Moist charcoal?

[Mark George]

Has anyone noticed Kingsford charcoal burning "differently" at times? I have found that it usually lights and burns fine, but sometimes it acts like it is moist or something. One of the characteristics I am noticing is that it doesn't seem to burn as hot or long. And, the ash looks odd. I have no imperical evidence of diminished performance, just a hunch. I am meticulous about keeping it dry, so I wonder if it has been stored in a moist environment before I bought it. Has anybody else had any experiences like this?

Curious George

 

[Guest]

Good afternoon George:
Since we're into hunches, here's mine! I too store my charcoal and smoking woods meticulously; even to the point of keeping most of it in my foyer (much to my wife's and children's chagrin)! However, one day I opened my big-box-of-woods to find that every plastic bag was sweating and my wood was moist and beginning to mildew. I had also purchased two plastic shrink wrapped bags of Kingsford from Sams and upon opening them found traces of moisture. A few days later and after removing the plastic bags, my moisture problem disappeared. Hope this helps but if not it's still a good lesson in wood storage! PS: the fact that our humidity here stays around 100% now days probably contributed something to the problem also.
John