Gas or Charcoal

Trelja... Now that's a component with a quick burn in. Is that the equivalent to a cable cooker?

Never gas, always lump (!), never fluid (!!).

Starter chimney is a good tool, but lately I tend to use a propane weed burner -- though much smaller than the one in the vid Trelja links to! Small ones that screw on a plumber's propane tank can be readily found for 30 bucks or so. Great for starting (less messy and faster than chimney), and also for perking up coals that have died down (handy for me, since I often do larger cuts with indirect heat, and that takes time). Recommended, but observe all safety precautions!

Digital only, and solid state except for tubes in CDP. Guess my purism is local to grilling.

John

John, how long does your propane weed burner take to get the coals all ready for cooking?

I think I might have to invest in one of these, and I'll use it to kill some weeds while I'm at it...

I tend to be a charcoal guy myself. It's a lot easier to find charcoal at the last minute than finding propane if you find the tank empty.

I also have been experimenting with using oak, maple, and applewood hardwoods too. We burn a lot of wood in our wood stove all winter, so we have a ready supply. Charcoal and wood require some prep time before cooking, that's true, but I hate the propane hunt. Maybe a nice grill with a permanent connection to natural gas lines is the way to go...

XL Big Green Egg with mesquite, hickory and other lumps charcoals and hardwood chunks (unburned for smoking meats) of apple, pecan, hickory, mesquite and whatever else I can find. It is my opinion that if you haven't tried a big green egg, do so. Especially the folks that like smoked fish, it does it even better on the EGG!
www.biggreenegg.com

I have a mix of both types of components, but in a few days I will only have four mosfets in the signal chain.