Last updated: 28 April 2026
This page sets out, plainly and in full, how Smoke and Lump makes money and what that means for you as a reader. We’ve tried to write it in real English rather than legal boilerplate, because the relationship between an independent reviewer and the people who read those reviews is built on transparency, and transparency only works if you can actually understand it.
1. The short version
Smoke and Lump earns a commission when you click through to a retailer from our site and buy something. The price you pay is the same. The retailer pays us a small percentage of the sale. We use that money to fund testing, photography, and the time it takes to write reviews honestly. Our editorial decisions are not influenced by which retailer pays us more.
2. What affiliate links are
An affiliate link is a normal link to a retailer’s website that includes a tracking code identifying us as the source of the click. When you click an affiliate link on Smoke and Lump and complete a purchase on the retailer’s site, the retailer pays us a commission, typically a small percentage of the order value. The price you pay is identical to what you’d pay if you visited the retailer directly without clicking through us.
Affiliate links on the Site may be marked with phrases such as “buy from”, “check price at”, or simply linked product names. We use a link-cloaking tool that routes outbound clicks through smokeandlump.co.uk/recommends/[product] before forwarding you to the retailer. This is so we can manage links centrally if a retailer changes their URL structure — it does not change anything about your purchase.
3. The programmes we work with
We participate, or intend to participate, in the following affiliate programmes:
- Amazon Associates — for products available on Amazon UK
- Awin — a UK-based affiliate network through which we work with retailers including Big Green Egg UK, Kamado UK, Tom Hixson of Smithfield, and others
- Impact — a global affiliate network covering additional UK retailers
- Direct affiliate relationships with individual UK retailers where the merchant runs their own programme outside the major networks
Where any other programme is added in future, this page will be updated to reflect it.
4. Amazon Associates disclosure (required)
As a participant in the Amazon Associates Programme, we are required to display the following statement:
“Smoke and Lump is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.”
5. Editorial independence
We choose what to review and what to recommend based on what we think is good for our readers, not on which programme pays the highest commission rate. Specifically:
- We have never accepted payment in exchange for a positive review.
- We have never accepted payment in exchange for placement in a “best of” list.
- We have never agreed to suppress a negative finding in exchange for any consideration.
- Where a retailer offers a higher-than-typical commission rate on a particular product, that fact does not influence our editorial judgement of that product.
- Where we have been lent equipment, given a discounted purchase, or sent a product without payment, we declare that arrangement clearly on the relevant review page.
Our review methodology — what we test, how we test it, and how we score — is set out in our Editorial Policy.
6. Per-page disclosure
In addition to this page, individual reviews and buying guides on the Site that contain affiliate links display a clear disclosure near the top of the page (for example: “This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you.”). This is in line with guidance from the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on disclosing commercial relationships in editorial content.
7. What you can do if you’d rather not use our links
You are completely free to ignore our affiliate links and visit any retailer directly. The reviews and buying guides on this Site are written to be useful regardless of whether you click through. If you’ve found our content valuable and would like to support the editorial work, clicking through one of our links before making a purchase is the simplest way to do so — at no cost to you.
8. Gifted, lent, and sample products
Where a piece of equipment or food product has been provided to us at no cost (gifted), provided on loan and returned (lent), or supplied at a discounted price for review purposes, we declare that arrangement clearly on the relevant review page. Provision of a sample does not constitute payment for a positive review, and we reserve the right to publish honest findings — including critical findings — regardless of how the product reached us.
9. Sponsored content
Smoke and Lump does not currently publish sponsored content. If this position changes in future, sponsored articles will be clearly labelled as such (with the word “Sponsored” in the page header) and will not appear in our review or buying-guide pages.
10. Cookies and tracking
When you click an affiliate link, the destination retailer or affiliate network typically sets a cookie on your device to attribute the eventual purchase to Smoke and Lump. This cookie is set by the retailer or network, not by us, and is governed by their privacy policy. For details of cookies set directly by Smoke and Lump, see our Cookie Policy.
11. Questions
If you have any questions about this Affiliate Disclosure, how we earn money, or any specific recommendation we’ve made, please email privacy@smokeandlump.co.uk.