Frontier Charcoal

Unknown

Just was at Home Depot a few days ago for lump charcoal. They used to sell Cowboy brand and now have Frontier. The Frontier was made in Mexico. All hardwood and no lumber scraps unlike Cowboy brand. Great I thought and tried it out. Well, it is very difficult to light in a chimney starter. Once lit, not sparking or popping and takes forever to get up to temp. With a completely clean egg and the vents fully open, I could only get up to 450 degrees! A few days later I take the egg apart to make sure there is no blockage in the lower vents and try again. Still only 450 degrees and I am trying to do pizza. So I put the fire out and wait until cool enough to get the charcoal out and use the only other stuff I have which is some Mesquite lump also from Mexico. In about 30 minutes I am where I want to be at 700 degrees. On the Frontier bag it does not say what type of wood it is but the stuff is a pain to light and never gets hot. I tried two different bags. Don't buy this stuff unless you are doing a long slow burn like a pork butt. Any one else tried Frontier form Mexico?