Weber 7429 Rapid Fire Chimney Starter 141 [Parallel Import]

Q: how many pieces of charcoal does it hold

I get about 50 Kingsford briquets in mine. Enough to cover about 1/3 of the bottom of a 22" kettle, so fine for a couple of burgers or a couple of chicken breasts.

Q: Anyone feel like this is too small, or wish they bought the larger sized one instead?

For many smokers, you light 20-40 briguets (for which this is a perfect size), then dump the fully lit one onto a much larger basket of unlit ones. This gives you a very long (8-14 hours or more) slow smoke for brisket, pork butt, etc. For this kind of use, this chimney is perfect.

Q: does this work well with lump charcoal?

It works perfectly fine with lump charcoal. Your coals will be ready for cooking in less than 20 minutes. The only negative about this chimney is that it is really quite small; so, it works best with small portable grills. I think most people would be better off with the full size chimney, as you have a bit more versatility as to the amount of charcoal you are lighting up.

Q: What is handle made from?

The handle is some sort of plastic wrapped around metal, as near as I can tell. It is far enough away from the chimney that it doesn't appear to get hot even when the coals in the chimney are glowing bright orange.