FOGO FB8 17.6 Lb. Premium Hardwood Lump Charcoal Bag, Medium, Black

I'll never go back to briquettes. Lump charcoal is just superior in every way.Fogo burns clean and without adding much smoke flavor. Comparing it to the Kiawe Hawaii lump charcoal which I have been using, the Fogo lights faster and even, has even less ash, burns longer and the temp seems easier to regulate. Fogo lasts long enough to cook your food, eat, then let the kids make smores with the embers. Excellent.Kiawe, mesquite, and other lump charcoal add various degrees of flavor and smokiness which is definitely not a bad thing. Fogo is a more neutral lump charcoal.

I only grill over hardwood charcoal and happened to run out of my store-bought brand early in the pandemic, so I explored what I could get online. After a lot of investigation on settled on this brand, and I have been pleased with it. It costs more than I would have paid for the store-bought kind, but it is a big heavy bag, and it came well-packaged in a custom external cardboard box (so I'm continuing to store the bag in the box for now).The charcoal lumps are very nice clean pieces of varying sizes, some quite large. I always light charcoal using the chimney method and usually it takes a while for the fire to get going, but I've noticed that this charcoal seems to light in less than half the time compared to what I'm used to. It burns well and seems to last for a long time, because I've been able to close the grill and save the half-burned charcoal to re-use for next time (probably because the pieces are so large to start with). So I think it is justifiably to call this "premium" charcoal (who knew there was such a thing?) and I'm tempted to stick with it rather than go back to the cheaper but less effective kind I used to use.

This is the best charcoal ever

The best charcoal I have ever used for grilling (not for smokers though). Large pieces, no off odor, lights very quickly and it's incredibly hot. I can get my Weber grill to 550F with the lid closed. A real commercial grade charcoal. In restaurant kitchens it's all about cooking time. So the hotter the better. This charcoal will get 8oz. burgers to 90F internally in 6-7 minutes while OFF the coals (reverse sear). Then, sliding the burgers on top of the coals with the Weber lid off and 3 minutes each side will take them to 125 degrees with a perfectly charred crust. Total cooking time 12 to 13 minutes! Have everything ready to go because this goes very quickly.Unfortunately, I later found out I can get it locally quite a bit cheaper. That's the reason for the 4 stars.

Don’t give up on your charcoal grill.Wow! I’ll never buy another briquet! Easy to light without the flavor of lighter fluid in your food. I was looking for a way to raise the lower grate that holds the charcoal to better sear the meat. I stumbled across this lump charcoal and decided to try it. It does burn hotter and longer than the briquettes. It was ready to go within 20 minutes of lighting it. I put steaks on and it seared the steak nicely in only about 2 1/2 minutes. Another 2 1/2 minutes and the steak was done, seared on the outside, medium rare inside; just the way we love our steak. Yes, it’s more expensive than traditional charcoal, but well worth it in my opinion.

Just a tiny bit of smoke and these coals lasted way longer than the standard brands.. now it's the only one I"ll buy

I was satisfied with the size of the charcoal, however, when lit the charcoal smelled somewhat like burning rubber. After about 20 minutes the odor does go away. Unfortunately, the charcoal left absolutely no smoke flavor on the food unless wood was added to the charcoal. Also, one thing I have not seen mentioned in the reviews is that this is the dirtiest charcoal I have ever used. If you pick up a few pieces with your hands they will be so black that you will not be able to touch any item you don't want soiled. I mean REALLY black and transfers from your hands to anything you may touch. I ended up throwing the last half away. It lit easily enough and held temperature well. Not my favorite charcoal.

I used this on a masterbuilt Gravity smoker 500 series. Smoked a brisket for about 10 hours along side some wood chunks. Burned clean and at a decent rate considering it was 40° outside.