# Okay guys lighter fluid or not



## ugaboz (Jan 16, 2010)

paper or not to help with a fire what does everyone do, i will admit i use a little lighter fluid so you can call me myron


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## bbally (Jan 16, 2010)

if I have a lot of time I will fluid one, but mostly I put my charcoal starter stack on top of my turkey fryer burner and fire that stuff to coals.


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## grampyskids (Jan 16, 2010)

Go to your local store and pick a Weber or like charcoal starter. 2 pieces of newspaper and you are good to go, unless you like putting petroleum products in your food and body.


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## ugaboz (Jan 16, 2010)

sounds good you got that pic


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## bbally (Jan 16, 2010)




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## ugaboz (Jan 16, 2010)

thanks but how does myron get by with that much fluid


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## vince (Jan 16, 2010)

They work great, Just nice not having to use fluid


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## bbally (Jan 17, 2010)

Light organics burn off a set temperatures. The "fluid ruins your food" mantra is made by people who did not understand the chemsitry and do it wrong.

Like the rest of the things in smoking, if you know the techniques, it can be mastered.

That is why I said the way I use it. Let it get hot, don't cover it, keep the draft and dampers open and it no longer exists in the cooker. But the charcoal starter chimney is a great thing. Since I started setting it on my propane turkey cooker it is pretty fast.


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## ellymae (Jan 17, 2010)

I use a charcoal chimmney or a weedburner.


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## badfrog (Jan 17, 2010)

my lighter of choice also!!!! you can sprinkle a little cooking oil on the paper to light it....


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## garyt (Jan 17, 2010)

I guess I am somewhere in the middle, I dont want to let it burn off before the meat goes in. I bought a chimney for charcoal, and with the Lang i use a weed burner to light the wood


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## shooterrick (Jan 17, 2010)

I use a chimney or propane burner.


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## iharris278 (Jan 17, 2010)

I use one of these. Really quick and easy. No lighter fluid.


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## chisoxjim (Jan 17, 2010)

chimney starter,   

not interested in eating petrol.


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## b8h8r (Jan 17, 2010)

make sure you scrub that every time to keep it shiny too.


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## meateater (Jan 17, 2010)

Chimney starter, make good use of junk mail and bills.


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## grizandizz (Jan 17, 2010)

I just started using the weber chimney starter last year and I like it expect the ash of newspaper is annoying.
I used lighter fluild for 25 years and if you let your briquettes get completely ashed over (white) all that fluid is gone.

This will date me a little but when I grilled with my father (butcher 43 years) when I was a kid (early 70's) he would throw paint thinner in there to start it because it was cheaper! I can't even fathom that now and when I tease him about it he always says "if yours coals are white you're fine boy, the chemicals are gone"


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## onedragon221 (Jan 17, 2010)

yeah dude... nooooo wayyyyyy!  I use a chimmney and my turkey fryer..


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## the iceman (Jan 17, 2010)

Used one tonight to get my fire going for the pork chops. Those things work great.


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## moltenone (Jan 17, 2010)

i use a two chimney's of charcoal ,with newspaper underneath,and ignite it with my MAAP torch.

Mark


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## fire it up (Jan 17, 2010)

Lighter Fluid?
I don't understand these words...

Even if I am grilling I use newspaper, coals and my trusty chimney.


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## smokebuzz (Jan 17, 2010)

No liter fluid for me,ever. The chimney is the only way to go if your using charcoal.


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## thunderdome (Jan 17, 2010)

2 paper towels + Vegetable Oil. All Natural and gets lump coal coin just right


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## ddave (Jan 17, 2010)

Use paper towels.  Doesn't seem to create as much flying ash.

Works fine with or without veggie oil.

Dave


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## bbqhead (Jan 17, 2010)

lighter fluid? no no no!!!  like most people said, a chimney starter w/newspaper etc. works great.  when I had my stickburner  I used a propane log lighter, even a disposable propane torch works.  once I was away from home and they had lighter fluid, I put charcoal on the kitchen stove burners, they were'nt home. but I'd do anything to not use lighter fluid.


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## bbqhead (Jan 17, 2010)

forgot to mention when your fire starts going down ,use tongs and get 4 or 5 hot coals and put in your chimney starter then put coal out of bag on top . these start the new coals quickly.


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## chisoxjim (Jan 17, 2010)

thats what I do..  

do they even print newspapers anymore../


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## bbally (Jan 17, 2010)

*Never ever do this!* 

The amount of Carbon Monoxide given off by charcoal is incredible.  This will kill you dead.  Carbon monoxide is a covalent bond so going out in the fresh air may keep you alive, but the damage to the red blood cells is already done, 55 days for the body to replace those cells with working cells.

