Pit Boss 74120 Charcoal Ignitor, Stainless

Living in Wisconsin means spending 5 months out of every 12 without the privilege of BBQing my dead animals due to deep snow and sub-zero temperatures. That is why I had my contractor build into my kitchen a 22" Weber grill/smoker under a 2.400 CFM exhaust hood. Now I can grill my dead animals all year around. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that the hand-held "chimney" style charcoal starters and not only messy indoors but also dangerous. I therefore ordered this gadget and I am very happy I did.Yes, it IS a bit large, a bit heavy, and a bit cumbersome ... but it does a terrific job of starting my charcoal in less than a minute even though I feel a bit like a kid with a Star Wars Light Saber. Through trial and error I have discovered that oiling my charcoal in a pyramid is NOT the best way to get it started. Like most fires, it burns better from the bottom up than it does from the top down. Consequently, I now spread my charcoal in a single layer - touching each other - in a circle at the bottom. I then light the CENTER and let it burn evenly outwards to the outer edge (I can always add more charcoal to the center if needed).Lighting the charcoal in the center is a snap and can be accomplished in less than a minute. Just hold the heat gun steady and aim it at the same piece until lit. PLEASE do NOT attempt to use this device to curl your hair!

Too much trouble. Takes too long. Bought for hubby for Christmas, just took out of box to use fir the first time. Hubby lost patience. After 6 minutes of trying - still no hot coals. Would like to return, but since it was bought for Christmas, return period was only til the end of January! What a waste of money. Thanks Pit Boss!!!

I love this thing! My electric smoker died, and I replaced it with  Pit Boss 71240 Kamado BBQ Ceramic Grill Cooker, 24" . After you put in the natural charcoal, you touch the tip of this to the charcoal while holding the button, and after it catches, you pull this away to a distance of 4-6" and keep it going until it's reasonably lit. You'll want to read the instructions to get a handle on the safe angle to hold this at, but that's about it. I had bought some of the charcoal starter squares, and I don't even need them. Awesome. Totally recommend!And for my fellow geeks, my husband named my new grill and smoker R2-D2. This looks like a light saber, so I *had* to!

This thing is great, but unfortunately died after 18 months. It still blows, but heat isnt good enough to light up the charcoal. Works "ok" if you use this just as a blower for an already ignited fire. :)

Works better than the Big Green Egg ignighter. Received it today and my husband has already used it.

Perfect for kingsford charcoal

Bought this igniter last November, and have only had a chance to use it 4 times since then. During the 4th use, it simply stopped heating and no longer works. Very disappointed, the quality of the product seems extremely low. Would recommend finding a higher quality igniter.

I ordered this thinking it was a good item but to be honest I have used it 2 times and here on the third time the things won't even work how about that a piece of junk avoid buying this

Pour allumer mon charbon de bois.Rapidité d'allumage.

the product is fast on lighting the briquets. I was used to the old one that had a fan and started the process faster. I kept the old one as it doesn't heat, I use the new one to start the process and then use the fan on the old one toget it going better. I should have researched the product better before I bought and got what I had before. product works oka, just not great with the 2 step process

Great product, kind of big though. Lol