Stack or Dump lump?

I have always been a fan of placement. Even on the Weber as I cooked indirect 90% of the time. A little messy but well worth it.

I don't stack neatly either. I only stack to control the size of the pieces that go in.

someone have a pic of an ideal stack ">

This is what mine looks like. Certainly not saying it's perfect, but I sleep good at night. I know there are huge chunks in there, but I prefer sleep over nitpicking over airflow issues

I have never had an airflow issue with the XL.  However, since I found a big piece of rubber in my RO, I dump the bag out onto newspaper and sort through it to ensure only charcoal is going into my egg.

Dump and light...never had an issue for low and slow's - but I follow all the normal egg-rules for lighting a good fire.  Clean ashes - filled to proper level - good quality lump...etc

I try to keep some huge pieces of wood aside for stacking on the bottom....it allows good air flow even when you drop smaller pieces on top.  After I stack a good layer of large pieces in the bottom of the firebox I dump the rest on top to fill the box up.


I've found that if I over stuff my firebox (I load it right up to the fire ring) for a good low n' slow smoke...the extra lump limits the airflow and keeps the temps lower......for high temp burns I stack far less lump to allow more airflow.   If I just fill the firebox it's hard to keep the temps in the 210-225 range I like to smoke at, a lot of guys say it's a waste to go less than 250-300 but it's how I like to do it so that's what I do.  

I like the BBQ Guru Turbo Grate. With a Turbo Grate, meticulous stacking is not necessary.

It's not necessary with any grate but until peeps are up to speed, it helps. I'm a fan of the hi q, just sayin you can do everything you want on an egg with stock equip.

I clean out the ash and small chips, and pick out big new pieces from the bag to place on the bottom.  Then i dump on top of the big pieces.  I get a hot fire (pizza hot) pretty quickly with this method.