Charcoal Chimney vs. Lighter Fluid: The Five-Minute Fix

If your grilled food ever tasted faintly of chemicals, lighter fluid did that to it. The fix costs $20 and takes five minutes to learn.

A chimney starter lights charcoal with nothing but a sheet of newspaper, and it beats fluid on every axis that matters.

This is the easiest upgrade in all of grilling. It is also the first one experienced cooks recommend, which is why it sits near the top of the tools worth buying.

The five-minute fix

A chimney starter is a metal cylinder with a handle and a grate inside. You fill the top with charcoal, put a couple of sheets of crumpled newspaper or a fire starter cube underneath, and light the paper.

The chimney draws air up through the coals the way a chimney draws smoke, so the whole load lights evenly from the bottom up.

In 15 to 20 minutes the top coals turn ashy gray. Pour them into the grill and cook.

No fluid. No chemical taste. No standing around wondering whether it caught.

Why lighter fluid is a problem

Lighter fluid is a petroleum product. Some of it burns off, and the rest soaks into your food.

That faint acrid taste on fluid-lit food is the leftover chemical, and once you notice it you cannot unnotice it.

It also lights unevenly, so you douse the coals, light them, watch the fluid burn off in a couple of minutes, and find half the pile still sitting there black while you chase it with more fluid.

And it is the source of most backyard fireballs. Squirting fluid onto lit coals is how eyebrows disappear (ask anyone who has done it).

What a chimney costs

A chimney starter runs $15 to $25 and lasts many years, since it is a steel tube with a handle and nothing in it to break. That is a one-time cost lower than a single bag of premium charcoal.

Lighter fluid runs $6 to $10 a bottle, and you buy it again and again. Over a couple of seasons the chimney wins on price as well as on taste.

There is no premium version you need (a standard-size chimney holds enough charcoal for most cooks, and the cheap ones work as well as the expensive ones).

How to use a chimney, step by step

The method is simple and hard to get wrong.

Fill the chimney with charcoal from the top. A full standard chimney holds roughly 100 briquettes, which is enough for a hot two-zone fire on a normal grill.

Crumple two sheets of newspaper and stuff them loosely into the bottom chamber, or set one fire starter cube there instead.

Set the chimney on the grill grate, light the paper through the holes at the bottom, and walk away (poking at it does nothing).

Wait 15 to 20 minutes. When the top coals are covered in gray ash, the whole load is lit.

Grab the handle, pour the coals where you want them, and put the cooking grate back on.

How much charcoal to load

Match the load to the cook and you will not waste fuel.

For a hot two-zone fire on a standard charcoal grill, fill the chimney full, about 100 briquettes, and pour them onto one side. For a smaller or gentler cook, fill it halfway.

For low-and-slow smoking, light a smaller amount and add unlit coals to extend the burn.

You rarely need more than a full chimney at once (a large grill is the exception).

No chimney yet? Your options

You still have two good alternatives to fluid, and both of them are cheap.

Fire starter cubes cost about $8 to $12 for a box and they are food-safe. Tuck one or two under a pile of charcoal and light them, and the coals catch with no chemical taste (it lights a little less evenly than a chimney does).

An electric charcoal starter, $15 to $25, is a metal loop you set in the coals and plug in, and it glows hot enough to light the pile in about 8 to 10 minutes (handy with an outlet nearby, useless without one).

Both beat lighter fluid. But the chimney is faster and needs no electricity, so it is still the one to buy.

Lighting a two-zone fire, start to finish

You want steaks tonight. Fill a chimney with charcoal, stuff two crumpled sheets of newspaper underneath, set it on the grate, and light the paper.

The top coals go gray 18 minutes later.

Pour the full load onto the left half of the grill for a two-zone fire, drop the grate on, and five more minutes later you are searing.

No fluid. No fireball. And it cost you $20, once.