# Charcoal Grills **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 28, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charcoal-grills/1000877 "2024-04-28T20:06:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 76
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charcoal-grills/1000877/76 "2024-04-30T13:32:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I have. You just need a better smoker or more patience. Briquets are made of ground up softwood and binders, and sometimes carcinogenic crap to make them start faster. And it’s not the good tasting carcinogenic crap that was in cigarettes either. But expediency is still a good enough reason to use briquets. Well, the debate over briquet vs. lump is probably as vigorous as that of gas vs. charcoal. Plenty of grill masters use a mix of briquets and wood chunks. Not that I’m a grill master, but false modesty aside, I’m a pretty darn good amateur. When I use briquets, I only use Kingsford brand original, which I don’t think has any additives that are any more carcinogenic than cooking food over smoky burning wood already is. But hey, I’m open-minded, and I was curious as to what other Doper BBQers thought, so I started a poll thread: [Experienced BBQers (who use wood-based fuel, not gas): What is your fuel of choice? (Poll)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experienced-bbqers-who-use-wood-based-fuel-not-gas-what-is-your-fuel-of-choice-poll/1000965) --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charcoal-grills/1000877)._