Mali Gourment Lump Charcoal (Argentina) nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index       Quick Stats Date Of Review: February, 2008 Date Of Latest Update: February, 2008 Purchased From: Vidalia Market Place Date Purchased: January, 2008 Price: $9.99 Weight: 10 pounds Burn Time: Ash Production: Type of Wood: Unknown Strange Material?: Melted plastic Scrap Lumber Pieces?: None Smell: Mild to moderate, very pleasant Country of Origin: Argentina 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 02/14/08 Update: We have been informed that there is also a US version of Mali charcoal labeled "Made In U.S.A." This review is of the Argentina charcoal. This lump was donated by a reader who was able to obtain it locally. We have been wanting to test this charcoal for a while after hearing a few good comments on Internet discussion forums. So, let's see how it did. Upon opening the bag, we found a pretty good distribution of sizes in the individual pieces of charcoal. As you can see in the following table, well over half the bag is large and medium-sized pieces, and the percentage of chips and dust is low compared to other lump charcoals we have tested: Large 1.9 pounds 18.6% Medium 4.3 pounds 41.6% Small 3.3 pounds 31.8% Chips/Dust 0.8 pounds 8.0% Total 10.3 pounds There was no scrap or rocks in the bag, and only one small piece of uncarbonized wood, but we were a bit distressed to find what appears to be pieces of melted plastic stuck to a few pieces of charcoal. You can see photographs below of these pieces. The charcoal was relatively easy to light, taking 3.5 sheets of newspaper to start in our chimney starter test. This is low compared to other charcoals. The smoke was mild to moderate and quite pleasant. There was very little sparking and no popping as the charcoal burned in the chimney starter. When we started the charcoal with a MAPP torch, we got significant popping, enough to be called dangerous if you aren't careful. As always, exercise care when using some sort of torch to start charcoal. When we burned the charcoal in our maximum temperature test, we got the cooker up to 910 degrees which is high compared to other charcoals. There was some sparking while the charcoal was burning full tilt, but no popping. Once the fire got hold, it spread fairly quickly. When we got to our burn time test, however, we were very disappointed to find that this charcoal burns a very short time, the third lowest burn time of all charcoals we have tested to date. The ash production was also very disappointing, being the worst results we have measured so far if you exclude the various Kamado coconut briquette charcoals. (Just for curiosity's sake, we checked these results against all the other charcoals from Argentina and they all seem to do relatively poorly on burn time and ash production, so we guess this shouldn't have been a big surprise.) So while several aspects of this charcoal were positive, the burn time and ash production coupled with a fairly high price makes this charcoal a poor value. It 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 "All Natural Gourmet Lump Charcoal", "...enjoy the flavor of real wood grilling!", "100% Hardwood", "Burns Hotter", "Clean Burning", "Easy Lighting", "Little Or No Mess", "No Foul Odor", "No Chemicals", "No Additives", "Even Sizing", "100% Biodegradable" "For Unique Flavor Add 'All Natural' Mesquite Hickory, Apple etc. on hot coals prior to cooking.", "Product of Argentina" Lighting Instructions "Directions: 1) Set charcoal in a pyramid as shown. Sprinkle with lighter fluid. Wait one minute for fluid to soak in. 2) Light Charocal. *CAUTION.-- Do not Pour Lighter Fluid on Burning Charcoal. 3) When charcoal is covered with a grey ash, rearrange over the desired area in the grill." 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 in the bag. Here is one of the pieces of what looks like melted plastic stuck to a piece of charcoal. Here is another of these pieces of plastic stuck to a piece of charcoal. Here are the pieces of plastic and the one uncarbonized piece 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 Mali's All Natural Barbeque Supply 161 Bramblewood Lane East Amherst, NY 14051 (716) 688-2210 buymali@adelphia.net