Greetings,

Richard J Kinch wrote:

As such, being technically pure C, charcoal cannot produce "smoke" in
the flavoring sense, but only hot gases (CO2, CO) and soot (amorphous
carbon).

How does this explain the smell given off by my mesquite charcoal? It's
been charred, is black through & through yet apparently has enough of
something to create a distintive odor that passes onto the food.

For what it's worth, my grill of choice at the moment is a webber
gas-start charcoal. Easy to start, ash falls through to a bin.

--
Kyle A. York