Char Chimney

Lump Charcoal vs Briquettes: Which Should You Burn?

Briquettes for anything that needs a steady, predictable fire. Lump when you want the grate screaming hot. Five bags compared on what the makers actually publish.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we pick

Burn briquettes for most cooking — Kingsford Original is the default for a reason, and it is the bag to put in a beginner’s hands. Briquettes are manufactured to one size and density, so a chimney-full lights at the same rate every time and a banked fire holds a usable temperature for hours. Lump charcoal is the better answer when you want maximum grate heat for steaks and smash burgers, or when you want less ash to deal with afterwards. Most people who cook on charcoal regularly end up keeping a bag of each.

This page is the decision between the two fuels. If you already know which you want and just need the bag list, our best charcoal for grilling roundup compares six bags including both big lump splurges.

One honest limit up front: we make no flavor claims. Charcoal makers describe their own products as cleaner, hotter or more aromatic, and we quote those as claims rather than repeating them as findings. We own no lab and have run no side-by-side burn test.

How this is funded: we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which gift we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

Quick picks

Our shortlist, with the price on every pick. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We haven’t tested these ourselves — here’s exactly what we do instead.

#ProductBest forPrice
1
Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquettes, 16 lb

Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquettes, 16 lb

The default bag, and the one to buy first. Kingsford says these are ready to cook on in about 15 minutes thanks to the Sure Fire Grooves pressed into every briquette, and that they are made in the USA from 100% natural ingredients with no chemical additives. Uniform shape means a predictable fire, which is exactly what someone learning to cook over charcoal needs.

Best briquette overall
$10.92 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 10, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

2
B&B Charcoal Competition Oak & Hickory Briquets, 17.6 lb

B&B Charcoal Competition Oak & Hickory Briquets, 17.6 lb

A briquette that tells you what is in it: B&B publishes charred oak and hickory held together with a vegetable starch binder, and no chemical additives or fillers. It is the honest middle ground between a supermarket bag and loose lump — briquette predictability, with a hardwood flavor that actually reads on ribs and pork.

Best briquette for long cooks
$42.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 10, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

3
B&B Charcoal Oak Lump Charcoal, 10 lb

B&B Charcoal Oak Lump Charcoal, 10 lb

Carbonized wood rather than a pressed briquette, in the smallest bag worth owning. B&B describes a premium oak and hardwood blend with no chemicals or fillers and a “Low Smoke Profile – High BTU” character, which is the useful thing about oak: it burns hot and tastes of wood without the sharpness mesquite brings.

Best lump for a kettle
$26.72 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 10, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

4
Jealous Devil Chunx XL Lump Charcoal, 35 lb

Jealous Devil Chunx XL Lump Charcoal, 35 lb

The charcoal to give someone who smokes. Jealous Devil publishes South American quebracho blanco hardwood, over 1,100°F, a 4+ hour open burn and 20+ hours in a low-oxygen cooker, needing 25% to 40% less wood for low-temperature smoking. Fist-sized lumps in a resealable waterproof bag — a genuine upgrade rather than a bigger bag of the same thing.

Best lump for searing heat
$52.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 10, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

5
Cowboy Hardwood Lump Charcoal, 8.8 lb

Cowboy Hardwood Lump Charcoal, 8.8 lb

The cheapest way to find out whether someone prefers lump. Cowboy publishes kiln-dried southern hardwoods with no chemicals or fillers, ready to cook in about 15 minutes and holding heat for up to an hour — with all its wood heat-treated to a minimum interior temperature of 71°C for 75 minutes under USDA Protocol T-314-c.

Best small bag of lump
$19.60 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 10, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

The picks in full

#1Best briquette overall

Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquettes, 16 lb

The default bag, and the one to buy first. Kingsford says these are ready to cook on in about 15 minutes thanks to the Sure Fire Grooves pressed into every briquette, and that they are made in the USA from 100% natural ingredients with no chemical additives. Uniform shape means a predictable fire, which is exactly what someone learning to cook over charcoal needs.

A note before you buy. A bag of charcoal alone is not a present. A bag plus a chimney starter is — it is the whole lighting problem solved for the price of a takeaway, and the person who gets it stops buying lighter fluid.

Why it’s a good gift

  • Kingsford publishes a ready-to-cook time of about 15 minutes
  • Uniform briquettes burn at a predictable rate, so a fire behaves the same way twice
  • Cheapest per pound of anything here, by a wide margin
  • Kingsford states 100% natural ingredients, no chemical additives, made in the USA

Worth knowing

  • Kingsford's own wording is “a moderate amount of ash” — more to empty than lump leaves
  • The full composition is not published, so you cannot tell how much of the bag is wood and how much is binder
  • Peak heat is below what the premium lump makers publish, which matters if you chase a hard sear
  • The listing is flagged “Package May Vary”, so the bag art and exact pack can change

Best for: Anyone with a kettle and a chimney starter

Details read from the Amazon listing, last checked October 8, 2026. Prices change; the number above is fetched live.

