Fireworks show from lump charcoal

[vtkess02]

This is less of a question and more of an observation. Curious if anyone else has seen it...

So it's New Years Eve and I'm starting the KBQ with a chimney of Cowboy brand lump charcoal in a chimney. I get it good and hot and add it to the firebox as a base layer of coals. All good... until I plug in the KBQ and the fan turns on. All of a sudden, a flurry of sparks starts spewing from the sides of the firebox. It was pretty cool to watch until I realized I was in the blast zone and had to run for cover. The fireworks lasted for a good ten minutes or so, and made it very difficult to add my oak chunks. Eventually as the charcoal burned down, it subsided and the rest of the cook was uneventful.

I don't know if I got a bad batch of charcoal, or if Cowboy brand should be avoided in general. But I had never seen it before and wondered if anyone else had.

[Oak Smoke]

I’ve not had good experiences using cowboy lump. That was however not recently. I haven’t used it in several years. I found I got much better results all the way around using B&B, Rockwood, or KJ big block. There are several I haven’t tried like Fogo that are highly thought of in the pit.

[efincoop]

+1 regarding Cowboy Lump. I switched to Jealous Devil and have not had the issue since.

[Andrrr]

+1 on the JD

[ecowper]

I do like Fogo lump. After I found nails and such in a bag of Cowboy, I’ve not used it again. That said, please be safety conscious with any lump charcoal you are lighting. I had a very near miss to significant eye injury with lump charcoals.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/pitmaster-general-discussion/1109752-psa-beware-charcoal-embers

[vtkess02]

Oh wow, nails... that's not great. Yeah I think this was my first and last bag of Cowboy.