Never ever start charcoal in any enclosed area.


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## bill in mn (Jan 17, 2010)

For lighting my drum the weed burner works great by me.

Your right on about the C O poisoning. Carbon monoxide is accumulative in your blood and does take weeks to be cleansed out.We do allot of ice fishing around here and guys will complain of head aches from their heat source .Many people think you can "go out for some fresh air" but next time in the fish house your adding more Carbon monoxide to your blood. Two days later more and so on.
Years ago they use to thaw frozen ground with coal and sheets of corrugated steel (probably galvanized) and when that was going for days you couldn't get with in 25' of it because there was no air ,just like being under water.Bill


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## downstatesmoker (Jan 17, 2010)

Charcoal chimney all the way.

I understand that the petrol burns off and if the coals are ashed over your good, still don't like the idea of the chemicals.


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## morkdach (Jan 17, 2010)

myron is lighter fluid king!!!!!!!!1
no thanks !!!!!!!!!!
im a watt burner no need for fluid.
i use a chimney when grilling with lump and news papper.
i dont like the ash off the papper either.
thanks for the papper towel idea will try it next time.


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## ugaboz (Jan 17, 2010)

so everyone saw what myron did with that lighter fluid


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## morkdach (Jan 17, 2010)

no i dont watch it but you sure do read alot about it


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## ga.rick (Jan 17, 2010)

i use a charcoal chimney i light it on the side burner of my gas grill or my propane coleman stove or my fish fryer, no ash. if your going to buy one go ahead and get the big weber model instead of a cheap one. my handle keeps coming apart on my bargain brand.


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## olewarthog (Jan 17, 2010)

First, the rig Myron is cooking with & the way & the amount of food he is cooking is a lot different from us backyard folks. 

From what I saw, he was use the fluide to create a  quick, hot base fire. He's got a huge rig to heat plus all that water in the water pan. I also recall that he is cooking a lot of his competition meat at 350 instead of 250. You can bet he ain't putting no meat on until that charcoal base fire is fully burning & all the fluid fumes are gone.  Once he has that hot base fire, he can burn wood to maintain heat & produce flavor.


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## seenred (Jan 17, 2010)

I'm with the majority....No lighter fluid, I use charcaol chimneys.


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## got14u (Jan 17, 2010)

This is funny...I don't understand people thinking petroleum is still going to be present in white hot coals...I my self use 2 chimney's but that is because I am to cheap to buy starter fluid. If I had it i wouldn't have a problem using it. There are a LOT worst products going in to your system then left over lighter fluid in your charcoals.


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## bbqhead (Jan 18, 2010)

it was lump,and I just got it started on the edges ,put in pan then outdoors to the grill. had to fan it but got it going without lighter fluid!


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## zapper (Jan 18, 2010)

I am supprised that they even still sell lighter fluid. I still know folks that use it and even after the coals are all white with ash I can still smell residual (sp) fuel if not from the charcoal directly then the surounding ash and cooking chamber.


I use a charcoal chimney and have three or four scattered about. I make a little fire starter instead of newspaper. The fire starter is acoustical ceiling tile cut into 2" squares and then soaked in wax. The fire starters are pretty much waterproof and great for camping. I just fluff one corner of the square, light it and set a chimney full of charcoal over it.


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## rickw (Jan 18, 2010)

I never use lighter fluid. I use the charcoal chimney lighting it with my Weber Performer.


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## treegje (Jan 18, 2010)

I use a charcoal chimmney


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## azrocker (Jan 18, 2010)

I use a hand held torch

Just don't try to get a lit fire going with one!
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=56115


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## jirodriguez (Jan 18, 2010)

I always just use a chimney starter with two pieces of newspaper in the bottom. Works great, and I havn't bouth lighter fluid in over 20 years!


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## downstatesmoker (Jan 18, 2010)

At least the guy had a sense of humor about it.  Was a little singed and not too badly hurt.  Sounds like it was more pride that was hurt then his body.


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## downstatesmoker (Jan 20, 2010)

I had forgotten this, but my grandfather used to use gasoline to light his grills.  He had 2 little hibachi grills which he used to load with Kingsford, douse in gasoline, and then stand back and flip a match at them.  They would go up with a great big whoosh and fireball.  It's a wonder he didn't set the house on fire.


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## jcurrier (Jan 20, 2010)

The key to the chimney starter is too make a ring of paper- not a ball- that allows the draft to happen


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## erik (Jan 20, 2010)

Chimney starter + gas grill = easy charcoal starting.

