Chemical smell, safe to eat

Hey all,
New guy here from Sydney Australia.

I've always loved the taste of smoked meats are recently decided to build myself a UDS based on the Redneck thread on this forum. The smoker turned out great. Today I decided to season it using some vegetable oil and some briquettes from the local hardware store.

I've finally got the temperature under control and am sitting at a steady 275. My question is, there is a really strong eye burning chemical smell coming from inside the barrel when I pop the lid off. I had planned to give my first cook a go for some friends tomorrow night but now I am concerned I may have to call it off.

The drum I purchased it from a drum reconditioning company here in Sydney. The guy I purchased it from advised me that they buy that they take drums from industry, put them through an incinerator then sandblast the drums back to raw steel before selling them back to industry. The drum is definitely raw and I have painted the outside only in high temp paint so that smell should be coming from inside the drum.

The only thing I can think of is that the briquettes I'm using are producing the smell.

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this. Should I call it quits on this UDS.

Thanks in advance,
Jarrad.

A little more info for ya'll, this is the process listed on the companies website: http://www.drumreco.com.au/default.asp?id=18

And more... These are the briquettes I used http://www.bunnings.com.au/hotshots-4kg-bbq-briquettes_p3170432 Thanks for the advice fantomlord. I used the whole bag tonight but i might try and purchase some lump charcoal tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. I find it hard to believe that the inside of the drum is emitting any odour as it's definitely right back to bare metal.