Mini WSM is taking shape

[BigRix]

I can't say I always pour them in the middle.

This is my first time trying anything like this.

I just tried what I read about, I think it's called the Minion method.

[HankB]

Do you always leave a hole in the middle for the lit charcoal rather than dumping in 'on top' of the unlit charcoal? Is this how everyone does it (in a WSM too)?

I'm not religious about leaving a hole. Another thing I do is once the chimney has started, I set it on the middle of the unlit coals while the rest of the charcoal in the chimney gets going. That also gets some of the charcoal under the chimney going.