Fire King Lump Charcoal nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index       Quick Stats Date Of Review: May, 2006 Purchased From: Struemph Charcoal Works Date Purchased: May, 2006 Price: $8.00 Weight: 20 pounds Burn Time: Ash Production: Type of Wood: American hardwoods Strange Material?: None Scrap Lumber Pieces?: Very little Smell: Typical American hardwood smoke Country of Origin: USA Quick Links Other Information: Click Here Unusual Or Unique Statements: Click Here Statements From The Bag: Click Here Lighting Instructions: Click Here Photos of Contents: Click Here Other Photos: Click Here Photo of UPC Code: Click Here Contact Information: Click Here Rate And Comment On This Charcoal: Click Here Commentary You should recognize this charcoal if you watched the Micro-Algae Man episode of Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs in which Mike Rowe visited the Struemph Charcoal Works in Steelville, Missouri. Although they didn't explicitly list any brands bagged by Struemph, you could plainly see the "Fire King" bags in the episode. So, sparing no expense for our readers, we ordered two 20-pound bags to review. As you can see in the photo below, the two bags arrived wrapped in plastic and then placed in a cardboard box, with another smaller box to sort of take up the slack. Some of you are probably thinking that it must have suffered a lot of abuse with no bubble wrap or styrofoam peanuts, but when we opened up the bag, we found everything in pretty good shape. There were four small pieces of uncarbonized wood, and two golf-ball-sized rocks. When we sorted the lump, we noticed that there was an unusually large amount of pieces that we classified as small, but we were also stunned to see the incredibly small amount of chips and dust. 3.8% is the lowest amount of chips and dust we have ever seen since we started weighing the amount of charcoal in the large, medium, small and chips/dust piles. We feel this just confirms our belief that it is possible to properly screen your charcoal and produce a bag of charcoal that contains very little chips and dust, even when it is getting shipped via common carrier. Also, as you can see from the table below, the 20-pound bag actually contained 20.6 pounds after we removed the two rocks, so you get your money's worth with this lump. Large 1.2 pounds 5.9% Medium 6.0 pounds 29.1% Small 12.6 pounds 61.2% Chips/Dust 0.8 pounds 3.8% Total 20.6 pounds The charcoal took 2.5 sheets of newspaper to get started in our chimney starter test, which is lower than average. There was very little sparking or popping as the charcoal was started in the chimney starter. When starting with a MAPP torch, there was the usual amount of sparking, but no significant popping. Of course, always be careful when using a torch to light lump charcoal. The smoke was the typical pleasant American hardwood smoke that you would expect. The maximum temperature we measured when burning was 840 degrees, which is about average. In our burn test, the charcoal burn time was high, and the ash produced was low. So, we have a great smelling charcoal, easy to light, long lasting, virtually no chips and dust in the bag, and at $8 a bag (if you can buy it without having to get it shipped) this charcoal is a great choice. (We wonder if Mike Rowe knew that he was buried in a pile of such fine charcoal, or that all that powdered charcoal he was shoveling was the result of making a great product!) We give it our Recommended rating. To the left is the rating that our readers have given this charcoal. If you have used this charcoal and would like to rate it and leave your comments, Click Here To view reader ratings of all brands, Click Here. Other Information None. Unusual or Unique Statements None. Statements From The Bag "100% Natural Lump Charcoal", "Easy Starting", "Natural Flavor", "Intense Heat" Lighting Instructions None. Photos Of Contents This is the contents of the bag. Those are 1 inch squares on the measuring bar. Here is a closer view. Here are the larger pieces we found in the bag. Here are the uncarbonized pieces we found in the bag and the two rocks. Here are the contents of the bag sorted into large, medium, small, and too small/chips/dust. Other Photos This is how the bags arrived. That box on top was empty just to take up the extra space in the box. We were hoping for a T-shirt! Inside the box, the 2 20-pound bags were wrapped in plastic. Photo of UPC Code Here is a photo of the UPC code on the bag: Contact Information Struemph's Charcoal Works Steelville, Missouri (573) 859-6447