Meat Head Lump Charcoal
nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index      

Quick Stats
Date Of Review: October, 2021
Purchased From: Manufacturer's Web Site
Date Purchased: September, 2021
Price: $34.99
Advertised Weight: 22 pounds
Type of Wood: Quebracho Blanco
Strange Material: None
Scrap Lumber: None
Smell: Mild, slight perfume
Country of Origin: Paraguay


Key Performance Indicators
Chips and Dust:
Lighting:
Max Temperature:
Burn Time:
Ash Production:


Quick Links
Other Information: Click Here
Statements From The Bag: Click Here
Lighting Instructions: Click Here
Safety Instructions: Click Here
Unusual Or Unique Statements: Click Here
Photos of Contents: Click Here
Other Photos: Click Here
Photo of UPC Code: Click Here
Contact Information: Click Here

Rate And Comment On This Charcoal: Click Here


Commentary

First things first. This charcoal has nothing to do with Michael Casimir "Mike" Stivic (Archie Bunker's son-in-law affectionately known as "Meathead") or "All In The Family" (the popular sitcom television series broadcast in America between 1971 and 1979). But even more importantly, this charcoal has nothing

Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco
to do with Meathead Goldwyn or AmazingRibs.com. Meat Head (two words!) is simply the name of this charcoal.

Meat Head Charcoal is made in Paraguay (see the map at left) The charcoal is made from a South American wood called Quebracho Blanco, a wood we have run into a few times before. If you are wondering about the word "quebracho," it is derived from quiebrahacha, or quebrar hacha, meaning "axe-breaker". As for a description of the wood, we get this from Wikipedia:

"Quebracho blanco wood is uniformly yellow-ochre, without differences between hardwood and sapwood. It is quite heavy (relative density = 0.885 g/cm³) and hard, and responds well to bending and shock. Upon drying it tends to collapse, producing deformations and cracks, so the drying process is slow; the wood must be treated with fungicides. It is easy to work and has many uses in carpentry (carts, wheels, floors, shoes, tool handles, furniture); it is also good for chess pieces, skis, etc. Preserved with creosote it can be used outdoors. In some places it is widely used as coal, since it does not produce sparks or large amounts of ash, and it burns strong and slowly."

Deforestation is a serious issue in South America and Paraguay, so you might ask where Meat Head Charcoal sources the wood they use. They claim that their charcoal has been sourced utilizing only forest leftovers, that they have never cut a single tree to create their charcoal. Furthermore, they claim that their supplier is committed to complying with Fair Trade laws and standards set by the environmental protection agencies in Paraguay, known as SEAM and INFONA. More information about their process can be found on their website.

Upon opening the bag we did notice that they use a bag made from 3 ply kraft paper with an inside plastic film to protect the charcoal against humidity and prevent dust during handling. Of course, the first thing we do is dump the charcoal out on the ground and inspect it for rocks, uncarbonized pieces, scrap and in general anything that doesn't belong. We found nothing but charcoal. The following table shows you the distribution of sizes:

Large 2.2 pounds 10.0%
Medium 9.6 pounds 42.9%
Small 7.8 pounds 35.0%
Chips/Dust 2.7 pounds 12.1%



Total 22.3 pounds

The distribution was somewhat disappointing considering Meat Head is advertised as having "bold" chunks. There were no truly big chunks, and only 10% of the bag qualified as large chunks. Almost half the bag was made up of small chunks and chips and dust. The 12.1% by weight of chips and dust is only Average compared to other brands. And it is a messy charcoal. Much of the chips and dust was truly black dust that gets everywhere.

As far as lighting goes, Meat Head charcoal took 4 sheets of newspaper to get a fire established in a Weber chimney starter. This is Average compared to other brands. And as advertised, there were no sparks or pops during the lighting process. The smoke is relatively mild and like many South American hardwood charcoals it had a slight perfume smell to it.

In our maximum temperature test, this charcoal burned at 1075°F which is Very High compared to other brands. Again, there we no sparking or popping during the lighting process and the fire spread somewhat slowly.

