​Our review panel, here at Fabulous Farm Shops HQ, is used to grazing on nuts, sniffing organic bath oils and knocking back (err, I mean, savouring) delicious aperitifs before we write our reviews, so when a pallet filled with Willoglow® briquettes arrived we pondered the best way to test them.

​Deep in the middle of an Indian summer (remember that? Before Storm Ciaran had even begun to form…) nobody had even thought about putting on a jumper, let alone lighting their log burner, but we each lifted a pack of Willoglow® onto our shoulders and headed to our various homes.

​I had done my research into these curious little uniform-shaped logs. Made from fast growing, British willow, compressed into cylindrical briquettes, they are incredibly dry and they burn hot. They are celebrated for being smokeless and eco-friendly and suitable for use in log burners, pizza ovens, barbeques and firepits. Warm in my flip flops and t-shirt, and not being a pizza oven owner, I decided tonight was the night to light the firepit and made a quick pitstop on my way home to buy a bag of marshmallows. 

​As the sun dipped behind the trees, I sat out in the garden and got myself organised to conduct my review. I scrunched up the newspaper, added a bit of kindling and my trusty dry pinecones and opened the bag of Willoglow® briquettes. If the name was anything to go by, I would be sitting by the firepit as the evening turned to night, warming my toes by the glowing briquettes.

​The briquettes are packed in groups of 7, wrapped in recycled plastic. The company is deep in the process of investigating alternative wrappings which are more environmentally friendly whilst preserving the integrity of the briquettes.

I opened the pack and picked out a log. They are very smooth to the touch, slightly shiny on the outside, and, as a result, there are no splinters to worry about or dust to deal with. This is clean fuel without any glues, additives, or recycled wood. I could imagine throwing a few of these into my car, ready for a weekend’s camping, and not worrying about mess (or spiders!) – a big positive!

​The logs are about 25cm long with a diameter of 7cm. They stack very neatly together and  are not offensive when arranged neatly next to a fireplace or can easily be interspersed with logs for the best of both worlds!

​The willow is harvested and then densely packed into these log shapes but they are designed to be easily broken up – no axe needed. They need a decent whack against the floor or a stone hearth…I used the edge of my patio…and they break into bite sized chunks, perfect for the firepit. I really liked this feature.

​The last of the warmth had left the sky so I drew up a bench and decided it was time to light the fire. My match caught the newspaper, flared up the kindling and licked around the Willoglow® briquette pieces that were evenly spaced atop the pinecones. The flames flirted with their prey for a while but it didn’t take long for them to catch and I kicked off my flip flops and stretched out my toes in front of the warmth.

Wow – these logs burn hot! The fire in the pit was glorious. To start with, I burnt only one Willoglow® briquette to see how long it would last and what sort of heat it would produce. I couldn’t measure the heat in degrees but it was deliciously hot next to my feet and that single log burnt for just over 50 minutes!! Staring into the fire was extremely relaxing and the flames danced along the pieces of willow and then, eventually, the log disintegrated and turned to an orange glow, perfect for my marshmallows.

​For a camping trip or a firepit in the garden, I can wholeheartedly recommend these briquettes and the feedback from others on the panel was very similar:

“These are perfect for my chimenea; no mess, break to size, burn hot…and I mean REALLY hot”

“I’d take these camping every time – easy to transport, clean and easy with a fab, long-lasting burn and very little smoke. Perfect!” 

“ We used the logs on several occasions [in our pizza oven] from lighting up to maintaining the fire to keeping the heat. They were a nice product”

​That’s a great big warm glowing thumbs up for Willoglow® briquettes on the firepit, chimenea and pizza oven.

​As the weather turned cooler, the review panel were keen to stoke up their indoor wood burners and try the briquettes inside.

​All the same advantages that were discovered outside, held true for indoors. Clean and dust free, easy to break to size, uniform shape for stacking, smokeless alternative to logs and more environmentally friendly – but how did the heat compare to a bag of conventional logs?

​My own wood burner is fairly small and I laid my usual newspaper, kindling and pinecone welcoming committee, broke up one Willoglow® briquette and got the party started. Flames leapt into action and the bits of willow caught quite quickly. Once there was a healthy flame, I threw in another briquette and watched the temperature gauge on the wood burner climb.

​The heat was phenomenal. With traditional logs, it can take a good 30 minutes for the wood burner to get to the desired “best operation” temperature of between 300 and 400 degrees F. With Willoglow®, it was nudging 350 after just ten minutes.  These briquettes certainly bring the heat.

​Other reviewers were similarly amazed at the heat coming from their wood burners:

“Little dry blocks of willow, easy to store and break – clean, no splinters and OH THE HEAT. These burn way hotter than logs…! I would use these in amongst my traditional logs. They look nice in my log basket arranged with a few real logs and I like the look of both of them in the fire. ”

“hot, hot, hot! Excellent heat output – burned far hotter than my usual logs”

​Inspired by the experience of these domestic wood burner reviewers who like to sit by their fires with a glass of something tasty in hand, reading or knitting, we thought we should crank it up a notch. One reviewer heats his entire house (3 bedrooms, 2 receptions plus a separate annexe and hot water system) from a wood burning range with a capacity of 27KW.

He took a bag of Willoglow® briquettes and an equivalent-priced bag of logs home for the day and set up a time test to see which would go the distance. His findings were interesting:

“The STANDARD LOGS were of mixed variety. They took a while to get to a good temperature but then burnt hot. We used three logs to start with then topped up with two at a time, the fire maintaining good temperature for 2.5 hours. During this time, we were also able to cook our dinner in the oven and on the hob. “

The WILLOGLOW® BRIQUETTES lasted longer. We started with two briquettes, then 1.5 hours later added two more, then an hour later another log, and finally one more. In total, the fire maintained a good temperature for 4 hours.  They burned with consistent, high heat but was controllable. Again, we used the oven and hob to cook.” 

“All in all, the briquettes out-performed the standard logs, and we love their eco credentials”

​So, there you have it!  Willoglow® briquettes are not only better for the environment (read all about it here) but they burn hotter and longer than standard logs. They are fabulous to sling in the back of the car for a camping trip, clean to keep in your house, create very little smoke (low enough to use in smoke free areas) and can be broken up easily to fit in a BBQ or a small wood burner.

​They get the Fabulous Farm Shops‘ seal of approval and will be finding their way into our own log baskets over the coming chilly months.

​If you would like to stock them in your farm shop then get in touch with Willoglow® here.

You won’t find these fab briquettes anywhere but independent stockists as these 100% British-grown willow logs adhere wholeheartedly to the love local, buy local anthem that we sing daily!

www.willoglow.co.uk
sales@willoglow.co.uk
Neil Watkins
​07307 494848