After owning an offset Texas smoker for a few years I discovered an article on how to extend the time for charcoal burning. It is actually pretty simple. A layer of charcoal is placed in the firebox or grill and not lit. Another set of coals is lit in a charcoal chimney or similar device. A stainless steel noodle colander works perfect for this. Found one for cheap at Goodwill and the stainless means no rust. Once the coals are lit they are poured on the unlit coals. The fire slowly wicks down into the unlit coals and extends the length of the burn. In this way there are no temperature swings from adding coals to the top of ones depleting. My first try extended the life of the coals to 6 hours which was plenty of time for the ribs.
Another method for extending the life of the charcoal was discovered in offset grilling. Where a water pan or similar device (aluminum foil pan) is used to keep the charcoal on one side of the grill. Splashing the lighter fluid on the coals against the back wall of the grill, leaving the coals closest to the the water pan dry, allows coals to be lit against the wall of the grill. The rest of the coals will wick towards the water pan and last about 3 hours. Plenty of time for hot smoking them chicken lollipops.
