Light my fire(s)!

I've been trying some new methods of lighting the Cobb Cookers. 

The instructions say to use three firelighters in the fire chamber and place the fire basket on top of them, before adding the heat beads.  The older booklet actually says:-


"Relax.  Do some breathing exercises.  It takes 20 to 25 minutes for the fuel to be ready for cooking."  OK.  I haven't been relaxing.  Or doing breathing exercises.  Instead, I've been looking for ways to hasten the lighting process!

There was a suggestion on a camping/caravanning forum to light the beads over a gas hotplate - and do away with using heat beads.  I did try that.  One basket worked well and the other didn't but praps I was (again) too impatient!

I googled further and found some instructions from the manufacturer, specifically for lighting heat beads in a Cobb Cooker.  As there was a tin of the right size awaiting recycling, I cut the end off and put it into service as a "mini chimney starter".  It worked well and I've adopted that lighting method since.  Of course the tin no longer looks as bright and shiny as in the pics above!