No lighter fluid necessary.


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## jdt (Jan 20, 2010)

no, I usually just use the newspaper in the chimney but have used both a torch and the gas grill side burner to speed the process at certain times.


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## hogfan40 (Feb 23, 2010)

Weed burner here, but then again i only use the sticks.


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## pit 4 brains (Feb 23, 2010)

I can see using fluid to light coals for grilling or to get a base fire going in a sfb, but if ya plan to use the minion method with either type of charcoal, I wouldn't suggest it.. chimneys are way too efficient to spend money on fluid. Leave the mushroom clouds to hot dog burners next door!


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## porkaholic (Feb 24, 2010)

Set the chimney on the side burner of my gas grill.  Works great and no ash.


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## pignit (Feb 24, 2010)

I set the chimney on top of a concrete block so that when the paper burns it drops down in the hole. Pour a little water in it and it's gone.


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## jd08 (Feb 24, 2010)

Mapp torch works wonders. Burns hotter than propane and in under a minute the coals are lit and slowly spreading. It only takes 5- 10 minutes from the first click to putting on the meat, depending on the type of fire I need.

I generally do it straight in the BGE and don't use a chimney, but the same method works in a chimney as well.

Oh, that's also using lump charcoal, not briquets.


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## richoso1 (Feb 24, 2010)

Now that simply works for me.


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## meateater (Feb 24, 2010)

Now that's funny!


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## carpetride (Feb 24, 2010)

Weed burner when I'm around the house, Olive oil and paper towel in the chimney when I camp, and diesel if I'm at the in-laws.


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## grampyskids (Feb 24, 2010)

Many years ago, my Dad and I built a Summer Cottage on Cape Cod. Now only two things grew wild on our property, blueberries and Poison Ivy. Since I was the only one of our seven that poison ivy didn't bother, my Dad made me pull it all up. He told me to bag it up so that we could take it to the dump. To me that was too much work, SOOO I raked it into a big pile and doused it with lighter fluid, and lit it. Needless to say, everyone in the neigherhood ended up with an almost terminal case of poison ivy. The only 2 things that I can say is that I did (barely) live and I will never ever use lighter fluid again.


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## john3198 (Feb 24, 2010)

If I am grilling, I will use my chimney. I like the paper towel idea and the concrete block. Or may try the side burner on the propane grill. 

If I am smoking, I usually don't want very much fire, so I put in a small amount of lump and use 1/2 of a "Strike-a-fire" stick with the fire box lowered down over the stick which is in the ash pan. 

I have never detected any hint of hydrocarbons using the stick.


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## chisoxjim (Feb 24, 2010)

since my weber kettle is still in the garage(id typically put the lit chimney starter full of lump on a rack of the kettle)...., 

I fill the ring of the WSM with unlit lump & wood, then set the lit, full chimney starter on top of the unlit lump in the ring. Then dump the lit lump, when it is ready, over the unlit lump in the ring which has gotten a small headstart directly under where the chimney was.

lighter fluid,  chemicals and bbq dont mix imho.


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## gnubee (Feb 24, 2010)

On the episode that featured Johnny Trigg's Rib Cookoff. All the judges detected lighter fluid in Lee Ann's ribs, She thought they were nuts because she never uses it. But turns out they were right. The Owner that loaned her the Big Freen Eggs used lighter fluid all the time and the judges could easily taste it. She placed last in the competition. It would seem to me that if you use it, you should make sure that your rig is cleaned often to get rid of any residual fluid. I think that although the fluid is all burned off in a hot fire the outer parts of the smoker would still have some lingering chemicals from the fluid. 

I could be wrong I suppose....... I mean it's never happened before .....but I suppose its possible.


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## csmith2884 (Feb 24, 2010)

I always use the olive oil and paper towel or newspaper in my chimney but I am a recent convert to the gas grill side burner method. And for me the propane smoker base works great too, always hooked up anyhow..I just set the charcoal chimney on and light. So if doing small (using the ecb as a grill) or starting with charcoal and then going propane that works great.


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## camper4lyfe (Feb 25, 2010)

My Duo has the side burner that my chimney fits over quite nicely.  No paper or chemicals needed, and only a small amount of propane is needed.


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## ak1 (Feb 25, 2010)

Sometimes I'll use starter fluid on 2-3 lumps of charcoal, and use that to get the chimney starter going.


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## timtimmay (Feb 25, 2010)

I use the king soopers ad in my chimney.


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