The Best Chimney Starters

Our previous winner is still the best option and, at $14.99, it's also one of the least expensive models we tested. It always felt comfortable and secure thanks to its two handles: a roomy, comfortable primary handle that stayed cool and a slim secondary handle that helped us lift heavy loads and guided our pouring. Its sturdy cylindrical body was easy to load, lift, and pour from in a controlled manner. It also had two generously sized chambers; the top one held sufficient charcoal for all our recipes while the bottom one fit two full sheets of loosely crumpled newspaper and allowed for plenty of air circulation for quick and easy lighting.

The smaller version of our top pick, this chimney starter holds slightly less than 3 quarts of briquettes. Its smaller size makes it ideal for cooks who need to light fewer briquettes at a time—such as when using a portable charcoal grill or lighting a charcoal smoker. It’s also great for folks who want a more compact chimney starter for camping trips. While its newspaper chamber is proportionately smaller than our winner’s, it’s still roomy enough to fit two sheets of newspaper (or a charcoal starter) easily, making it a breeze to light. It doesn’t have a helper handle, but because it’s so small, we didn’t miss it—even when filled to the brim, this starter is light enough to guide in the right direction.

The largest model we tested, this square starter fit the maximum amount of charcoal we required. It's collapsible for easy storage and was fairly simple to break down and set up, but it felt a little rickety compared with the noncollapsible cylindrical models. Testers also preferred pouring from the round starters because the curve directed the coals downward; when we dumped the coals from this boxy model, they slipped around a bit coming off the straight edge, making it harder for testers to direct them. That said, it was easy to light and had a comfortable handle and secondary helper handle to support its weight and guide pouring. It also came with a second grate that can be placed on top of the starter to turn it into a mini grill; we did not test this feature.

This model fit the largest amount of charcoal, but its trigger, designed so you can dump out the coals from the bottom (through the fuel chamber) instead of tipping them out of the top, was more trouble than it was worth. It was positioned between the handle and the canister, right in the way of our grip, so we had to either carefully maneuver around it (especially awkward with gloves on) or risk accidentally engaging it and dumping the coals prematurely. Also, the trigger allowed for zero control or finesse; when you pull it, the coals immediately dump in a flash of sparks, so you can't disperse them as you dispense. This meant we had to do lots of rearranging with a pair of grill tongs to get our banked or two-level fires. Another downside is that the plate separating the two chambers sits on top of a pin and flaps open (it's fixed on all the other models). This meant that we had to crumple the newspaper into the bottom chamber carefully, without pressing against the plate, or it opened into the top chamber.

This sturdy, cylindrical model made it easy to pour charcoal out in a controlled manner, but it simply didn't hold enough of it. Three quarts, which we typically refer to as a half chimney, was the only standard recipe amount that fit. When full, the starter was about 20 briquettes shy of 6 quarts; a full 7 quarts was not an option. Additionally, its slim wooden handle was a bit insubstantial for some testers and got hot quickly.

This basic model was sturdy and easy to pour from, but it was too small. It could hold only about 5 quarts of charcoal—far short of the 6 or 7 quarts required for many of our recipes. Plus, its wooden handle was thin and got hot fast.

This starter could hold only about 5 quarts of charcoal—not enough for the full or mounded chimneys many recipes require. It was also hard to light, thanks to a large pipe in its fuel chamber purportedly designed to allow in more oxygen and speed things up. Because the pipe takes up so much space, two sheets of newspaper were packed too tightly inside to light properly; when we tried one sheet, it wasn't enough to start the briquettes, so they just smoldered. The pipe can also be used to hold an attachable fan (for an additional $50.00) that supposedly blows air over the coals to speed up the process, but considering this starter's limited charcoal capacity, we didn't bother testing the fan.