We first reviewed Jealous Devil back in 2016 when you could only buy it in 35-pound bags from their website. Now it's popularity
has skyrocketed and you can find it in retail stores like Home Depot. What we are looking at in this review is their 20-pound bag
of Jealous Devil Chunx XL Lump Charcoal.
Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco |
It should prove interesting to see how today's Jealous Devil compares with that from 6 years ago, so let's
get on with the review.
Jealous Devil is made in Paraguay 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."
So, the first thing we always do is
open the bag and empty it onto the ground for sorting. We found no scrap, no funny stuff, and no uncarbonized wood. What immediately
strikes you is the size of the pieces. As you can see in the following table, there was a modest amount of large pieces, but nothing huge that needed
to be busted up with a hammer. The vast majority of the pieces were medium sized, and the amount of chips and dust was pleasingly small.
| Large |
2.4 pounds |
11.7% |
| Medium |
12.2 pounds |
59.9% |
| Small |
4.9 pounds |
24.2% |
| Chips/Dust |
0.8 pounds |
4.2% |
|
|
|
| Total |
20.3 pounds |
|
|
We will point out that this size distribution is remarkably similar to that of the 2016 Jealous Devil product. (10.9%, 64.7%,21.3%
and 3.1%.) The 4.2%
by weight of chips and dust is Very Low (
) compared to all other brands we have tested. So Chunx
really does live up to its name.
The next test we perform is our lighting test. Jealous Devil Chunx took 4 sheets of newspaper to get started in a
Weber chimney starter. This is Low (
) compared to all other brands tested. The smell of
the smoke is the typical South American hardwoods smell with a perfumed characteristic to it. Like we said in 2016,
it is a very different smell from the oak and hickory charcoal made in the US. You may find you like it or you may find
it takes some getting used to. While lighting in the
chimney starter, there was very little sparking and no popping whatsoever.
After the lighting test comes the maximum temperature test. In this test
Jealous Devil Chunx burned at 997°F, which is Very High ()
compared to other brands. Again, while the fire was building up to this high heat, there was very little
sparking and no popping, and the fire spread fairly rapidly.
Jealous Devil's burn time was High () compared to all other brands
we have tested. When we lit the charcoal with a MAP-Pro torch, there was still no sparking or popping. Finally,
the amount of ash produced by our test burn was Low ()
compared to other brands of charcoal.
So, Jealous Devil is a still a great charcoal. All of our key performance indicators get either 4 or 5 stars: very low
chips and dust, easy to light, hot burning, long burning and low ash. In addition, there is no sparking or
popping to worry about. And on top of all that, the size distribution of the charcoal is about as good as
we've ever seen. In fact, Jealous Devil Chunx's performance was virtually identical to the bag we tested in
2016 which speaks highly of their product's consistency.
As long as you are not put off by the South American style smoke, it all adds up to a very very
good charcoal and a
Highly Recommended rating.
