Barbecue charcoal require 25-30 minutes to fully light. This video is a 3 minute time lapse version of a longer 30 minutes video. Once lit, barbecue charcoal can burn for 4-6 hours continuously, so be sure to fully light your charcoal before starting to barbecue your skewers. In sunlight, our charcoal look grayish when fully lit rather than reddish.