Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter, Standard, Silver

Works as advertised. It is pretty small compared to the regular size chimneys but plenty for my 18 inch grill with charcoal insert. Plenty of air flow and has me cooking within about 15 minutes

Quality and great size well built

I got this smaller charcoal chimney for about half price through the Amazon Warehouse, and it works just fine. I think it must have been returned because the person buying it thought it was too small. For me, it’s just right. I measured out 2 lbs. of lump charcoal, which was recommended for cooking a 16 inch pizza without wasting coals, and that’s pretty much what this chimney holds. I’ve never used a charcoal chimney before, but I put a few pine cones underneath the grid instead of newspaper as my kindling, and I soon had glowing coals in the chimney above. I worried that some of the pieces of the lump charcoal would fall through the grid, so I set it where I planned to dump it and just let any of the small stuff fall through.

Most people look at it and wonder - Is it worth the money? Well it used to be that you would pile your charcoal up in a pile.. squirt about that much fluid on it.. look at it.. and squirt a bit more just because... light it and watch the mini bonfire that was in your grill and hope you didn't burn down the patio (or something else if the wind shifted)... mean while in the middle of such you remembered that you didn't open the vents and curse while tapping them open as your carefully constructed pile of charcoal fell from the tapping/shaking which then left you trying to pile the briquettes back up in a pile using whatever was handy at the time (normally one of the BBQ utensils), and at the same time you tried your best not to loose your arm hair in the process and searing the flesh from your knuckles, with the worse case scenario being the briquettes only half lighting due to the collapse and you now having to spray more fluid onto the already half lit briquettes and hope you don't catch fire in the process.So this is how it went down...The Grill- Bought the Silver Smokey Joe, here on Amazon (no tax & free shipping... yes I know not all states are not tax free now, so if you are living in one of those unlucky states see this as a convenience factor)The Fuel Source- I used kingsford briquettes (standard blue bag kind) and filled this new gadget to the rim (watch your big box stores who are either Blue or Orange for charcoal to go on sale during/just before summer holiday periods- Memorial Day, 4th of July, Fathers Day).Ignition Source- Placed a single Weber 7417 Firestarter Lighter Cube on top of the charcoal grate in the grill, Placed the chimney over it, picked it back up and then re-adjusted the lighter cube to be under the center of the chimney. Due to the handle on the Chimney it won't be in the center of the 14" grill... once it was were it needed to be I lit the cube and placed the chimney back over itNow I won't lie, the entire time I was thinking this isn't going to work.. So I watched it for 3-4 minutes and well it looked like it was doing something more than just burning the lighter cube. So I walked in the house to wash my hands and to get the meat, but if you have ever set up the BBQ only to come back and find that your briquettes are smoldering.... this is what I expected to come back to in another 4-5 minutes... I was wrong... I had a chimney full of nice hot coals. Now the top layer had not ashed over, but I dumped it out into the grill, spread the coals out and it covered the bottom of the smokey joe 14" grill. The 3-4 briquettes that had not ashed over fully quickly did so in the grill.We now go back to the original question- is it worth the money? YES, in my opinion, to have hot coals in around 10 minutes.. I'll take it over the original way we used to do it back in the day. No Fluid drowned charcoal required... no fussing...(and for those who use cheap fluid and/or don't let it burn out fully of the charcoal you do get a funky taste in your food.. just saying)..Now I will say I did have to add a few more briquettes to what was in the chimney, but this was also due to cooking a nearly 2 inch thick London broil on the grill.... if it had been something thinner then I would have been more than ok with what was in the chimney to start with.Keep in mind that charcoal will absorb moisture out of the air over time, and it will take longer to ignite or may not evenly heat/burn... so if you have a bag of it then you may want to store it in a plastic container with an air tight lid.. 5 gallon paint bucket would work (or several depending on bag size)

Good quality. Much better than the typical cheaper brands found at the local stores. Should last much longer.

Works well to get a good solid cook going and will fill half 22” Weber with one layer to cut down on grill wait time.

This thing is awesome. I tried lighting charcoal briquettes multiple times with charcoal baskets, paper towels, oil, fire starters… and each time it would take 15-20 minutes to catch.With this, I put a couple pieces of crumpled brown paper bag in the bottom and light it and it produced tons of white smoke almost immediately. It’s made using the grill so much quicker and less frustrating.The photos are at 3, 5, and 10 minutes.

Three sheets of newspaper, one match and this chimney gets a chimney full of lump into a bed of coals ready to cook in 20-30 minutes. The “lump” you buy will determine the cook time, along with coal to grill distance, of course. 5 Star Product.I will NEVER return to charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid. This full Weber chimney will easily do 4 large hamburgers or three large steaks over direct heat.Optionally: It can still do some great offset ribs at the same "burn" if you think it through, and have the floor space. I like to go slow with the ribs and start just AFTER the burgers or steaks come off and the lump coals are not so hot. Perhaps 20 minutes? 1 after dinner dessert rib and next day ribs are excellent. 😋 It would be a waste to not take advantage of the leftover heat!Tip: The lump charcoal bag on it’s way to you can't be tossed around, because the contents are fragile like eggs. Bag tossing makes the pieces turn into gravel! Ideally, few pieces should as small as your old whole briquettes. So shipping is not recommended. Some brick and mortar stores treat the bags right, and others toss them around like bags of rice. Ideally you find a store that still has the bags on the pallet as they come from the manufacturer, insuring the bags have not been abused.Tip2: There are web pages that rate lump for flavor. Many are biased for certain brands. It is suggested that you go to the biggest BBQ equipment stores and ask what is good in your area. B&B Oak has been my favorite, but went through a "sparking" and mondo size logs phase, that I hope has past. Academy Sports has been known to have them on original pallets. RockWood is another good lump, usually if carefully stocked, or may be ordered from Ace Hardware stores. Ask around, and you might find lump the right size and flavor for you. Then you may find steak and burger heaven! (That never contacted lighter fluid.)TPinSwUSA rating scale:★ Well below expectations. And/or Listing is false.★★ Below expectations and/or Significant listing errors or Significant problems.★★★ Neutral - some good, some bad. Or highly priced for no known reason.★★★★ Meets expectations. Price seemed competitive when review was written.★★★★★ Exceeds expectations and/or the competition with Value. Unique.