Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

I'm done with MAPP

SoonerChris
SoonerChris Posts: 302
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
For the second time in less than a year my MAPP torch has crapped out. Seem like the adapter on the end that shoot the flame out in a twist has something wrong with it. No blue flame and it just seems like it's not as hot. See below.

BZTG_TS4000T_019040_lg.jpg

Went to my local Ace Hardware store and got some of these. We used them in Plano and they were really nice. No holes in shirts from sparks!

photo_13.jpg

Comments

  • BobS
    BobS Posts: 2,485
    I use MAPP, but have a torch that I have to light myself. I use one of the mechanical spark tools that a welder would use and it works great, is cheap, and there is nothing to wear out.
  • I like firestarters for my Egg. I have a torch that I use for my stick burner smoker
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    My MAPP weed burner's built in starter failed co-incidently right after I hooked up a propane tank. So I've been using that same flint steel sparker. Still on the first flint 18 months later.
  • tjv
    tjv Posts: 3,830
    chris, unscrew the nozzle and blow the tube out with compressed air. bugs like to live in there and clog the chamber. t
    www.ceramicgrillstore.com ACGP, Inc.
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    I agree. I have used many methods to light the eggs including Mapps & Weed Burners. I find the cubes the most convenient.
  • hornhonk
    hornhonk Posts: 3,841
    And be careful if you use it in freezing weather. Mapp gas turns into a jelly-like consistency at low temps and can cause extreme flare ups. I've used Mapp gas in the telecommunications industry for many years. It happened to me more than once. Pretty scary.
  • Thanks Tom, I give that a shot although it didn't look like there was anything in it.

    Even if I do get it working, I have a backup!
  • I'm with TJV. I've got the manual one on a long hose and a month ago it didn't light right and produced no real flame. I stuck a coat hanger through it and nothing happened. Then I unscrewed the end and there was a spicer web in it so the hanger just went right through it.

    Good luck,

    Bruce
  • MikeW
    MikeW Posts: 18
    Chris,
    I have and do use the Mapp and the Rutland starters. Like the Mapp but not the sparks so I keep going back to the Rutland squares. No right or wrong just because.......
  • BobS
    BobS Posts: 2,485
    MikeW wrote:
    Chris,
    I have and do use the Mapp and the Rutland starters. Like the Mapp but not the sparks so I keep going back to the Rutland squares. No right or wrong just because.......

    Take a look at the Golf Club from BBQ Guru. Sparks are eliminated completely.
  • danny285
    danny285 Posts: 360
    I use those starter cubes also, faster and easier than using the MAPP.
  • Richard Fl
    Richard Fl Posts: 8,297
    Have used MAPP for about 4 years and also got upset with the sparks, 'specially mesquite. Came up with this solution.


    100_2162.jpg

    Charcoal still sparks but my forearms and shirts have fewer burn marks. Also went with a welders flint a few years back when my sparker died.
  • Richard Fl
    Richard Fl Posts: 8,297
    Bought a guru golf club 4 years ago and found that the type of MAPP head I have, TS4000 has a non-controlable torch head. It is either on or Off. Checked with the guru folks and they said I should get a variable flow head. 4 years later the golf club still sits in my garage unused. What type nozzle head do you have?

    100_2162.jpg
  • JCinGA
    JCinGA Posts: 139
    I'm changing my way of thought also.
    Jim
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    I buy paper towels on sale and use them and old fish frying oil.Cheap,Cheap,Cheap!!! :)
  • johnrezz
    johnrezz Posts: 120
    I use a charcoal chimney... I spent a few months using starters, and a few months using MAPP and find that once you figure out the chimeny it is the fastest wayt to fire it up.... talk about cheap cheap cheap, nothing but lump.....

    When I am grilling I fill it to the top and let it get real hot toss it in the egg with some fresh wood (cherry normally) and what ever is left fro mthe last cook and it will be up to temp in just a few min. What I like is that it burns the outside of the cherry fast so you dont get that rancid smoke after a few min.

    When I am doing along smoke, I load the egg per Elder ward, I fill it up to about an inch below the PS (legs up) put one good handfull of lump, med size pieces in the chimney, once it is all burning I toss it ontop of the lump in the egg, place the PS pan and grate close the lid open the top full and bottom full once I am 50 Deg. over my target temp, I dial the vents in and load her up.......

    The main trick I know about the chimney is that you need to use tighly rolled pieces of newspaper so it burns slowly, if you stuff loose paper under the chimney it will butn fast and not light enough lump to start the fire. tight rolls burn less violent but typically last a few min lighting all the bottom lump...


    wow. I must be in babble mode...

    J
  • I suspect many of us have an attachment to whatever starting method we settled on earlier in our Egging career. In my case, that was starter squares. I've also tried paper towels and oil (too messy), MAPP (just once with a borrowed torch and way too scary) and propane (it didn't work very well for me). For me, the starter squares are easy and predictable.
  • I'm with you on the starter squares. You can buy 'em in bulk and they don't go bad; they're inexpensive, have no moving parts, and they don't require any attention while they're burning. The paper towel method is just too fiddly for me, while the box of starters is easily stored alongside the charcoal. I can fill the egg, put in a starter cube/chunk, light it, and walk away to do other things.
  • No... good babble :)

    What I wonder: do you set the chimney on the charcoal (on the grate)? Or do you get your chimney going somewhere outside the egg?

    Greg