I was right! A couple sprinkles makes a bowl of (store-bought) tomato soup much better. It added a surprising amount of depth to the soup, which seemed a bit too sweet at first. It doesn’t really make it taste smoky, just more rounded out. I guess it’s kind of like the difference between plain tomatoes and “fire roasted” ones…?
Three winters ago we had an ice storm that knocked power out for a week (I will never take HOT tea for granted again!) and we discovered that grilled tomato soup—that is, cooked on a charcoal grill—is surprisingly tasty!