Jealous Devil Onyx: a Review of this Bichō-tan Style Charcoal 

It’s really good on the small grills. I wouldn’t recommend this for large grills it takes too long to light a lot of it, and it is expensive. It will only be used in hibachis and table top grills from now on.

Sometimes when I'm camping I make a small homemade mini smoker out of a couple of foil turkey pans (I believe I got the idea from Cooking With Ry, he has a video on his channel, about how to make them. Very slick, easy to make and they cost like 8 bucks worth of stuff from the dollars store), sounds like this charcoal might be great for that, particularly if you can reuse it and get a couple of cooks out of it.

Yeah that Chunx is good stuff. I will certainly be continuing to use it in the Gaucho grill (Ñuke Delta).

IDK it was introduced last year. However it was recently removed from their website.

Maybe it would be great for blacksmithing as well… though maybe a tad expensive. Just thinking Hope all is going good for you and the kids Lew, your still never far from my thoughts and often in my prayers

I would recommend using regular hard wood lump instead. Or the regular jealous devil Chunx which is made from South American quebracho wood. This would work in a Santa Maria but it is not worth the time or expense. This is my first experience with Binchotan, so I’m no expert. However, I would think that using this in a Santa Maria would be similar to my experience with the Gaucho. This binchotan is a very dense charcoal and it takes a very long time to get lit. Therefore, to light enough for a large grill could take several hours to have enough usable coals to cook with. Yes, once lit it does burn very hot and clean and it burns for a long time. Which means in a small grill you can cook many batches of food. However in a large grill it takes a very long time to ignite a lot of it. In a charcoal chimney where the same volume of briquettes or regular lump would take only 15-20 minutes to fully ignite, this took 45-50 minutes to light. Igniting it with out a chimney would take longer. A large propane torch might help, but still you would have to ignite each individual piece. I’ve never seen charcoal so resistant to being ignited. However, once it is…oh boy! … it’s hot and stays hot a long time. There is a reason that binchōtan is traditionally a charcoal for small grills. So would it work in Santa Maria? Yes, but is it worth using in a Santa Maria? No. This is fantastic charcoal for small hibachi, konro, and other small table top style grills. That’s my 2¢ worth.

Makes sense. Thanks for the info and can’t wait for the next video.

@@jlambert1182 I don’t have a ceramic kamado grill. This might work well in those if one patient enough the light it. Kamado are Asian (Japanese) style grills, (charcoal ovens) designed to be very efficient. They usually have a small area or reservoir for the charcoal. I wouldn’t be surprised if this onyx worked exceptionally well in a kamado.

That’s what I thought too. I’ve since found out differently. I did some research and found out that some binchotan is in long skinny sticks, limbs or rods. Other binchōtan is irregular sizes just like other chunks of lump. However, it’s is easy to tell that the density and mass of each piece is much different than regular lump charcoal. I found out that most of the binchōtan sold in the US is indeed long rod shaped. Yes, I was fooled by the irregular shape of this charcoal too. So I understand. Even though it isn’t really shaped different from regular lump it performs much differently.

Possibly, I don’t know. Quebracho wood isn’t exactly a rainforest tree. It grows primarily in the Southern Cone of SA. Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. At least that is my understanding. So it’s more likely deforestation of Patagonia than Rainforest.

@@BigLewBBQ I believe the jealous devil uses trimmings. Paraguay has some of the most strict environmental protections in place.