Good point! I am well aware of the difference. For the purpose of this thread I was going for cooking with wood-based fuels in general, but yes, grilling vs. true low & slow BBQ are two entirely different things, and I should have been more specific.
For BBQ, I use a mix of briquets and briquet-sized wood chunks (in about a 75% / 25% ratio, or maybe a little higher on the wood side) in my Weber Smoky Mountain bullet-style smoker. I burn the coals using the minion method (I also had great success BBQing an entire brisket in my Weber kettle grill using a snake ring method).
For quick grilling, let’s say steaks, I often use a combo of briquets and wood chips that I soak in water beforehand (yes, I know wet smoke is not the greatest, but the chips just burn up too quickly otherwise). I will also sometimes make a small separate hardwood fire and add the mostly spent wood embers to the coals on the grill. But I’m thinking, since a lot of posters are saying that lump burns hotter, I’ll switch to lump for quick, hot grilling, to get a better sear on my steaks.
Then there’s an in-between, with a hot coal side in my kettle grill (mix of briquets and dry wood chunks) and a cool side for indirect heat. This is good for say, chicken parts or whole chickens, or for medium-sized roasts-- get a good sear all over the meat on the hot side of the grill, then move to the cool side for a lowish & slowish finish.