#2Best briquette for long cooks

B&B Charcoal Competition Oak & Hickory Briquets, 17.6 lb

A briquette that tells you what is in it: B&B publishes charred oak and hickory held together with a vegetable starch binder, and no chemical additives or fillers. It is the honest middle ground between a supermarket bag and loose lump — briquette predictability, with a hardwood flavor that actually reads on ribs and pork.

A note before you buy. The right bag for someone who grills over charcoal every week and has never used anything but the yellow bag. The bundle makes it look like a gift rather than a chore, which a bare bag never does.

Why it’s a good gift

  • B&B publishes the whole recipe: charred oak and hickory, vegetable starch binder, no additives or fillers
  • B&B rates the 17.6 lb bag at approximately six uses — a rare published figure in this category
  • Oak and hickory flavor without adding wood chips or chunks
  • The listing bundles 18 Duraflame Firestart cubes and 50 long matches

Worth knowing

  • Costs several times as much per pound as a plain supermarket briquette
  • “Competition” is marketing language, not a standard anybody certifies
  • Hickory is assertive — on fish or chicken breast it can be too much
  • If they already own a chimney starter, the bundled cubes and matches are packaging nobody needed

Best for: The charcoal griller who has started caring what the fuel tastes like

Details read from the Amazon listing, last checked October 8, 2026. Prices change; the number above is fetched live.

#3Best lump for a kettle

B&B Charcoal Oak Lump Charcoal, 10 lb

Carbonized wood rather than a pressed briquette, in the smallest bag worth owning. B&B describes a premium oak and hardwood blend with no chemicals or fillers and a “Low Smoke Profile – High BTU” character, which is the useful thing about oak: it burns hot and tastes of wood without the sharpness mesquite brings.

A note before you buy. The gift that explains itself in one cook. Give it alongside a bag of briquettes and they can run the comparison on the same grill on the same evening.

Why it’s a good gift

  • Lump is simply charred wood — B&B states no chemicals and no fillers
  • Oak is the mildest of the flavorful hardwoods, so it suits steak, chicken and vegetables alike
  • Lights faster than briquettes and leaves noticeably less ash
  • A 10 lb bag is small enough to store indoors, which briquette-sized bags are not

Worth knowing

  • B&B publishes no BTU number, no burn time and no country of origin — “High BTU” is a claim, not a figure
  • Lump pieces are irregular, so the fire is less predictable than briquettes
  • A 10 lb bag goes quickly on a long cook
  • Costs several times more per pound than the Kingsford bag

Best for: A first bag of lump, for someone curious about the difference

Details read from the Amazon listing, last checked October 8, 2026. Prices change; the number above is fetched live.

#4Best lump for searing heat

Jealous Devil Chunx XL Lump Charcoal, 35 lb

The charcoal to give someone who smokes. Jealous Devil publishes South American quebracho blanco hardwood, over 1,100°F, a 4+ hour open burn and 20+ hours in a low-oxygen cooker, needing 25% to 40% less wood for low-temperature smoking. Fist-sized lumps in a resealable waterproof bag — a genuine upgrade rather than a bigger bag of the same thing.

A note before you buy. The right gift only if you know they cook long and slow. For someone who grills burgers on a Saturday it is an expensive bag that will last three years and teach them nothing.

Why it’s a good gift

  • Jealous Devil publishes 4+ hours of open burn and 20+ hours in a low-oxygen cooker
  • Quebracho blanco is among the densest hardwoods used for charcoal, and the maker names the species
  • Stated to need 25% to 40% less wood for low-temperature smoking
  • Resealable waterproof bag with a carry handle, so it can live outside without turning to mush

Worth knowing

  • Jealous Devil publishes two different peak temperatures — over 1,100°F on the listing, “exceeds 1,170°F” elsewhere on its own site — so treat either as a best case
  • XL lumps often need breaking to fit a chimney starter or a small kettle
  • A 35 lb bag is a two-handed lift and needs real storage space
  • Several times the price per pound of a briquette bag, so it is wasted on burgers

Best for: Kamado owners and anyone doing overnight cooks

Details read from the Amazon listing, last checked October 8, 2026. Prices change; the number above is fetched live.

#5Best small bag of lump

Cowboy Hardwood Lump Charcoal, 8.8 lb

The cheapest way to find out whether someone prefers lump. Cowboy publishes kiln-dried southern hardwoods with no chemicals or fillers, ready to cook in about 15 minutes and holding heat for up to an hour — with all its wood heat-treated to a minimum interior temperature of 71°C for 75 minutes under USDA Protocol T-314-c.

