Kingsford Professional Charcoal

[jecucolo]

I was at Costco and need some more charcoal but all they had was professional. What is the difference from the standard blue bag?

[Huskee]

It's just the new name of what was called Kingsford Competition. Competition....err..."Professional" briqs burn hotter & faster than blue bag, are made with less ingredients (mostly wood char & starch) and therefore smells more like wood when lighting, and are lighter than blue bag.

Form your own opinions regarding whether these differences matter to you and justify cost differences.

Here's a really cool comparison of the two charcoals, including measurements and side-by-side burns from Virtual Weber Bullet.

[fzxdoc]

Huskee , thanks for the link to that great article. It was so well done that at first I thought Dr. Blonder might have written it!

Its findings reinforce my choice to use Competition/Professional for short cooks (especially poultry) and Original for longer cooks.

About the smell, I guess I don't really notice it all that much, but then I let the fire get good and hot before adding meat, so perhaps by that time, the smell is gone. I have read here on occasion that some folks don't like the "charcoal taste" associated with any type of charcoal briquets which I also have not experienced, thank goodness.

I love KBB for its consistency in my cooks, so it will continue to be my go-to-charcoal.

Kathryn

[Huskee]

I've thought about getting a bag or two of Competition...I mean Professional... to keep around for chicken cooks, but then I never do. I may still. It's sure hard to beat blue bag for low & slow like you say, it'll probably always be my go-to too.

[jecucolo]

Thanks Husky. I guess the reason they call it competition is for those people with the big rigs can bring temps up high so it can heat a large enclosure. For the PBC the regular blue gets plenty hot. I think I going to return it.

[JeffJ]

I am low on the standard blue so I asked my wife to pick me up a 2 pack from Costco. I don't do a lot of low/slow during Spring so the competition, er, professional will get me through my weeknight cooks and whatnot hopefully until the Memorial Day sale of the traditional. I know at some point I'll have to buy more blue but the professional cost about $15 for the 2-pack at Costco and the blue is about $20 for a 2-pack at Home Depot (half off come Memorial Day weekend). Before I joined this site I observed that it cooked hotter and faster than the blue stuff. It doesn't burn as hot as lump though.

[CeramicChef]

I grew up on KINGSFORD Blue Bag, and I'm pushing 62 HARD. It was a standard at my house as a boy and as a young man. Dad made Chimneys out of old gallon paint cans. I've burned more bags of Blue than I can count.

That said, Blue produces a lot of ash, at least in my opinion. I tried about 20 bags of Competition, now Professional, and it was an improvement over Blue, but not enough to get me to switch to it full time. When comparing Professional to my standard lump, i.e. FOGO, I'll take FOGO every single time. It has great size, burns hotter and longer than Professional, produces less ash than Professional in my opinion, and was price competitive all things considered. Understand that I cook exclusively in my Komodo Kamados and used them exclusively for the comparison cooks. I will say that Professional seemed to produce less ash and a bit more heat than Blue.

If I still had a kettle, I think I'd probably stick with Blue. One can't always find Professional around these pets year 'round.

Here's to great cooks and even better memories with family and friends!

[Harry]

Thanks, you all. Came to AR today to see if somebody had already asked about the difference. I've gotten used to using Original for most things but Cowboy lumps for fast cooks like fish or pizza and wondered if I should step up. Now, I don't think so especially since I can always find the Orig and the Cowboy and am really used to how they cook.

[badf00d]

Great thread. I picked some up at Costco - the two-bag bundles of 18.5lb bags was $15 on sale when I was there on Sunday. After reading this thread, and the article Huskee linked to, I found this article:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productrevi...ompetition.htm

fzxdoc, I like your idea of using Professional for shorter cooks, and KBB for longer cooks. Makes a lot of sense, especially considering this stuff ashes over faster, burns a little hotter, and produces less ash.

CeramicChef - where do you buy FOGO? Price on Amazon fluctuates worse than gasoline prices.

[CeramicChef]

badf00d - i bought directly from the FOGO website. I bought an entire pallet and had it shipped. Easier and cheaper that way.

[fuzzydaddy]

I've purchased single bags of Fogo and they shipped free. Can't beat free shipping.

[billg71]

Thanks Husky. I guess the reason they call it competition is for those people with the big rigs can bring temps up high so it can heat a large enclosure. For the PBC the regular blue gets plenty hot. I think I going to return it.

I think they called it "Competition" just because some market research guy thought it would sell more that way. Now they got a new MR guy and he likes "Professional" for a name. Or maybe they weren't selling as much as they thought and maybe a name change would help? Who knows?

Personally, I like it for grilling, it gets really hot fast and doesn't stink as bad as Blue Bag when lighting. It also doesn't produce as much ash although it's not too much of a difference. I never considered using it for smoking, it burns too hot and too fast.

I keep a bag around for reverse-searing, I'll load the PK with a small chimney of KBB or Fogo, get the burgers or steaks up to 115 or so and throw in another small chimney of fully-lit Comp/Pro. 5 minutes with the lid open and you can get a perfect sear.

HTH,
Bill