Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter

Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter

My father always started our charcoal grill by crumpling up newspaper in the bowl of the grill and making a pyramid of briquets on top of the grate. This works, but there’s an easier way.

This device works by pulling up air up through the chimney to provide more oxygen for the fire, as if you were standing there fanning it. The result is hotter coals that let you start cooking sooner.

The Weber chimney holds just the right amount of charcoal for the 22″ Weber Original Kettle Premium Grill. Simply load it up with charcoal, hit it with some lighter fluid (you are saving money on your lighter fluid, right?), making sure that the fluid lightly saturates the top third of the charcoal. Light it immediately. I always set the lit chimney directly on the grill grate to prevent someone from tripping over it and to start heating up the grill.

As with their grills and smokers, you are getting thicker steel that is galvanized better to last longer than the cheaper competition.

One note of caution – be mindful of the wind’s direction to avoid damaging the handle. While the handle is well-built, it is still plastic and will start to melt if it gets too hot. I ever so slightly blistered the plastic handle on my chimney one time when high winds were blowing the flames back onto the handle.