Jealous DevilMax XL All Natural Hardwood Charcoal Pillow Briquets, 20lb Box

We've been loyal fans of Jealous Devil for years now. Their lump charcoal is great, so I was really looking forward to trying out their briquettes. We grill & smoke with our 22" Weber kettle grill, so no fancy tools and fairly small space. For those long smokes, we need to replenish a few times, even with Jealous Devil ;) I wanted to give the briquettes a fair shake so we've grilled burgers, done a long smoke with a pork shoulder, and a shorter smoke with ribs. Everything tasted wonderful, as expected when using this charcoal, and the briquettes made temperature control a breeze! They do burn out faster than the lump, but for us at-home/amateur smokers, I really like the predictability of temperature since we are still figuring that out with the lump (user error, I'm sure). The extra large size also means they last longer than your standard size briquettes, so less refueling. I am also a big fan of the lack of additives--just charcoal & some vegetable starch as a binder. One of the main reasons we walked away from briquettes years ago was because of all the weird additions, which pushed us to Jealous Devil in the first place. I'm happy to see a natural briquette option and we will definitely be keeping these on hand.

First off these briquettes are huge, there’s a significant difference between them and the blue bag with ridges. Tried them out with my Rotisserie and managed to hold 375° for about 1.5 hours before adding a few more. I did use less than I would with big box charcoal (about 3/4 full chimney starter vs full).Fired them up again for a few burgers and man these get hot, after cooking the burgers the kettle stayed above 500°F dome temp for about 2 hrs. Definitely burn a lot cleaner than my regular charcoal, less acrid smoke flavors, less ash too. Only minor complaint is the packaging, same as the lump, zipper just doesn’t holdup.If you want a hot clean burning coal this should be your go to.

The media could not be loaded.  This product is great. When starting didnt smoke like kingsford and the little smoke it had wasnt a horrible smell. Dumping the lit coals into my pk I can tell you that they were super hot. As you can see in the video I posted with the vents full open. Tested out 8 burgers with different rubs on them and the coals cooked the burgers perfectly and they had a very good burger flavor without the charcoal taste. Must buy these.

I have been intrigued by JD's larger briquettes for awhile and recently was able to use it. A few observations:1. The briquettes are large, easily the largest I've ever used before (as compared to B&B, Kingsford, Weber, etc). I was expecting to see many broken briquettes because of the packaging and condition the box was delivered in but most were intact.2. These briquettes seem to ash a bit more than the other brands I've tried. This could be simply because they are larger but it appeared to leave a considerable amount of ash after the cook.3. They do get very smokey when lighting in a chimney but this dissipates after the coals get hot.4. They last longer than the other brands I've used in the past also.5. You do not need to use as many briquettes to bbq with these since they last longer and are larger. They seem perfect for a longer cook.These are good quality and I would recommend.

I'm never using store-bought "Charcoal" again. This is the REAL charcoal & it makes a huge difference with its robust gourmet FLAVOR. The food comes out tasting sweeter and it burns cleaner than other brands of charcoal that I have tried over the years. You don't have to use as much as you think you would due to the fact that these briquettes are extra-large (I'd say double the size of conventional charcoal).Heat retention and distribution are excellent! If I could rate these 10 stars I would. My family agrees.

They do work, but they do produce a lot of ash, more than I care to deal with. I tried these because it sounded like I might like using them. They started just fine, cooked just fine, a lot of heat, little if any smoke and after I shut down the grill and let it cool, I noticed a large amount of ash in the grill, so I dumped it. Used the rest of the bag next time, same thing. I tried to use the briquets from the time before, and they crumbled . So I am going to stick with the lump charcoal. I recommend these if you are going camping, and really don't care about the ash. By the way, be sure the ash is cold as it can look cold but can be smoldering.

I really like these, I cook with lump 75% of the time, but in the occasions they I want briquettes these are now my goto. They burn longer and at a slightly lower temperature that other briquettes I've used, which I like, it makes them very easy to control. I've seen a few negative reviews on them crumbling, these seem more effected by moisture that other briquettes, you really have to keep them dry, which you really should be doing anyway.Decent flavor all on their own too, absolutely no chemical flavors

I had lost my desire to grill with charcoal due to using cheap ones likes Matchlight and Kingsford charcoal. My father gave me a bag of Jealous Devil Maxx and I thought I may as well use it. All I can say is WOW!!! Not only did the coals last 4 hours but the flavor and heat was great. I cooked three rounds of chicken then threw some NY strip steaks at the end. The coals had more than enough heat to still char the steaks and cook them perfectly!!