I’m Done With Kingsford

[fzxdoc]

It's going to take a lot for me to give up KBB, especially for my PBC. For short cooks, between that and Professional, that's all my PBC has eaten for over 10 years. (KBB in chimney and B&B briquettes for long cooks). Like Michael_in_TX , I've got KBB dialed in for the PBC.

On the kettles or with the WSCGC in both modes I play around with other briquettes now and then though. I might give Cowboy briquettes a go. Thanks for the info, Panhead John , ecowper , realdocBBQ , Whiskeyman53 , RichieB and others.

Kathryn

[ecowper]

You have the PBC so dialed in, I can see why you wouldn't want to change there. It took me some adjustment on the WSM to get it dialed in. Try Cowboy on your kettles, you may find that it's a solid change.

[Jfrosty27]

Great review on the charcoal. I will definitely give it a try as soon as I use up my stock.

But that steak!! I’ve said it before. You find the biggest Porterhouse cuts I’ve ever seen! Yum.

[Panhead John]

Thanks Jim. That one was courtesy of HEB. It was only a select cut 😳 Still damn tasty though.

[Panhead John]

Last night after my steak was done, I closed the vents on my SNS kettle, wanted to see how the leftover Cowboy looked this morning. I’ve done the same before with KBB. Gotta say, I was impressed! The Cowboy briquettes were fully lit for about an hour in all, before closing the vents off. Here’s what they looked like this morning. In the first picture the coals were left in place, as is, from the night before. This was about a 3/4 chimney of coals.



In the next picture, I shook the vortex around to loosen up all the dust and residue from the coals…wanted to see how much I’d lose.



Very little! I could easily use these coals for another short cook. When I did this in the past using KBB, the pieces wouldn’t be nearly this big or have as much re-usable charcoal left. Several people here have mentioned that the Cowboy works well for grilling or low and slow, and now I can see first hand that they’re probably right. The Cowboy looks like it would easily burn longer than KBB and could be your all in one charcoal.

[Michael_in_TX]

You're right; my KBB never looks like that after cooling off.

[RichieB]

I always shut the vents on the Kettle if doing a short cook. That's how they look. I take them and put back in the metal storage bucket, mix with new briquettes and reuse. I couldn't do that with kbb. .

[Mosca]

I’ve never liked KBB, but not for the way it performs while cooking. I think it takes forever to come to temp, using up a lot of its stored energy, and gives off a lot of bad smelling smoke while doing so as the garbage stuff burns off. I used to like that smell, but too many times the wind shifts and it blows over everyone while we’re sitting around socializing.

I’ve switched to B&B for now. When I detailed cars I had a mantra (stolen from Mike Phillips, who used to be with Meguiar’s and is now with Autogeek): “Find something you like, and use it often.” The same applies with charcoal. It’s more important to get used to the way a fuel performs than it is to find the best fuel. Once you find something that does what you want it to do, stop there.

[Huskee]

I still get the puzzled eyebrows when people say KBB smells bad and that they prefer B&B. Every time I light up B&B it smells like a trash fire to me.

[jfmorris]

Huskee having burned hundreds of those 18-20 pounds bags of KBB, I would say it smells like a chemical factory fire. Not sure why B&B smells like a trash fire for you though. That said, I am mostly using B&B lump. I have their briquettes, but only use them in the kettle on occasion.

[Panhead John]

jfmorris I agree 100%! KBB absolutely stinks when first lighting them, it has to be all the fillers they use. The B and B briquettes don’t have near the odor KBB does. I’m thinking that Huskee is just a wild renegade type person who just doesn’t know any better…🤓

[TripleB]

I am not a connoisseur of briquettes. I generally buy KBB, but if they are out of stock, I just get the next brand. Never noticed any real issues with any briquettes I buy. And I don't really pay attention to the price. I figure it is "the cost of doing business" or "the cost of enjoying my hobby".

Good luck to you John. Hope you are happy.

Cheers

[Evvy]

Yep, just need a source of heat. The rest is up to me.

[Panhead John]

Just wanted to add a little something else after doing my 2nd cook using the Cowboy Briquettes last night. I like them even more! Once the coals were lit in the chimney and it started smoking, I went downwind from the smoke and it actually smelled pretty good. It was almost like the smell of real wood burning in an offset. I wasn’t fond of the KBB smell at all. Also, after 3 hours of screaming hot coals in the vortex, they were still in pretty good shape, good enough to where I could have done another quick cook if I wanted to.

[Jerod Broussard]

KBB does have a very distinct smell.

