well first off, you can get hickory chips in a gas grille. . you use a hickory smoker, which is sold next to the gas grills in most places that sell gas grills. . . you stick it down on top of the lava rocks, fill it with the hickory chips, then pour a little water in it. Fire up the grill and you've got hickory smoke flavor.


as far as accidentally blowing yourself up, gas grills are at a level of safety now that you'd literally have to be a moron to blow yourself up with one. The only way I can think of to do it is to disconnect the gas lines, open the flow valve on the tank, then light a match directly in the gas jet. If anyone is stupid enough to do that, then what can I say but Darwinism ;) You're just as likely to blow yourself up with natural gas (i.e. stove, water heater, furnace) as with a propane grill.

Gas grills take no longer to assemble than charcoal grills (I've had both. . .I know). The only real difference is that you have to hook up a hose to the gas one.

I have a charcoal grill right now because I live out in the sticks and thought it'd be less of a pain in the butt to use charcoal rather than have to drive 40 miles to get the tank recharged. . I was dead wrong. . .Charcoal is messy, it takes forever to heat up, it loses it's heat too quickly, and you have to keep replacing it every time you grill. By contrast, a gas grill heats up quickly, you can maintain a steady temperature (of your choosing) for as long as the fuel lasts (long enough to cook for your entire neighborhood and then some), the lava rocks have to be replaced once every 10 years or so (well. . .sooner if there's a neighbor kid who likes hitting rocks with hammers, but that's another story ;)




> Geez, everyone's got a gas grill. Charcoal is definately the way to go. Try throwing some mesquite or a dead rosemary branch on a gas grill to get some flavor going (or flavour for our non-American grillers). Can you do it? No! You might as well be using an electric grill.
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> And of course there's always the possibility of accidentally blowing yourself up using a gas grill. Oooo, can't wait to fire up that baby.
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> Assembly time? Charcoal grill - under ten minutes, very little chance of killing one self. Gas grill - it appears to be over three hours with a slight chance of dying from a sudden explosion. Don't believe me? You been to Boulder recently?
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> There's your reader poll for ya. Grilling: charcoal, gas, or electric?
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> -Faux "ha!" Pas