Lump Charcoal Talk

[cscheib]

I use Fogo in my Weber Performer. It can be expensive, though. Before that, I used Wicked Good Charcoal.

Both have performed well for me.

[BarBQ22]

How do you like wicked good? I tried it 1 time on my gateway and holy smoke it took everything I could do to keep it lower then 315. That burned hot and fast with me.

[Breadhead]

Lump coal... it's a commodity. I buy it based on the price per pound.

I've been buying "Best in the West" lump in 40 pound bags for $18 a bag. Plus I give the State of California 8.75% so they won't go bankrupt before they fall into the Pacific Ocean after our next big earthquake.

That's about $0.50 per pound. I might.... be willing to pay $0.65 to $0.75 per pound if, and only if, the new brand had less dust and very small pieces. However... FOGO and BGE lump are insanely out of the ball park price wise.

I get 24 hours out of 5 pounds of lump in my BGE at 225°. Why would I want to triple my cost of lump to buy FOGO?

People have claimed they can taste the difference in the lump they burn...😏 If you can taste your lump flavor, you've got bad lump!

[cscheib]

I started buying brands that weren't known for having extraneous junk (insulation from burn furnaces, etc...) in the bag. Also, brands that had relatively decent distribution of lump size. There was a site that had a bunch of reviews that I used, can't remember off the top of my head - this was 3+ years ago that I researched. If I can find something cheaper that doesn't have junk in it, I'd switch... although, I'm lazy, so I probably won't switch.

[KabBBQ]

This is a followup to my post about RO and Cowboy Lump. The Cowboy Lump was a complete disappointment. Perhaps it had been abused in handling or perhaps its the quality but most of the chunks were less than 2 inches in any dimension, there were lots of rocks in the bag, and the taste was subpar. Never buying this lump again. I've transitioned to briquettes now because I'm using the SnS all the time and I want consistent temperature control. So far my favorite briquette is Stubb's.

[RonB]

I think all charcoal could be lump charcoal - if your significant other can throw hard enough with some accuracy.

[Bayoublast]

I used my first bag of B&B after using RO for years I was impressed.

[6th Borough BBQ]

I use a ton of Royal Oak. Is it perfect? - Nope. Does it work well and is it inexpensive? - Yes. The worst I can say is there is dust on the bottom of the bag that is easy to avoid dumping, and I've never found other objects in the bag other that the bag itself. Not sure how one could make lump charcoal better outside of making it cheaper. We are burning it after all.

[JeffJ]

I prefer KBB to Royal Oak and KBB is cheaper.