Char-Broil Center Cut Lump Charcoal is manufactured by Black Diamond, so you may wish to take a look at our
previous review of Black Diamond Charwood for a more complete look
at all the issues surrounding how this charcoal is packaged and marketed. Char-Broil Center Cut Lump Charcoal
has all the same issues. Briefly, the box indicates that it contains 1.18 cubic feet of charcoal, while this is
clearly impossible as the interior volume of the box is only 1.05 cubic feet, or 11% smaller than advertised.
Moreover, if you take all the charcoal out of the enclosed bag and place it into the box, the charcoal doesn't
come close to filling up the box:
As you can see, the charcoal only comes up to within 2 inches of he top of the box. If you do the math,
the charcoal is only occupying 0.91 cubic feet, or about 77% of the advertised 1.18 cubic feet.
Further, if you look at the Char-Broil website FAQs
for this product, you will find a number of entries by an inividual who goes by "DustinR" and has answered almost 25,000
questions that claim that this product contains 11 pounds of charcoal. Again, not true. We have weighed a total of
nine boxes of this and Black Diamond Charwood and only one of the nine boxes contained over 11 pounds of charcoal.
The other 8 boxes contained between 9.76 and 10.8 pounds, five of them containing less than 10.1 pounds. Indeed,
the box of charcoal shown in the photo above contained only 10.2 pounds of charcoal.
But let's move on to how the charcoal does in our testing. First, the size distribution. Char-Broil has a
promotional video on their website that states "The average lump size is 3 inches" and "You'll find that
Char-Broil Center Cut contains less unusable charcoal dust than what you can typically find at the bottom
of bag lump charcoal." What did we find? Well, as we do with all lump charcoal reviews, we dumped the charcoal out onto the ground
for sorting. Here's the size distribution that we found:
| Large |
0.0 pounds |
0.0% |
| Medium |
1.8 pounds |
17.9% |
| Small |
7.2 pounds |
70.9% |
| Chips/Dust |
1.2 pounds |
11.2% |
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| Total |
10.2 pounds |
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As you can see, the distribution was pretty dismal. No large pieces. About 18% medium sized pieces and all the
rest either small sized pieces or chips and dust. The 11.2% chips and dust ranks average compared to other brands
we have tested. So that blows the second claim about "less unusable charcoal dust than what you can typically find at the bottom
of bag lump charcoal." Then here is a photo of all the pieces that
were 3 inches or more. This constituted only 4.0% of the total box of charcoal, nowhere near an average size of 3 inches.
So there goes the first claim of "the average lump size is 3 inches."
We found no scrap and no uncarbonized wood in the box. However, we did find a piece of string
that resembled fishing line. Needless to say, the last thing you want burning in your cooker is a piece of plastic.
In our lighting test, Char-Broil Center Cut took four sheets of newspaper to get a good fire going in the chimney starter.
This is average compared to other brands we have tested. While the charcoal was starting, there was no sparking or
popping. The burning charcoal had a very mild smoke.
In our maximum temperature test, this charcoal burned at 1117°F which is very high compared to other charcoals. Again,
there was no sparking or popping. The speed that the fire spread was moderate.
Finally, we did our usual burn test. Lighting with a MAP-Pro torch yielded almost no sparking and no popping. The fire
spread very quickly after lighting. Again the smoke very extremely mild while the fire was starting. Char-Broil Center Cut lump burn time
was Very High compared to other brands we have tested. In fact, it ranked number 2 overall. The ash produced was Very Low
compared to other brands.
So as with Black Diamond Charwood, we have this dilemma of a wonderfully performing charcoal that is sold in boxes that aren't even
large enough to hold
their advertised volume. Then you find the boxes aren't even completely filled, and what you find inside has a very good chance of
consisting of mostly small pieces and a lot of chips and dust. And then there is the price. We don't include pricing in the
overall rating for a number of reasons, but we'll just pass on the fact that Char-Broil Center Cut charcoal at its normal retail price is
the most expensive lump charcoal we've ever tested. By a lot. Even when you use the sale prices (typcially half-price) that have been seen lately, it is
still in the top 20%. But again, we don't take pricing into account. So, based on its performance with excellent results for the
maximum temperature, burn time and ash production, like with Black Diamond Charwood, we will give this charcoal a Recommended rating, but with a big asterisk.
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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.
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