First things first. This charcoal has nothing to do with Michael Casimir "Mike" Stivic (Archie Bunker's son-in-law
affectionately known as "Meathead") or "All In The Family" (the popular sitcom television series broadcast in America between
1971 and 1979). But even more importantly, this charcoal has nothing
Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco |
to do with Meathead Goldwyn or AmazingRibs.com. Meat Head (two words!) is simply the name of this charcoal.
Meat Head Charcoal is made in Paraguay (see the map at left) The charcoal is made from a South American wood called
Quebracho Blanco, a wood we have run into a few times before.
If you are wondering about the word "quebracho," it is derived from quiebrahacha, or quebrar hacha, meaning "axe-breaker".
As for a description of the wood, we get this from Wikipedia:
"Quebracho blanco wood is uniformly yellow-ochre, without differences between hardwood and sapwood. It is quite heavy
(relative density = 0.885 g/cm³) and hard, and responds well to bending and shock. Upon drying it tends to collapse, producing deformations and cracks,
so the drying process is slow; the wood must be treated with fungicides. It is easy to work and has many uses in carpentry (carts, wheels, floors, shoes,
tool handles, furniture); it is also good for chess pieces, skis, etc. Preserved with creosote it can be used outdoors. In some places it is widely
used as coal, since it does not produce sparks or large amounts of ash, and it burns strong and slowly."
Deforestation is a serious issue in South America and Paraguay, so you might ask where Meat Head Charcoal
sources the wood they use. They claim that
their charcoal has been sourced utilizing only forest leftovers, that they have never cut a single
tree to create their charcoal. Furthermore, they claim that their supplier
is committed to complying with Fair Trade laws and standards set by the environmental protection agencies in Paraguay,
known as SEAM and INFONA. More information about their process can be found on their website.
Upon opening the bag we did notice that they use a bag made from 3 ply kraft paper with an inside plastic film
to protect the charcoal against humidity and prevent dust during handling. Of course, the first thing we do is
dump the charcoal out on the ground and inspect it for rocks, uncarbonized pieces, scrap and in general anything that
doesn't belong. We found nothing but charcoal. The following table shows you the distribution of sizes:
| Large |
2.2 pounds |
10.0% |
| Medium |
9.6 pounds |
42.9% |
| Small |
7.8 pounds |
35.0% |
| Chips/Dust |
2.7 pounds |
12.1% |
|
|
|
| Total |
22.3 pounds |
|
|
The distribution was somewhat disappointing considering Meat Head is advertised as having "bold" chunks.
There were no truly big chunks, and only 10% of the bag qualified as large chunks. Almost half the bag
was made up of small chunks and chips and dust. The 12.1% by weight of chips and dust is only Average
compared to other brands. And it is a messy charcoal. Much of the chips and dust was truly black dust
that gets everywhere.
As far as lighting goes, Meat Head charcoal took 4 sheets of newspaper to get a fire established in a
Weber chimney starter. This is Average compared to other brands. And as advertised, there were no sparks
or pops during the lighting process. The smoke is relatively mild and like many South American hardwood
charcoals it had a slight perfume smell to it.
In our maximum temperature test, this charcoal burned at 1075°F which is Very High compared to other
brands. Again, there we no sparking or popping during the lighting process and the fire spread somewhat
slowly.
Next comes our burn time test and Meat Head Charcoal's burn time was High compared to other brands. Believe
it or not, again we saw no sparking or popping when lighting with a MAP/Pro torch. However, always
exercise care when using a torch of any sort to light lump charcoal.
Our final test is ash production, and the amount of ash produced by Meat Head Charcoal was Low compared
to other brands.
Now before we reveal the final score, we'd like to comment on a common misconception that dense charcoal
burns longer. You read this often in Facebook groups and, in fact, Meat Head itself says on its own
web page that their charcoal gives a 1.5x longer burn than other lump charcoal brands. Clearly, it
doesn't as the burn time was only High compared to other brands. In fact, from all our testing, Meat
Head ranks 33rd out of 121 brands for which we have done burn time tests. The longest burning charcoals
are the ones that have been cooked to the highest temperature, cooking out more of the wood tar, wood alcohol,
water and other volatile components in charcoal. In other words, the lightest charcoals. We have tested
6 brands made from this axe-breaker wood, and none of them are anywhere near the top of the list.
That said, Meat Head Lump Charcoal has a somewhat disappointing size distribution, is not too hard to light,
burns very hot, has an above average burn time and below average ash production. The thing that keeps
sticking in our mind is that pesky size distribution. Given the hype and what we know is possible with
quebracho blanco, there should simply be a larger percentage of larger pieces and far less chips and dust.
You can do better at a lower price if you want to burn quebracho blanco charcoal. (Hint: B&B Texas Size XL)
We give this charcoal our Above Average rating.
