Chimney starter too smokey


 
D

dave_k

New member
Hi all,

Summer is coming around and I need to address the problem of my chimney starter. I live in Chicago in a fairly dense neighborhood. Whenever I use my weber chimney starter, it smoker like crazy for a good 15 minutes. In the winter it isn't an issue because no one is outside and all the windows are closed. Is there anything that can be done to minimize the smoke? I have been using the weber gel starters to get it going.
 
I use a small blow torch. I fire it up, focus it on a small pile of charcoals for about 30 seconds, and away they go. I find it to be quicker and far less smokey than the chimney starter.
 
Dave,

I am in a similar situation, but have been using a chimney starter for some time now.

I initially had the same concerns, but I have never had a neighbor complain or even comment on it, so I don't worry about it anymore.
 
If you're using newspaper, try using oiled paper towels; much less smoke. Also, if you're using briquettes, try lump or all-natural briquettes, they tend to smoke less.

As previously mentioned, the blow torch method works really well, but isn't quite light it and forget it.

As previously mentioned, fire starters are nice, but the oiled paper towels seems to work just as well.

HTH
 
If you are concerned about smoke I would definately advise moving to lump and only starting with 1/2 chimney or less.

Lump ignites MUCH faster and once any charcoal is lit it will produce minimal smoke. Using a huge chimney of briq and having it slowly catch is a recipe for rolling smoke.

Remember... it's like adding smoke wood. If you want a good "clean" smoke you need heat and good air supply. There is a reason why we won't get that same smoke during our cooking process.
 
A lot of lump users line the bottom of the charcoal area w/ briqs, so the smaller lump pieces don't fall thru. Also, a lot of lump users light briqs and through that on unlit lump.

I'm generally too lazy, and just use one or the other - with a tendency for lump. I also like just having one bag opened.
 
Dave, I had a similar situation. I lit a chimney starter with 40 briquettes using newspaper for my first smoke. It was 6:00am and foggy with little to no wind. I live in the suburbs, but the amount of smoke I created was unbelievable. Smoke filled the neighbor's entire back yard. I expected to hear the fire department since I'm sure there were houses with windows open. Everything went ok, the smoke cleared, but for a few minutes it was pretty thick. Next time, it's paper towels and less briquettes. Maybe I will try the blow torch or use lump.
 
Originally posted by dave_k:
Hi all,

Summer is coming around and I need to address the problem of my chimney starter. I live in Chicago in a fairly dense neighborhood. Whenever I use my weber chimney starter, it smoker like crazy for a good 15 minutes. In the winter it isn't an issue because no one is outside and all the windows are closed. Is there anything that can be done to minimize the smoke? I have been using the weber gel starters to get it going.
Click to expand...


Paraffin starters:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...RGG/thevirtualweberb
 
Even thou Iam only a couple miles from Detroit only about a city of 10000 and were close together kina . Thou NOT like in a big city someone here is always burning a fire pit or a BBQ so its not a thing here . Besides Great Lakes Steel puts a lot worse on us out there stacks .
 
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