This charcoal comes to us from Kebroak, the folks who brought you Kebroak Mayan Lump Charcoal.
The wood it is made from (a Central American evergreen Oak species) comes from El Salvador, and the charcoal is made in El Salvador as well. We have
thoughtfully provided you with a map to the right. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger sized image. More information about how this charcoal is produced and the forestry practices used in its production is available on the Fogo Charcoal web site.
The charcoal comes in large 35-pound restaurant-sized bags. The larger the bag, usually, the larger the largest pieces are, so when we dumped it out on the ground for sorting, we anticipated some large pieces. We were not disappointed. You can see a photo down below of the largest pieces and some of them might require a little hammer work to get them into a smaller cooker. But of course, a bag full of charcoal that size would be a bit of a nuiscance, so how did the rest of the bag go? As you can see from the table below, the size distribution was stellar. Over half the bag was medium sized pieces and less than 10% of the bag consisted of small pieces. The less-than-5% contents of chips and dust is very low compared to other brands. So all in all the bag had a great distribution of sizes, something for everyone. (As an aside, we jokingly complained to the manufacturer that large bags put us in a bad mood. Do you know how long it takes to hand sort 35-40 pounds of small to medium sized pieces, sitting on concrete with a bad knee? He assured us this was mostly large-ish pieces and that it wouldn't take that long. He was right!) Our only complaint with the bag was that it was slightly underweight. The manufacturer is looking into this.
| Large |
11.1 pounds |
31.9% |
| Medium |
18.6 pounds |
53.5% |
| Small |
3.5 pounds |
9.9% |
| Chips/Dust |
1.6 pounds |
4.7% |
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|
|
| Total |
34.8 pounds |
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Lighting the charcoal was a bit tough, taking 5 sheets of newspaper in our chimney starter test. This is high compared to other brands. While the charcoal was starting in the chimney, there was no sparking and just a few pops. The fire was relatively slow to spread and the charcoal burned with a moderate smoke. We never know how to describe the different smells of different charcoals, but this charcoal smells pretty much like your typical Central or South American hardwood charcoal, moderately strong but pleasant.
In our maximum temperature test, we dump the charcoal from the chimney starter into a cooker, add more charcoal, let the fire build and then watch for the maximum temperature. While the fire was building and burning, again there was no sparking and very little popping. The charcoal burned at a maximum temperature of 859 degrees, which is average compared to other brands. Also, while lighting with a MAPP torch, there was very little popping and sparking, but (repeat after us) always exercise care when using a MAPP or propane torch to light lump charcoal.
In our burn time test, Fogo burned a long time, very high compared to other brands and in the top 10. The ash production was average compared to other brands we have tested.
So, to sum it up, this charcoal has a fantastic size distribution, and burns a long long time with moderate ash production. It is somewhat hard to light and only gets to average maximum temperatures, but certainly hot enough to do 95% of what we want to do with it. On top of that, you can order it through Amazon with free shipping. We give it our Recommended rating.
