Or you could preburn the briquettes. Burning your meat is also very easily done with briquettes. If you get a chance, stick your nose into a que pit that has had real charcoaled wood used. I won't go into it now, but let's just say The Meat Fairy is a personal companion of mine. Mesquite charcoal has quite a few benefits and a few drawbacks.
Mesquite imparts a great flavor and just plain smells nice.
It doesn't burn the bujeezus out of your meat when you ain't looking. Don't wander off. You can add mesquite charcoal all day long without having to worry about nasty smells getting into your meat. And after starting your fire, you can usually start cooking in about 20 to 30 minutes. The drawbacks are that it needs more air to stay going hot and strong.