Damp charcoal and a cooker that heats way too slowly

[Sanny]

Someone a week or so ago posted something that was a "thunk on the head" moment for me. So, I'll share it.

I'd been annoyed several times that I couldn't get the temp of the cooker to rise, even with the vents open. It took over an hour to come up to temp. I had been using, in part, some of Another Manufacturer's extruded, but also last year's bag of lump that had been stored in the shed (bag open).

Someone posted that if the lump is damp, the temp of the cooker will stay just over 200 degrees until the lump dries.

Of COURSE it will! :::thunk on the head:::

Just as one can boil water in a paper cup - the cup won't burn until the water is gone.

And just as it's all lies when "they" beam a temp sensor on the bottom of an empty non-stick skillet and show that it's really hot (over 500 degrees), to scare us into buying "green" non-stick, because traditional non-stick breaks down at high temps. (If you cook with something in the pan, the pan won't get hotter than the temp of the contents, which is usually well below 500 degrees.)

SO, there you have it. Mystery solved. It isn't always operator error when the temp won't rise. It could be damp lump.

[scouterpf]

As any Girl Scout or Boy Scout could tell you / us Sanny is correct.