Next comes our burn time test and Meat Head Charcoal's burn time was High compared to other brands. Believe it or not, again we saw no sparking or popping when lighting with a MAP/Pro torch. However, always exercise care when using a torch of any sort to light lump charcoal.

Our final test is ash production, and the amount of ash produced by Meat Head Charcoal was Low compared to other brands.

Now before we reveal the final score, we'd like to comment on a common misconception that dense charcoal burns longer. You read this often in Facebook groups and, in fact, Meat Head itself says on its own web page that their charcoal gives a 1.5x longer burn than other lump charcoal brands. Clearly, it doesn't as the burn time was only High compared to other brands. In fact, from all our testing, Meat Head ranks 33rd out of 121 brands for which we have done burn time tests. The longest burning charcoals are the ones that have been cooked to the highest temperature, cooking out more of the wood tar, wood alcohol, water and other volatile components in charcoal. In other words, the lightest charcoals. We have tested 6 brands made from this axe-breaker wood, and none of them are anywhere near the top of the list.

That said, Meat Head Lump Charcoal has a somewhat disappointing size distribution, is not too hard to light, burns very hot, has an above average burn time and below average ash production. The thing that keeps sticking in our mind is that pesky size distribution. Given the hype and what we know is possible with quebracho blanco, there should simply be a larger percentage of larger pieces and far less chips and dust. You can do better at a lower price if you want to burn quebracho blanco charcoal. (Hint: B&B Texas Size XL) We give this charcoal our Above Average rating.

To the left is the rating that our readers have given this charcoal. If you have used this charcoal and would like to rate it and leave your comments, Click Here

To view reader ratings of all brands, Click Here.


Other Information

None


Statements From The Bag

"Treat Your Meat!", "All Natural Axe-breaker Hardwood Craft Chunk Charcoal", "Bold Dense Chunks", "Low Ash & No Sparks", "Long Lasting", "Headquartered in GA"


Lighting Instructions

None


Safety Instructions

None


Unusual or Unique Statements

None


The Ruler Used In The Following Photographs

We use the following ruler in the photographs which follow. The black and white segments are
1 inch long. The upper scale is in inches, while the lower scale is in centimeters. The distance
between the centers of the two targets is precisely 9 inches.


Photos Of Contents

This photo is an overall view of the contents of the bag.


Here is a closer view.


Here are the larger pieces we found in the bag.


Here are the contents of the bag sorted into large, medium, small, and too small/chips/dust.


Other Photos

This is how the bag arrived.


Photo of UPC Code


Contact Information

Meat Head Charcoal 135 Maple Street NW
Gainesville, GA  30501

Phone: 678-928-4080

Email: info@meatheadcharcoal.com
Web: www.meatheadcharcoal.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/meatheadcharcoal"


About This Review

If you are unfamiliar with our testing procedures, you may wish to read How We Review Lump Charcoal before reading this review. Also, you can read How We Score Lump Charcoal to learn about our scoring system.

Prices listed in our reviews are current as of the date of the review. We do not attempt to keep these prices current.

The conclusions and final rating given any charcoal are based upon the opinion of the author. We recommend that you use our rating only as a guide. You should read the entire review and decide what is important to you in making any buying decision.

Performance ratings are designated with stars, 1 star being the worst and 5 stars being the best:

= Performance is Far Below Average
= Performance is Below Average
= Performance is Average
= Performance is Above Average
= Performance is Far Above Average

Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon at the bottom right corner. Click on the icon to display the image in a new larger window. If you wish to ensure that you are seeing photographs the same way that we are seeing them, we recommend that you calibrate your monitor to a PC-normal gamma of 2.2. You should be able to see the difference between blocks A, B and C below, as well as the difference between blocks 3, 4 and 5.

  

This review is protected by Copyright and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. You can use the "Email The Whiz" link at the bottom of any of our webpages to contact us about using material from this review.


nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index       Search Our Site       Email The Whiz       Listen To Whizcast       Buy Whiz Gear       Privacy Policy
All Contents ©2001, 2023 The Naked Whiz

You can support this website by shopping at The Naked Whiz Website Store and Amazon.com