A note before you buy. Pair it with the Kingsford bag for anyone who has only ever used one kind of charcoal. Two small bags cost less than one premium one and settle the question for them.

Why it’s a good gift

  • Cowboy publishes a 15-minute ready time and heat held for up to an hour
  • Kiln-dried southern hardwoods with no chemicals or fillers, per Cowboy
  • Heat treatment stated to USDA Protocol T-314-c — a specific, checkable claim
  • An 8.8 lb bag is easy to carry home and easy to store

Worth knowing

  • Cowboy's own “up to an hour” of heat is short — this is a grilling bag, not a brisket bag
  • Piece size varies more than in the premium lumps here, so small fragments go to waste
  • The Amazon listing publishes no feature bullets at all, so Cowboy's own page is the only spec source
  • The listing's brand field reads Duraflame (Cowboy's parent) rather than Cowboy, which makes searching confusing

Best for: Trying lump charcoal without committing to a 35 lb bag

Details read from the Amazon listing, last checked October 8, 2026. Prices change; the number above is fetched live.

What the difference actually is

Lump charcoal is wood that has been charred and then bagged as it comes — irregular chunks, from fist-sized down to dust. Briquettes are charcoal that has been ground and pressed into uniform pillows, usually with a binder. That one manufacturing difference drives everything else: uniform shapes burn predictably, irregular chunks burn unpredictably but can be packed denser and run hotter.

The binder is where the old “briquettes have chemicals in them” argument comes from, and it is worth being precise. Kingsford states that Original is made with 100% natural ingredients and no chemical additives. B&B states that its Competition briquets hold charred oak and hickory together with a vegetable starch binder and contain no chemical additives or fillers. What briquettes do produce is more ash than lump — Kingsford describes Original as burning with “a moderate amount of ash”.

What each maker publishes

BagTypeLight and burn figures the maker publishesBest use
Kingsford Original, 16 lbBriquetteReady to cook on in about 15 minutes; “a moderate amount of ash”; no burn-time figure publishedEveryday burgers, chicken, two-zone fires
B&B Competition Oak & Hickory, 17.6 lbBriquette17.6 lb bag rated at approximately six uses; no burn time or BTU publishedRibs, pork shoulder, anything low and slow
B&B Oak Lump, 10 lbLumpDescribed as “Low Smoke Profile – High BTU”; B&B publishes no BTU figure, burn time or country of originA kettle that needs real heat without a big bag
Jealous Devil Chunx XL, 35 lbLump4+ hours in open air, 20+ hours in a smoker; peak heat given as “exceeds 1,100°F” in one place on its own site and “Exceeds 1,170°F” in anotherSteak, searing, long kamado cooks
Cowboy Hardwood Lump, 8.8 lbLumpReady to cook in about 15 minutes, holds heat up to an hour; heat treated to a minimum interior 71°C for 75 minutes under USDA Protocol T-314-cA single cook, or trying lump for the first time

Note how little of that table is actually comparable. Two makers publish a burn time, three do not; one advertises “High BTU” without printing a BTU; one contradicts itself on peak temperature by 70 degrees. That is the real state of charcoal specs, and it is why the cells above say not published instead of carrying a number borrowed from a retailer.

Heat: lump wins, with an asterisk

Lump’s advantage is peak temperature. Dense hardwood chunks packed into a kettle will take the grate hotter than the same volume of briquettes, which is why steakhouse-style searing and kamado cooking are lump territory. The asterisk is control: because the pieces are different sizes, a lump fire has hot spots and the small pieces burn out first. For a cook who wants an even grate at a predictable 400°F, that is a bug rather than a feature.

Burn time and consistency: briquettes win

Uniform shape means uniform airflow, and uniform airflow means a fire you can plan around. This matters most on long cooks, where the technique everyone uses — the snake, a ring of unlit coals lit at one end — depends on the fuel being the same size all the way round. Kingsford’s own instructions for the snake method call for roughly 100 unlit briquets arranged in two rows and started with six to eight lit coals to hold 225–250°F. There is no equivalent recipe for lump, because lump cannot be arranged that precisely.

Ash and cleanup: lump wins

Lump leaves noticeably less ash, which matters more than it sounds like it should. Ash smothers airflow at the bottom of a kettle, so a long briquette cook can choke itself unless the ash gets cleared. If the person you are shopping for complains about cleaning the grill more than about cooking on it, a bag of lump and a bristle-free brush is a genuinely useful pairing.

Flavor: what we will and will not say

Every maker on this page claims a cleaner or more natural burn, and several name the wood species — B&B uses oak and hickory, Jealous Devil uses South American quebracho blanco. Species demonstrably affects smoke, which is why wood chunks and chips are sold by species at all. What we will not do is tell you one bag tastes better than another, because we have not cooked the same cut over both, and nobody should trust a site that says otherwise without showing the work.

