Lighting up charcoal isn’t a hard thing to do, but there are preferred ways to do it. Here are a couple that are most ideal:
Chimney starter: putting your coals in a chimney starter is a great way to get them heated up quicker. First, take some newspaper and ball up a few pieces to put under the chimney starter. Place them under there, leaving a little tip of the paper sticking out. Next, put your coals in the starter and fill to the top. When those are done, light that tip of newspaper sticking out of the bottom and be patient. Make sure you have the coal starter in an area where air can flow through easily to help the flames get hotter quicker. Once the coals start to ash over and you don’t see smoke, then you can transfer into your smoker or grill.
Paraffin wax: if using a ceramic grill (kamado), such as a Kamado Joe or Big Green Egg, you can light the coals inside the grill itself. As my son demonstrates in the picture below, you simply place your coals inside the kamado, placing the smaller coals around the bottom center. Then you take a square of paraffin wax (sold at BBQ shops and grill sections of some hardware stores), place in the middle amongst the smaller coals, and light them up.
Whatever you do, DO NOT POUR LIGHTER FLUID ON YOUR CHARCOAL. This will alter the flavor of the food you are cooking and not in a good way. If you’re not careful, you could cause a fire you can’t control. Also, if using a ceramic grill, the lighter fluid can seep into the porous clay interior and ruin everything you cook in them.
If you have any other best practices for lighting your coals then feel free to share them in the comments!
