Like many of you I use a charcoal chimney to light charcoal.
Over the years Ive used a lot of things as the fuel source.
Wadded paper, cheap always around , usually works, the ash is a mess & sometimes gets on your food.
Oiled paper towels, less mess, cheap, somewhat messy to make.
Weber lighter cubes , no mess , very easy, pricy , but locally about $0.26 / cube in season. I've gotten lazy , so I've been buying the W cubes & stocking up. My Garage ate my stock of 4 boxes :'(
Got online & the weber cubes are ridiculous with shipping :'(
Instead bought a box of RUTLAND FIRESTARTER SQUARES, box of 144 cost $10.20 & shipping $5.80.
Cost is $0.11 / cube , they work great with a charcoal chimney, no mess , 1 cube does the trick!
Very happy!