Yesterday I noticed that one of our local hardware stores was carrying Cowboy. Based upon the comments I've read it sounds like it has some of the same issues as Royal Oak. A couple of summers ago I purchased a bag (don't remember the brand but I'd know it if I saw it) from our local grocery store that I REALLY liked. The pieces were consistently sized with very little dust or ash.
It sounds like B&B gets good reviews and someone mentioned Wal-Mart. I'll have to see if our local Wal-Mart carries it.
Unfortunately Wal-Mart's in southern colorado only sell western bbq supplies. I REALLY don't care for them. When I first started smoking meats 4-5 years ago I tried the hickory and it tasted old and had a funky after taste. Burned fine but that was it. I thought maybe a fluke thing and waited a month and bought another bag. Let's just say it didn't even go in my outdoor fire pit. Straight to trash. I'm looking to see if I can get some B&B shipped to my area Wal-Mart so I can give it a shot. Sounds like a product with steady reliability. I don't mind getting things shipped to my house or walmart. We do have a bbq supply store that gets pretty consistent products as well. I know they don't carry B&B. Just RO and Rockwood. Closest Blues Hog dealer is Cabela's in south Denver, but that's an hour drive. The wife n I do go occasionally up there to have lunch dates on weekends.
The easiest one is cowboy lump 5 min away. My bbq outlet store and ace hardware sells Rockwood and royal oak and that's 30 min cross town. Wal-Mart has western. Idk what home depot has cuz I really don't shop there. I'll test Rockwood 1 cook and cowboy 1 cook. If I can get any others for reasonable price or if I'm in the area, cabela's, then I might try them. Its really for comps and practice cooks on the drums. There's 4 comps in Denver and surrounding areas this year. I still have my GMG for every day use and I go with BBQ Delight pellets pecan and cherry for it.
I picked up a bag from the local grocery store and it literally doesn't have a name on the bag. I'll take a picture of it when I get home and post it. I scoured the bag and couldn't find a brand name. Very weird.
I use RO and have not found foreign objects though on occasion after cooking, a lump or two looks and feels a lot like a rock. I was recently given a bag of Cowboy which I have yet to try, but if I manage to remember to do this, I'll write up my comparison impression.
For those of you who smoke with hardwood:
1) Do you use an SnS with RO/lump and how difficult has it been to maintain consistent temperatures?
2) Do you pour out and sort the bag or just pour or grab handfuls?
3) I use the smaller pieces for grilling and keep the larger chunks for longer smokes. Should I be doing the opposite?
If I am using my Weber, I am using my SnS. I have cooked in it with lump. I find that I get maybe 30-45 minutes less burn time with lump, but it heats up fast, and there is less white smoke.
Last edited by Thunder77; April 5, 2017, 02:46 PM.
Reason: Typo
Unless I pour in an abnormal bunch of large or small pcs, I take whatever the mix is. Scoop up most of the bigger pcs then I don't mess around and try to leave the dust in the bag. At this point we are talking about PENNIES worth of charcoal.
Royal Oak is decent lump, but gets a bad rap because it's sold at many big box stores that mishandle it ad turn decent lump into dust. Royal Oak makes many other brands including Big Green Egg charcoal, you can find their re-branded lump in big bags at your local restaurant supply store, usually for a very good price. Lately I've been using Rockwood, this is outstanding lump, big pieces, mild flavor and burns well, although it can be expensive.
I have been using Rockwood too. I like it a lot. Doing a round of cast iron seasoning right now. I lit my fire at 5 PM took it up too 550F and its been rock solid at 550 F for 6 hours now! I bet it will still be at 400 in the morning. Good stuff. The KAB helps too!
We were talking about the prices on sale, and I just realized something. According to this sign the regular price for 2 bags of Kingsford Pro is now $19.99, same price that Kingsford Blue Bag is when it isn't on sale. Maybe the prices are going to come down a little this year?
for a couple years the Cowboy brand was the only thing I could get. It's mostly hardwood flooring scraps. Never found any garbage in it, but it burns a lot faster than any other lump I've used. I don't care for it.
RO was on sale at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. I picked up a bunch because of the price, however, I am starting to see what others are talking about.
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