If you ask me, it's gotta be real charcoal, none of those briquettes. I know, Kingsford claims that all the pro's use their briquettes. So they bought some pro's, big deal. Grill on real mesquite charcoal (available at your local market, thanks to the wonderful people at Lazzarri) for a year and then take a sniff of some burning briquettes...that ain't right. Im not hating on briquette-fans, you guys crank out some good 'cue. But if you ask me the real stuff is better. As for gas, I can't hang. Now don't get me wrong, I'd rather cook outside on a gas grill than inside in a kitchen, any day of the week, so respect to the gas-grill-owners on that level. But the campfire-smell is gone, the lighting rituals, the moving and arranging of coals....all gone. And of course, the kicker, you can't smoke stuff on a gas grill (unless you add real wood).
Speaking of smoking, I wanna mention some options. Aside from just closing the lid on your mesquite charcoal fire, there are a lot of fresh woods available to throw in for smoke, or to use in a smoker. I'm a big fan of hickory and cherry. I've heard good things about apple and peach, but I have yet to try those. I ate apple-wood-smoked chicken once tho, very mellow smoke. There's all kinds of stuff available, and if you ask me, the place to go is the Lazzarri distribution center in Brisbane. Google it. You can order wood online, but expect to pay full-on bullshit prices. If anyone knows a decently priced online source, let me know. Oh yeah, and never try to smoke with any evergreen-type wood...nasty.