Here we have yet another charcoal being made in Paraguay (see map at left) from Quebracho wood. This was recommended to us
by a reader, who noted that it was remarkably similar to the B&B Texas Size XL Lump Charcoal. They also remarked
at the large sizes of the pieces, which of course you would expect to see in a charcoal named "XL". So let's
see how it does in our testing.
Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco |
Frontier XL Lump Charcoal is made in Paraguay from a South American wood from the Quebracho family, 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."
That said, we could only find reference to "Quebracho" on the Frontier web site, but not the exact
type of Quebracho. So, we'll just have to assume for now that it is indeed Quebracho blanco, like
all the other charcoals of this type.
To begin our review we dump the contents of the bag out onto the ground for sorting and inspection.
We found no scrap wood and nothing that doesn't belong in a bag of charcoal. We did find 2 small
pieces of bark that were not fully carbonized, but otherwise, everything was fine. As far as the size
distribution goes, it was quite impressive, as you can see in the following table:
| Large |
3.6 pounds |
20.2% |
| Medium |
10.9 pounds |
60.4% |
| Small |
2.9 pounds |
16.2% |
| Chips/Dust |
0.6 pounds |
3.2% |
|
|
|
| Total |
18.0 pounds |
|
|
The 3.2% chips and dust was Very Low (
) compared to
other brands. The 80.6% combined large and medium pieces was Very High ()
compared to other brands.
Next up comes our lighting test. Frontier XL took 5 sheets of newsprint to get a fire established in
a standard Weber starter chimney. This is Average (
)
when compared to other brands. There was virtually no sparking or popping while the charcoal was lighting.
The smoke was the typical South American perfumey sort of smoke that once you smell it, you'll know what
we are talking about. It was moderate and not unpleasant.
In our maximum temperature test, this charcoal achieved a whopping 1207°F which is, of course,
Very High () compared to other brands. Again, there
were virtually no sparks or pops while the fire was building in the cooker. The fire spread fairly
rapidly.
Frontier XL didn't really excel in our burn time test, burning only an
Average () length of time compared to other brands.
Surprisingly, there very few sparks and pops when lighting with a MAP/Pro torch, however
always take appropriate precautions when using a torch to light lump charcoal.
And finally, the amount of ash produced by this charcoal was Average ()
compared to other brands.
So to sum things up, the size distribution and the small amount of chips and dust in the bag were
outstanding. So was the ability for this charcoal to achieve screaming hot temperatures. On the
other hand, the difficulty in starting, the burn time and the ash production were all average.
We might be tempted to give this charcoal an above average rating, but the size distribution is so
fantastic, we think most readers would give that extra weight. Thus we are giving this charcoal
our Recommended rating.
