Dragon Breath Lump Charcoal nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index       Quick Stats Date Of Review: June, 2008 Purchased From: Sent to us by Highland Enterprise Date Purchased: June, 2008 Price: $9.95 Weight: 20 pounds Burn Time: Ash Production: Type of Wood: Hickory and Oak Strange Material?: None Scrap Lumber Pieces?: None Smell: American hardwood smoke Country of Origin: USA (Missouri) 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 Update (09/18/16): It has come to our attention that in 2015, at some point, Dragon Breath lost their supplier of "North American hardwood" charcoal and made a switch to Mexican Oak and Mesquite. Needless to say, this review no longer reflects the product currently being sold. We have plans to review the new Dragon Breath as soon as they ship us a sample. This charcoal comes to us from the distributor in upstate New York. You should be able to find this charcoal in grilling shops and food service providers in the eastern US. The charcoal is actually made in Missouri and is made from oak and hickory. Dumping the charcoal out for sorting reveals a nice mixture of sizes. We found no scrap, no funny stuff, and no uncarbonized pieces. We found one small rock in the bag. As you can see from the following table and the photo below, you get a nice distribution of sizes. Plenty of large pieces, plenty of medium sized pieces and an average amount of chips and dust. The total weight of the contents was well over the 20 pounds listed on the bag: Large 3.2 pounds 15.0% Medium 6.3 pounds 29.8% Small 8.8 pounds 41.7% Chips/Dust 2.8 pounds 13.4% Total 21.1 pounds The charcoal is quite easy light, taking 3 sheets in our chimney starter test. This is low compared to other charcoals. There was very little sparking and no popping while the charcoal burned in the chimney starter. The smoke had the classic smell of American hardwood charcoal. In our maximum temperature test, the charcoal burned at 980 degrees which ranks very high compared to other charcoals. The fire spreads quickly and there was very little sparking and no popping while the charcoal was burning full tilt. When using a MAPP torch to start the charcoal, we did observer moderate sparking AND popping, so you should exercise care in using a torch to start this charcoal. Finally, in our burn time test, Dragon Breath burned a very long time ranking Very High compared to other charcoals. In fact, it is one of the longest burning charcoals we've encountered. The ash production was Low compared to other charcoals. In conclusion, we were very impressed with this charcoal. It is easy to light, has that great American hardwood smell, burns hot, burns long, and produces a low amount of ash. It is reasonably priced and is great value when you look at the price per hour of burning. The only thing that could be significantly improved would be to screen it better and lower the amount of chips and dust in the bag. We have no problem giving this charcoal our Highly 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 "Dragon Breath Charcoal Products", "All Natural Lump Charcoal" 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 is the one rock we found in the bag. Here are the contents of the bag sorted into medium, small, and too small/chips/dust. Other Photos This is how the bags arrived. Photo of UPC Code Here is a photo of the UPC code on the bag: Contact Information Highland Enterprise 999 Picture Pkwy Webster, NY 14580 585-872-1890 sales.highlandent@frontiernet.net