So which bag, for which cook?

  • Burgers, chicken, weeknight grilling: briquettes. Kingsford Original.
  • Ribs, shoulder, brisket: briquettes, in a snake. The B&B Competition bag if they are fussy about binders.
  • Steak, smash burgers, kamado: lump. Jealous Devil if the bag size is no problem, B&B Oak Lump if it is.
  • Just trying lump: the 8.8 lb Cowboy bag. One cook, no commitment.

Whichever bag you land on, the fire still has to be lit properly. A chimney starter does it in about fifteen minutes with no fluid and no taste, and how to light a charcoal grill walks through the whole routine.

Frequently asked questions

Is lump charcoal better than briquettes?

Not better, different. Lump runs hotter and leaves less ash, which suits searing and kamado cooking. Briquettes are uniform, so they light predictably and hold a steady temperature for hours, which suits everyday grilling and long low cooks. Most regular charcoal cooks keep a bag of each.

Do briquettes have chemicals in them?

The two briquettes on this page say they do not. Kingsford states Original is made with 100% natural ingredients and no chemical additives; B&B states its Competition briquets use a vegetable starch binder with no chemical additives or fillers. What briquettes do leave is more ash than lump — Kingsford describes Original as burning with a moderate amount of ash.

Which charcoal burns longest?

Of the bags here, only two makers publish a figure at all. Jealous Devil states 4+ hours of burn in open air and 20+ hours in a smoker for its Chunx XL; Cowboy states its hardwood lump holds heat up to an hour. Kingsford and B&B publish no burn time, so this page does not give one for them.

Which charcoal gets hottest?

Lump, generally, because dense hardwood chunks pack more fuel into the same space. Jealous Devil's own site gives a peak of over 1,100°F in one place and over 1,170°F in another — a 70-degree disagreement on its own pages, which is a fair warning about how seriously to take any brand's peak-temperature claim.

Can you mix lump and briquettes?

Yes, and plenty of people do: briquettes for the base and the steady heat, a few chunks of lump on top when they want a hotter sear. The one thing to avoid is mixing them inside a snake for a long cook, because the different burn rates defeat the point of arranging the fuel in the first place.

What charcoal is best for a chimney starter?

Either, but briquettes are easier because they pack into a chimney evenly and light at a predictable rate — around 15 minutes for Kingsford Original. Lump works fine; just expect the small pieces to catch first and the big chunks to still be lighting when you pour.

How much charcoal should I use?

For a normal two-zone fire in a 22-inch kettle, a full standard chimney banked to one side is the usual starting point. For low and slow, Kingsford's snake method calls for roughly 100 unlit briquets in two rows lit with six to eight coals, which holds 225 to 250°F.

Sources

  • Kingsford — Original Charcoal Briquets — Ready to cook on in about 15 minutes thanks to Sure Fire Grooves; 100% natural ingredients with no chemical additives; made in the USA with North American ingredients; designed to burn with “a moderate amount of ash”; sold in 4, 8, 12 and 16 lb bags and twin packs (accessed October 8, 2026)
  • B&B Charcoal — Competition Oak & Hickory Briquets — Charred oak and hickory held together with a vegetable starch binder, no chemical additives or fillers; sold in 8.8 lb and 17.6 lb bags rated at approximately three and six uses respectively (accessed October 8, 2026)
  • B&B Charcoal — Oak Lump Charcoal — A premium oak and hardwood blend lump charcoal with no chemicals or fillers, described as “Low Smoke Profile – High BTU”; B&B publishes no BTU figure, burn time or country of origin (accessed October 8, 2026)
  • Jealous Devil — Chunx XL Lump Charcoal — South American quebracho blanco hardwood with zero chemicals, fillers or additives; 4+ hours of burn in open air and 20+ hours in a smoker; the page gives “exceeds 1,100°F” in one place and “Exceeds 1,170°F” in another, and publishes no bag weight (the listing's part number is JD-35-LBS, 35 lb) (accessed October 8, 2026)
  • Cowboy Charcoal — Hardwood Lump Charcoal — Kiln-dried southern hardwoods with no chemicals or fillers, ready to cook in about 15 minutes and holding heat up to an hour; sold in 8.8 lb and 20 lb bags; all wood heat treated to a minimum interior temperature of 71°C for 75 minutes under USDA Protocol T-314-c (accessed October 8, 2026)
  • Kingsford — How to Arrange Charcoal in a Grill — The snake method for 225-250°F: about 100 unlit briquets in two rows around the grill, started with 6 to 8 lit coals (accessed September 18, 2026)

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