% off charcoal wand

What’s special about this charcoal? $40 for 20lbs. Seems really expensive. Are they just using this to claw back discounts for that wand?

Buy any bag of lump charcoal. I usually buy Kamado Joe at Lowes, when it's buy 2 get 3. Just thought I'd try this one, had a good reviews.

Are these wands worth it? I always use a chimney starter

It is all I've been using. I did heat up a charcoal starter and bend it in a vice to fit the kamado, then use a hand air bellow. This wand takes less than a minute, just don't walk away like I did.

bostonontario wrote: ↑ Are these wands worth it? I always use a chimney starter

I rarely use my HD wand.

The heat doesn't spread that well, so only the coals with direct contact get activated.
(I usually load my wand and coals in the chimney starter)

Charcoal already? It's not Christmas yet...

bostonontario wrote: ↑ Are these wands worth it? I always use a chimney starter

I can't comment on the quality of the wand itself, but the $80 price tag seems ridiculous since it is just a heat gun which goes on sale at Princess Auto for about $15.

PerformingAzura wrote: ↑ I rarely use my HD wand.

The heat doesn't spread that well, so only the coals with direct contact get activated.
(I usually load my wand and coals in the chimney starter)

That's great if you want to do a slow smoke though. I have to get the wax cubes in order to easily light only a few of the coals at first.

Am I missing something here? Walmart carries Royal Oak Blue bag 10lbs for $7 every year, what is so special? Also, If you use a chimney, do you even need the wand?

Royal Oak Blue Lump + electrical style starter (https://www.amazon.ca/Char-Broil-125846 ... B06W5VR3ZF) is the way to go.

All these new expensive methods of lighting coals... for petes sake.

And as for the Royal Oak - been using it for years and the only small issue is you have to pick out rocks every now and then. Otherwise, low ash, good burn.

hunto306 wrote: ↑ And as for the Royal Oak - been using it for years and the only small issue is you have to pick out rocks every now and then. Otherwise, low ash, good burn.

I use this as well - good price and found nearly everywhere. As for starters of any kind... I use rolled up paper towel or cardboard and dip it in veg oil. I don't see the need for yet another "thing". You're lighting charcoal, it's not rocket science.

NineOne wrote: ↑ That's great if you want to do a slow smoke though. I have to get the wax cubes in order to easily light only a few of the coals at first.

I was under the impression you wanted a really hot fire going in order to get that thin blue smoke.

At low heat you get the cloudy smoke that burns your eyes and gives your meat an odd aftertaste if you smoke it too long.

PerformingAzura wrote: ↑ I was under the impression you wanted a really hot fire going in order to get that thin blue smoke.

At low heat you get the cloudy smoke that burns your eyes and gives your meat an odd aftertaste if you smoke it too long.

It will still get hot enough around the wood to get you the right kind of smoke, it just won't burn all the charcoal at once. Check out YouTube for videos on the "snake method" and the "minion method" for example.

I think If you buy any of their charcoal. You get the wand at 50% off. I bought a Kamado Joe over a week ago and this promotion was going on. https://barbecuesgalore.ca/pages/search ... p+charcoal

Advil_Yum wrote: ↑ I use this as well - good price and found nearly everywhere. As for starters of any kind... I use rolled up paper towel or cardboard and dip it in veg oil. I don't see the need for yet another "thing". You're lighting charcoal, it's not rocket science.

Added to that, not everyone has power outlet near their BBQ area.

I used to just use newspaper which worked fine. Having said that I recently stopped throwing out my egg cartons and decided to try and make some "starter" with that. Ripped up some pieces of the egg carton and put that into each egg slot....I then melted some candle wax on top of it and then did a quick oil spray for good measure. Hope it lights up well.

The egg carton is supposed to be good for starting small quantities of charcoal (snake method) as well. Just replace eggs with charcoal and light the carton up (again I sprayed a bit of oil on the bottom of the carton first).

if only the charcoal wand can magically make more charcoal appear.

Advil_Yum wrote: ↑ I use this as well - good price and found nearly everywhere. As for starters of any kind... I use rolled up paper towel or cardboard and dip it in veg oil. I don't see the need for yet another "thing". You're lighting charcoal, it's not rocket science.

After burning paper, Dont u get a lot of ashes blown around when theres wind? Gets in your food too.
I switched to starter cube but got expensive so I went with the electric starter. The only complaint is that you need an extension long enough

jon604 wrote: ↑ After burning paper, Dont u get a lot of ashes blown around when theres wind? Gets in your food too.
I switched to starter cube but got expensive so I went with the electric starter. The only complaint is that you need an extension long enough

No, I haven't noticed that. I mean you're burning charcoal so yes there will be ashes but it's pretty minimal inside a kamado. I'm not talking about a lot of paper.

Don't bother with the wand.

The chimney starter, you light it and walk away
The wand...you need to stand there and attend it until it's lit.


Here shows $12 heat gun does a better job. Also comparing with chimney