Lump coal only?

I have been learning lump this year and I really like it for small smokes and grilling. I am not comfortable using it in the big smoker yet but I love the low ash and cleaner burn.

I use lump, but start it with briquettes because I find them easier to portion out in the chimney.

When I bought my Bandera I started out using Kingsford charcoal, the ash was overpowering. I swapped into lump and thought I'd found the best fuel source. food had plenty of smoke flavor also.

Then my dad had an apple tree that was dead in his back yard, I cut it up and used it for a long smoke of brisket and pork shoulders. I was amazed at how the temperatures where right where i wanted them and seemingly easier to maintain.

I moved to Oklahoma, bought a pickup load of pecan, and now I start the fire with lump, and go with small pieces of pecan pre-heated on the lid to almost aflame, and couldn't be happier. Pecan smoke tastes similar to hickory but milder in my opinion. I use about a 1/3 of a wheel borrow load for 5 hour ribs. A whole wheel borrow load for briskets, I haven't foiled and my smoke ring is 3/8" deep and the flavor is spot on.

I added fire bricks to my fire box and smoking chamber, and built a heavy duty elevated grate for the fire box. Made a head deflector to get the hot air to come up under my water pan instead of running up the side of the box. I keep my top vent wide open and usually my firebox vent wide open. If my cooking chamber gets hot I prop the lid on my fire box open and let some heat escape that way. I've had to change out the wheels and axle on the rear and put heady duty casters on the front to handle the added weight but it's worth it.

letdasmokeroll said:

im no expert but i use lumps to start a bed then its all sticks for me ....i will add lumps if and only if i kill the fire

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Ya, what he said.. sticks are 75% oak and 25% special wood like cherry, pecan,..just depends on time of year as to what I have on hand.

Lump alone gives a very mild wood flavor. That is why I use it for pizzas in by BGEs.