Thanks for the reply but I can only go off my own experience with this particular model: 2 mini kamado's, over 30 cooks in each and not a single sign of any damage or cracking. Also, plenty of friends have bought these (before they sold out), have followed this advice after almost giving up on the things and not one has said their kamado's have cracked (just one failure as a result of this advice and I would have taken down the video). So, just from my experience alone, over 150 fired set and not one crack. The ONLY failure I'm aware of from a friends experience was last month when they washed the Kamado to get it ready for a family birthday (left water in the base) and experienced a very heavy frost a couple of days later (-7 degrees C). The outer structure of the Kamado split in two. Biggest complaints by far with these mini kamado's (and from the messages I've received) are not being able to get to a cooking temp or maintaining one and being already damaged in transit. This is of course just my experience with this particular brand

What's the correct way?

@@sadie1150 Light the charcoal from the outset in the kamado and raise the temperature more slowly, even a small amount will help. Using a charcoal starter is a good idea, but add this to charcoal that is already burning, and after kamado has been allowed to heat up gently. Using a charcoal starter will really help to raise the temperature, but may increase the risk of the ceramic heating too quickly and cracking if it is put directly into a cool kamado..

I personally use 2 natural fire lighters, and put them lut under the perforated disk. Then put the disk on, then load up with charcoal. It lights up a treat. No messing about, works the same way as the chimey used in the video without the risk of shocking the ceramic bits.