El Gallito Mesquite Charcoal nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index       Quick Stats Date Of Review: December, 2007 Purchased From: Hispanic grocery store Date Purchased: August, 2007 Price: $4.89 Weight: 8.5 pounds Burn Time: Ash Production: Type of Wood: Mesquite Strange Material?: None Scrap Lumber Pieces?: None Smell: Moderate mesquite smell Country of Origin: Mexico 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 This charcoal comes to us from a reader who spotted it in a Mexican grocery store. The bag contained nothing unusual, just some small twigs and leaves, and a single rock. (A second bag we opened didn't contain any twigs or rocks.) But as you can see in the table below, a full one-fifth of the bag was unusable chips and dust, while over half the bag was small pieces: Large 1.0 pounds 11.7% Medium 1.1 pounds 12.7% Small 4.6 pounds 54.3% Chips/Dust 1.8 pounds 21.3% Total 8.5 pounds The charcoal was harder than average to start in our chimney starter test, taking 5 sheets of newspaper to really get burning. There was some mild sparking in the chimney starter, but no pops. The smell of the charcoal was a moderate mesquite smell. The charcoal did well in the maximum temperature test, reaching 1000 degrees and getting there quite fast. Again there was only mild sparking and only the occasional pop. Lighting with a MAPP torch was not too spectacular, but as always, be careful when using a MAPP torch to light lump charcoal. When we did our burn time test, we were disappointed to find that the charcoal was the shortest burn time we have observed for a lump charcoal so far. The ash produced was very high. So all in all, this charcoal was quite disappointing and gets our Below Average 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% Mesquite 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 are the uncarbonized pieces we found in the bag and the one rock. 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. Photo of UPC Code Here is a photo of the UPC code on the bag: Contact Information La Bodega, Ltd. Chicago, Illinois Laredo, Texas 78045 (956) 712-4237 www.labodega.com