Lumpwood vs briquettes: which burns longer?
On a single load, dense briquettes burn longer than lumpwood: 5–8 hours for hexagonal briquettes against 3–4 hours for birch lumpwood on an open grill. But lumpwood lights in 10–15 minutes and runs hotter at the start, and in a closed kamado with the vents nearly shut, good lumpwood can last up to 8 hours too. How you cook matters as much as what you burn.
Hexagonal briquettes in a restaurant grill: the operational case
Lumpwood gives you fast heat and flavour, but in a long service it burns down quickly and needs topping up. Dense hexagonal briquettes hold steady heat for hours. Kitchens that light the two together get the best of both: the briquettes carry the service and the lumpwood adds heat and flavour on top. On our own fuels, a 10kg bag of HazelHex cooks around 60 restaurant steaks against around 40 for a bag of lumpwood.
