Your argument was obvious a mile off. It's pretty irrelevant however as it's a personal preference and experience. I have found "stuff" in briquettes, whereas the worst I've found in lumpwood is a few stones. I also don't like the smoke/fumes given off from briquettes when first lit. What is correct however is lumpwood is the most natural of the two - one is a composite of wax, boron, coal and sawdust (+ other additives - which is why it smokes so much before it's fully going) and the other is (should) be wood that's been carbonized.
And as for your last comment, it's been pointed out time and again that the flavour comes from wood lumps and the juice from the meat itself. Cooking with lumpwood, briquettes (which can have the same issue with treated wood as lumpwood) or gas provided little to no difference in flavour. Real wood on the other hand can do, but only if you're cooking over the burning wood rather than just the created coals.
Anyway as I said general preference, I wasn't aiming to start a debate, just making an observation.
My preference is gas for daily cooking, just as gas is my preference for the indoor hob, then lumpwood or wood depending on what it's associated with and where I am. Briquettes I will use, as with the pig, but they are generally at the bottom of the list as gas does just the same job with less effort in keeping the temperature correct and briquettes don't provide any additional benefit (as previously mentioned it's the smoke form wood chips and the meat itself that gives the flavour).