[jfmorris]

To be honest, KBB is the only charcoal I've used to date that puts off that chemical smell during startup. To be honest, every other brand of briquette I've tested over the past 10 years smelled better, including Royal Oak. Royal Oak was the worst performing briquettes by far, as they were smaller, kinda crumbly, and burned up faster in the SNS during smoking, lasting just 5-6 hours max per load. I got 7-8 with KBB, 9-10 with B&B and 11-12 with the now defunct Weber briquettes.

[jfmorris]

If I ever see the Cowboy briquettes I'll have to give them a try.

[RichieB]

Panhead John from their website.

https://www.cowboycharcoal.com/products/charcoal/cowboy-hardwood-briquets

[texastweeter]

Less ash than KBB but more than lump. Jessterr

[ecowper]

What Texas Tweeter said

[Jessterr]

Thanks, folks! Gonna pick up a bag or two of the Cowboy and try it out.

[Purc]

Local Walmart has Cowboy hardwood charcoal briquets 2@20lbs bags for $17.92 plus tax.

[Panhead John]

Yep, that’s the everyday low price.

[RichieB]

That's about right.

[jecucolo]

I have used many brands of charcoal. I can’t say I have noticed a difference in the smell. I burnt a bunch of KBB. Lately HEB is carrying B&B briquettes so I have been using them for a while because I have heard so much about on the Pit. I do notice that B & B takes much longer to get lit and start cooking.
I’m curious about Cowboy charcoal and will give it a try next time I see at the store.

[RichieB]

If I'm doing a cook with B&B in the Pit Barrel, I load the chimney with Cowboy and dump into the basket of B&B. It speeds up starting the fire.

[Panhead John]

Walmart has the best price on the Cowboy briquettes if you decide to give em a try.

[CandySueQ]

I suspect that B&B and Cowboy briquettes are the same! Now that Duraflame owns both companies... I love B&B!

[Smoker_Boy]

Does Harry Soo still use KBB in competitions?

[Skinsfan1311]

au4stree That's what I do....

[Smoker_Boy]

au4stree - I heard him say he uses KBB because he knows every Walmart in the US will have it in stock.

[texastweeter]

Whatever is on sale. He says a BTU is a BTU

[Skinsfan1311]

I bought a lot of those Cowboy briquettes a couple years ago when one of our nearby Costco's were trying to get rid of it late in the year. $4.97 for the same twin-packs. I couldn't fill the carts fast enough! I was hesitant, because the lump is terrible, but was pleasantly surprised at how well it performed, for low and slow and grilling.

[Finster]

That was when I first tried it as well.
I bought a couple of the twin packs.
I liked it enough to go back for more a couple of days later.
Alas, it was all gone

[Skinsfan1311]

Finster You gotta strike while the irons' hot...especially at Costco.

[klflowers]

One thing about KBB - they are everywhere. I was in Home Depot the other day and I remembered I needed some charcoal to roast these hatch chilies I just got, and they had KBB. They had Cowboy lump, something that I will never use again - but no Cowboy briquettes. I was too lazy to look elsewhere so I ended up with KBB. But if I run across some I’ll try it.

[Panhead John]

Walmart has it.

[klflowers]

Panhead John i was too lazy to go down the street to Walmart

[PGH_RAM]

I used KBB or KPro exclusively until I tried Costco's brand. I recently stocked up on Kirkland briquettes before they disappeared for the season. I currently have 160 lbs of the stuff. If I work through that stockpile before it's back on the shelf, I'll definitely give Cowboy a try. Thanks for the review, PJ!

[Panhead John]

You’re welcome bro! Can’t go wrong with Kirkland either.

[Sweaty Paul]

I've gone from Kingsford to the Jealous Devil Max briquettes. My friend sells them so they are always easy to get. I find they cook really well. Going to try some of their lump charcoal next.

[Finster]

I bought 4 bags of JD Max in the spring because they were on clearance at Wally World.
I'm still on the fence about them.
They burn plenty hot, but because of the larger size, I'm still figuring out how much to use per cook as compared to smaller briqs. I also notice that they crumble much easier than other low/no binder briqs. they fall apart pouring them from the chimney into the grill...lol.
What has your experience with them been?

[Sweaty Paul]

Finster I too have noticed the crumble some coming out of the chimney. I like them a lot because they are big and they cook evenly. I’ve done several longer cooks with them in my PK 360 and then for steaks or burgers I always do a full chimney, which realistically, is probably too much. I like them way better than Kingsford which I tried again recently when I found a partial bag in my garage.

[surfdog]

Hmmm, I think I’m down to like 2-3 bags of KBB…I’ll keep my eyes open for Cowboy. It certainly seems like it’s worth a try.

[SheilaAnn]

surfdog I picked up a 2-pack as described above from WalMart at LBTC. Yeah, I shopped at Walmart (I sinned). But I did use curbside, so I didn’t have to go in! $19.76 out the door.