| Charcoal is the traditional fuel for barbecues | | | | materials such as a flint. |
| because it produces a hot, long-lasting fire that is | | | | Even 6,000 years ago, charcoal was the preferred |
| virtually smokeless. The fundamentals of charcoal | | | | fuel for smelting copper and this continued to be the |
| manufacture is the burning of wood in a low-oxygen | | | | case for iron as well even as late as the 17th century |
| atmosphere, a process that drives out the moisture | | | | when charcoal was superseded by coke. Charcoal |
| and volatile gases present in the original fuel. The | | | | also remained popular in many other industries much |
| elimination of the moisture reduces the weight of the | | | | later primarily because of the abundance of forests in |
| fuel by up to 70% and the resulting charred material | | | | many areas and the process of coppicing made it a |
| also burns for much longer than the original piece of | | | | sustainable resource. Something that we should |
| wood. | | | | consider in this age of global warming - many |
| Charcoal has been manufactured since pre-historic | | | | environmentalists see wood and charcoal as carbon |
| times and we know this following the discovery of | | | | neutral because of the ability of trees to grow and |
| an ancient body in a melting glacier in the Tyrolean | | | | absorb the greenhouse gasses. Charcoal has been |
| Alps. Scientists dated the remains of the man back | | | | used for domestic heating and maybe you should |
| approximately 5,000 years and they also found that | | | | start to use it more in chimneys rather than the gas |
| he had been carrying a small box of charred wood | | | | powered patio heater? |
| wrapped in leaves. The scientists deduced that the | | | | Whenever you are cooking on charcoal you will |
| charred wood was probably smoldering and what the | | | | always feel safe in the knowledge that a traditional |
| man would use to start a fire because apart from | | | | industry is propagating. It has far better advantages |
| this box, he was not carrying any other fire starting | | | | than the gas powered heaters. |