Home made coal starter

Hi folks! Rather than drive the hour it takes to pick up those coal starter packets, I'd like to make my own. I opened one of those starter bags up to see what their made of and inside I found some cut up paper and what looked like soft coal or maybe coke nuggets. There are other kinds of starters. I' like to know how you folks feel about them and which work best.
The discovery of those nuggets inside makes me ask the question --Does soft coal light faster and burn hotter or are the nuggets coke? Can I make my own starters? I'd like to hear suggestions. Thanks.

This method has been working great for lighting my Keystoker... put about an inch to 1.5 inches of lump hardwood charcoal in a brown paper lunch bag (could use newspaper as substitute) and close it by rolling it up around itself. Push it near the top holes on the grate and put coal on the top and sides. Turn on and light across bottom of bag with a propane torch until hardwood charcoal is lit (takes a minute or two of torch). Shut door until hardwood charcoal is roaring and add coal on top of charcoal a few times until lit all the way across. Hardwood charcoal is the key to this method.

It needs to run for a solid 30 minutes to establish a new fire... Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Some BBQ charcoal, a sprinkle of kerosene soaked into it, and a match.

Kerosene is one of the hottest burning fuels you can buy, so it heats up the chimney faster to get a strong draft going quickly, plus gets coal burning sooner. And it's not explosive like gasoline or paint thinner.

You can buy a gallon of kerosene for less than what a quart of BBQ lighter fluid costs. Lights quickly and hot everytime and does not soot up stove windows like wood products.

Paul