The impact of ash on flavour?

[westg]

20 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Don't know about what it will do on flavour, but the ash will insulate the ember and keep it burning. I know this from personal experience in testing charcoal briquettes and different ash properties.

I also don't know about the claim that it will keep a cooler cherry, as the ash reflects the heat back into the core, with less heat escaping. Maybe because the ash is keeping the cherry lit, you don't draw on it as fast, therefore keeping it somewhat cooler than if you were drawing more often.

For those of you who smoke in very cold conditions, my advice is you'd be better off leaving the ash on.

Interesting. Just one briquette or collective pile . You have some heat with a pile. 

[targa88]

Never noticed noticed any significant difference in the flavour based on the ash stack.

That being said - longer ash does on occasion snuff out the stick - which requires a relight.

Relights tend to change the flavour profile - depending on how it is done....

[Fuzz]

1 hour ago, westg said:

Interesting. Just one briquette or collective pile . You have some heat with a pile. 

Test both singularly and in a pile. Checked with thermocouple probes inside and outside of the briquettes, and tested in windless conditions.

For singular briquettes that didn't not have the ashed knocked off or fell off naturally, were cooler on the outside than briquettes that had little to no ash (ie the hot core was exposed). Internally, the cores of the ash covered briquettes were just as hot as those with little to no ash.

In a pile, the ash covered briquettes were cooler on the outside, and at the core of the pile, were also cooler than ash free briquettes. This cooler core was attributed to the amount of ash surrounding the probe. Even in a pile, the ash still acts like a thermal blanket for each individual briquette. Ash free briquettes were much hotter, as their cores were exposed to each other.