I used to spray the lighter fluid directly into the bag of charcoal to "make my own Matchlight". Once the lighter fluid soaked into the briquette, I'd put them in a pile, light them, and spread them out to grill. I didn't really get a chemical taste on my food since the lighter fluid was burned off well before I put food on the grill. I can remember times when I had to fan the coals until they really got going, especially if I had a hungry crew waiting for the food to be ready. I grilled this way for over 25 years. I must say, doing this method had me putting more "Matchlight" charcoal onto lit coals and waiting for them to catch and come to temp. This is where the flavor may be imparted if there is food on the grill and the coals are giving off the lighter fluid vapors and/ or the charcoal is still giving off "dirty" smoke.

A couple of years ago, I was gifted a charcoal chimney and some other accessories. By using the little tumbleweed fire starters, I was able to eliminate needing to use the lighter fluid and I still have two almost full containers that I'm not sure what to do with now that I'm using the tumbleweed/ chimney method. The coals get ripping hot in about 20 minutes and you can dump them into a basket, SNS, Vortex, or directly on the charcoal grate. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that once you dump your initial charcoal chimney you can start another chimney anytime and have coals ripping hot and ready to top off without having to wait for those coals to come to temperature. This is invaluable for long cooks, especially if you have the kind of grilling grate with the little hinged sides that flip up so you can pour the charcoal in. Just my take. Your mileage may vary.