Weber Stephen Company 7429 Rapid Fire Chimney Starter, Silver

This is the best purchase I make in a long time You don’t have to use lighting cubes or anything special, just newspaper rolled up on the underside works perfect. Takes about 20~25 minutes and you're ready to cook. I recommend purchasing the larger one. You won’t be sorry.

Sturdy construction, good draft - very well made. I have had 3 others and this is by far the best quality

Three sheets of newspaper, one match and this chimney gets a chimney full of lump into a bed of coals ready to cook in 20-30 minutes. The “lump” you buy will determine the cook time, along with coal to grill distance, of course. 5 Star Product. I will NEVER return to charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid. This full Weber chimney will easily do 4 large hamburgers or three large steaks over direct heat. Optionally: It can still do some great offset ribs at the same "burn" if you think it through, and have the floor space. I like to go slow with the ribs and start just AFTER the burgers or steaks come off and the lump coals are not so hot. Perhaps 20 minutes? 1 after dinner dessert rib and next day ribs are excellent. 😋 It would be a waste to not take advantage of the leftover heat! Tip: The lump charcoal bag on it’s way to you can't be tossed around, because the contents are fragile like eggs. Bag tossing makes the pieces turn into gravel! Ideally, few pieces should as small as your old whole briquettes. So shipping is not recommended. Some brick and mortar stores treat the bags right, and others toss them around like bags of rice. Ideally you find a store that still has the bags on the pallet as they come from the manufacturer, insuring the bags have not been abused. Tip2: There are web pages that rate lump for flavor. Many are biased for certain brands. It is suggested that you go to the biggest BBQ equipment stores and ask what is good in your area. B&B Oak has been my favorite, but went through a "sparking" and mondo size logs phase, that I hope has past. Academy Sports has been known to have them on original pallets. RockWood is another good lump, usually if carefully stocked, or may be ordered from Ace Hardware stores. Ask around, and you might find lump the right size and flavor for you. Then you may find steak and burger heaven! (That never contacted lighter fluid.) TPinSwUSA rating scale: ★ Well below expectations. And/or Listing is false. ★★ Below expectations and/or Significant listing errors or Significant problems. ★★★ Neutral - some good, some bad. Or highly priced for no known reason. ★★★★ Meets expectations. Price seemed competitive when review was written. ★★★★★ Exceeds expectations and/or the competition with Value. Unique.

I had the smaller Weber one for my other smoker that I brought to the cottage and wanted a bigger one for the new smoker. Boy, it is bigger alright! I'd say it's double the capacity of the smaller one. Don't have to use lighting cubes or anything special, just newspaper works fine. Takes about 20~25 minutes and you're ready to cook. And only a couple of bucks more than the smaller one!

Si bien el encender el carbón de manera tradicional (con la ramita de ocote, rodeado de los amigos que observan fijamente, cerveza en mano, y ocasionalmente afirman "ehh, ya está prendiendo" cuando comienzan a aparecer chispas) tiene su encanto y es parte de la experiencia completa de una carnita asada, este encendedor le ha hecho honor a su nombre (Rapid Fire). Fue tan sencillo como colocar 2 cubitos de encendido (de la misma marca) en la parrilla inferior, depositar carbón casi hasta el tope en este peculiar aparato y colocarlo encima de dichos cubos, para que, en alrededor de 5-10 minutos (la verdad no cronometré) hubiera una cantidad de carbón encendida suficiente para vaciarlo sobre la parrilla inferior y comenzar a preparar la carne. Ojo aquí, en ese tiempo que menciono, se encendió casi todo el carbón que contenía el encendedor (valga la redundancia), salvo la parte de hasta arriba, pero eso lo hice intencionalmente para reducir el riesgo de meterme un quemón al ser la primera vez que lo usaba, sin embargo, si lo hubiera dejado unos 5 minutos extra, seguro se encendía todo. En este caso bastó con depositar el carbón encendido y extenderlo un poco (lo hice con una palita de madera porque compré un encendedor, cubos de encendido, el asador, pero al parecer no se me ocurrió en ningún momento comprar pinzas metálicas), para que después de un rato se expandiera el fuego uniformemente. El encendedor se siente sólido, más no como para que te confíes, hay que manejarlo con cuidado y preferentemente con guantes, puesto que si en un descuido tocas el cilindro no soy experto en termodinámica, pero sospecho que te vas a quemar, y feo. En resumen, cumple su objetivo: prender el carbón rápidamente y optimizar el tiempo invertido en la preparación de la carnita.