<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

It must have been more than five years ago that I introduced the
subject of Kingsford Briquets to the CELIAC LISTSERV.  Nothing seems
to have changed.  The current messages ignore the possibility of
educating one's friends to cook with wood - just make sure it is not
pressure treated. Perhaps we should all volunteer to take a cord of
wood to use for cooking. We use wind-falls from the neighborhood
trees, and dead trees that have been cut down. The smoke is usually
nicely flavored by nature and adds to the taste.

I find gas grills have a most unpleasant flavor, and the same is true
of fires that use "lighter" fluid that is poured on the wood or
briquets or whatever is being used as a cooking medium.  Furthermore,
that lighter fluid is dangerous stuff as it can easily explode and
cause severe burns.

Re: problems getting smoke on the skin or in the lungs, etc.  The
skin is the largest organ of the human body.  There are many
medicines that are sold in "bandage" form - intended to be absorbed
into the body via the skin. Just remember how poison ivy or poison
oak can cause a severe rash from just touching the skin.  Do not
doubt the possibility that gluten (really  the infinitely small
gliadin molecules) can be absorbed from the smoke and cause problems
for those of us who are celiacs or are allergic to gliadin.

And after many years of reacting to food cooked on Kingsford
Briquets, I have no doubt that the molecules escape from the flour
and get into the smoke, then land on the food and upset my gut.

Welcome to picnic season.  Gayle Kennedy