Those charcoal chimneys are crucial to starting coals. I had one for many years, until a wasp started building a home on it. I spray it with bug killer and threw it away.
Well a year or so later I need to fire up the smoker, without one of these chimneys and it really sucked. So I need to buy another one..lol
Oh wow, those dang things will start building just about anywhere won't they? They keep trying to get into the exhaust vent of the furnace on my travel trailer every year. I think the Weber model is a little more expensive than some others out there, but I really like the design. My buddy had one with a flat bottom between the charcoal and where you put the fuel and it didn't work as well as the angled ones.