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For anyone unfamiliar with the term firelighter, they are talking about fire starters. Are these that widespread that they are concerning? I thought they were
by noughtme 3y ago
For anyone unfamiliar with the term firelighter, they are talking about fire starters.
Are these that widespread that they are concerning? I thought they were mostly for lazy outdoors people.
I use newspaper with olive oil to start charcoal grills. Never had trouble starting a fireplace, wood stove or camp fire with anything other than tinder.
Fire starter tablets often contain hexamine which I don’t really want close to my food.
- christkv 3y agoWith a bbq chimney I’ve never need to use anything but newspaper to get the coal going.
- arghwhat 3y agoThe idea of a conversation about the most environmentally friendly way of igniting coal is quite amusing.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- noughtme 3y agoCharcoal and coal are quite different.
- rootusrootus 3y agoAt the same time, the most common form of 'charcoal' that an average person will use in their BBQ is made from both charcoal and coal, as well as other things.
- nielsbot 3y agostandard charcoal briquettes contain coal? i’m amazed to hear that. (I use lump charcoal myself which seems to give to food a better smoke flavor)
- mcpackieh 3y agoThey do often contain coal. Briquettes are weird. For smoking, you really want to be using wood (or charcoal and wood); charcoal has most of the volatiles burned off already, in principle leaving behind only carbon, so it isn't great for smoking things.
- jamiek88 3y agoNo regular brand of charcoal contains coal. Please link just one brand that does and I’ll withdraw my complaint but I’ve worked in the industry and very much doubt this.
- mcpackieh 3y ago> "Kingsford Charcoal is made from charred soft and hardwoods such as pine, spruce, hickory, oak and others depending on which regional manufacturing plant it comes from. That char is then mixed with ground coal and other ingredients to make a charcoal briquette. As of January 2016, Kingsford Charcoal contains the following ingredients:[7][8]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsford_%28charcoal%29#Manufacturing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsford_%28charcoal%29#Manuf... If this isn't true, they need to fire their entire PR team. This MDS says it contains anthracite: https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/kingsfordcharcoalbriquets-sg-sds-en.pdf https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/kingsfor...
- crazygringo 3y agoWow. Son of a gun you're right. Here's more info on why coal dust turns out to make an ideal binder for charcoal briquettes: https://mineralmilling.com/coal-dust-a-superior-choice-as-a-binder-for-charcoal-briquettes/ https://mineralmilling.com/coal-dust-a-superior-choice-as-a-... I had no idea. Key quote: "Research and patent literature show that when charcoal briquettes are produced using an organic binder such as anthracite, the binder is present in quantities of between approximately 2 and 8% by weight." And "coal, anthracite" is clearly listed as the third most common ingredient in the safety sheet for Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes, after charcoal and ashes.
- coder543 3y agoYou’ve repeated this a few times, but I clicked on several charcoal options on Home Depot’s website, and they claimed to be made entirely of “100% natural hardwood”. Maybe some cheaper ones have added coal?
- rootusrootus 3y agoTake Kingsford, for example, probably the single most popular brand of briquettes at Home Depot. It does not say 100% natural hardwood, it says 100% natural ingredients, including wood. Coal is natural. And 15-40% of Kingsford briquettes [0]. [0] https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/kingsfordcharcoalbriquets-sg-sds-en.pdf https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/kingsfor...
- Valgrim 3y agoCharcoal is pyrolized biomass, not fossil fuel, which means it's approximately carbon-neutral. The problems with it are more associated with deforestation.
- Ekaros 3y agoIsn't there some sort of energy input in process? I wonder where that usually comes from in industrial production.
- rootusrootus 3y agoConventional consumer-grade charcoal briquettes used for backyard BBQ typically have some amount of coal in them.
- jamiek88 3y agoNo regular brand of charcoal contains coal. Please link just one brand that does and I’ll withdraw my complaint but I’ve worked in the industry and very much doubt this.
- a1369209993 3y ago"Charcoal" literally means "coal made by charring [implicitly: wood]". I assume you (and probably rootusrootus) mean "No regular brand of charcoal contains [fossil] coal." (eg, lignite, bitumite, or anthracite). (I don't know what they're on about either; presumably for sufficiently historical values of "conventional" barbecue coal was supplied from the same mines as train / steam engine / home heating coal, but that isn't much of a thing anymore.)
- rootusrootus 3y agoAnthracite coal, 15-40% https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/kingsfordcharcoalbriquets-sg-sds-en.pdf https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/kingsfor...
- 3y ago
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- arijun 3y agoAs a kid I would set the charcoal chimney above a box fan after getting it started a bit. You’d get a pillar of fire coming out the top in no time at all. Nowadays I am lucky to have just enough room in my apartment for a folding bbq, but every time I have to use those starters I think about how much more fun that chimney was.
- londons_explore 3y agoWhen you try a bit of kerosene you never go back... Just a cup-full poured into the base of any fire turns it into a roaring inferno within 10 seconds or so, and by getting hotter quicker you typically avoid lots of smoke that you'd normally get while starting a fire with newspaper - especially important if you're having a fire near other people who won't want stinky smoke blowing across their gardens on a nice sunny day.
- supportengineer 3y agoI don’t want that in my food
- loeg 3y ago> other people who won't want stinky smoke blowing across their gardens on a nice sunny day. Bystanders aren't thrilled about the burning kerosene smell -- frankly, it's a lot worse than charcoal.
- londons_explore 3y agoI find the smell of kerosene seems to only happen between opening the kerosene container and lighting it. As soon as it's lit, kerosene smoke at fire-pit scale seems to be odorless.
- crazygringo 3y agoThen maybe you're not standing downwind. It absolutely stinks and sometimes for as long as twenty minutes depending on how much was used. I'm not a chemist and I have no idea what's responsible for the odor. If it's some kind of intermediate byproduct.
- _moof 3y agoAt airports we call the smell of burning kerosene "the sweet smell of success."
- londons_explore 3y agoSpecifically, they're talking about the fire starters which are cellulose soaked in kerosene. Such fire lighters smell badly of kerosene (plane fuel - you often smell it at airports). I find that once the packet is opened, even if I put it in a plastic container a little smell still leaks out, so I now store them outdoors.
- Doxin 3y agoThey make turf based fire starters which smell of not much at all, and burn much longer than those awful kerosene ones.