How much charcoal do you use?

[Duke]

Six or seven bags is a lot at any price. I think how much you burn also depends on where you live. I average five days a week year around cooking and the other two are usually leftovers from the other days. I buy meat just about every time I go into a store. Leaving charcoal to burn off can really add up for me. I also only picked up four twins total and two 17 pound sacks of pricey Royal Oak lump. The KB will probably last me until the end of winter if I just continue to grill over lump and replenish that when I need to. I mainly use KB for long cooks.

[sparky]

We cooked for a lot of folks 2 grills for lunch 3 for supper 14 hr on the wsm went through over a bag , been really windy here too that dont help !

[Heyjude]

I use K cause it's consistent and reasonabley priced. It does burn fast. I used to always start with a full chimney, but it was overkill. I use 1/2 to 3/4 of a chimney for most cooks.  If its going to be a long cook, I can always add more.  When  I am done, I shut every thing down. If there are leftovers, they get tossed on the next cook. I can't see wasting fuel if I don't need to.
I mean, you don't leave your oven on after your finshed using it, right? 

[G$]

My god, what AJ said actually made sense and I agree with it!

[Craig]

I'm a saver and a user. No matter which grill I'm cooking on, when i'm done I shut everything down, lid vent tab at the "4:00" position, its a weird thing with me.. and I save it for that grill for the its next cook. But after a couple grill rotations as I'm prepping for a cook on a certain kettle, It dawns on me that between my 18 and a couple 22's I have an almost full chimney's worth between them and then I get them all combined. I always top off with some new briquettes, but there are times that I just want a fresh chimney. I mainly use KB and sometimes Cowboy (its ok, but not great). In recent times I have dialed it down from a full chimney to a 3/4 or half chimney.

[AZ_MIKEY]

I would say after reading what everyone else does I waste a lot. I have my sjs, JJ, 18, and wsm knock off pro-q-smoker. I cook on average three nights a week on the 18 and sometimes in Claude the JJ due to needing the space and to get everything off at the same time. Now I don't use full chimneys. But I do go through my share kb . I don't save any from previous cooks. I used to do this and felt like Brian that the KB just isn't that great the second time around. Also have noticed and this might just be because I really pay attention from one cook to the next especially on the same recipes that left over coal from say a cook that was with beef adds a different flavour to my chicken cooks. May just be me ! My step father and grandfather always said I was from a wasteful generation, would hate to let them down.

[MacEggs]

I try to re-use as much lump as I can save from any cook.

I bought some of this stuff last week for the first time. Grilled 2 steaks on the SJ.
I was able to re-use most of it (added a few more ) the following day for burgers on the SJ.
I was impressed! I can never re-use "normal" briquettes after using. These are NOT normal briquettes, that's for sure.