Kamado Joe Lump Charcoal

[JeffJ]

A couple of months ago I dropped $25 for a 20 pound bag of Kamado Joe lump charcoal. This is just over twice as much as I spend for a 20 pound bag of Weber briquettes at Lowe's. Since I was cooking my first tomahawk steak tonight, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Initially, I liked what I saw. It was a good mix of different sized chunks of wood. The pieces were dense without much dust on them. The smaller pieces weren't too small, at least not near the top of the bag.

This lump heated up fast but MAN, did it spark a ton which created a literal rain shower of tiny ash.

It ran hot, which is what I anticipated and it burned clean without much ash - very nice.

My wife described the tomahawk as "stupid good", and I agreed. However, I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to the fuel since I've never had this cut before. The potatoes were good but weren't mind-blowing.

In short, I think it's a nice, luxury fuel but I'm not sure it's more than barely better than Weber briquettes and is certainly not twice as good.

I'm happy to have it and look forward to cooking with it again, but don't see the need to burn through more than 1 bag per year.

Here are some pics from this cook:






My mom swung by in my parents' summer car to help us plan for my son's graduation party next weekend. The car had been detailed this week and I thought it was looking really good, so I snapped a couple of pics...



After dinner was cooked, I took a couple of pounds of chuck roast that I'd ground and cooked up some taco meat on the grill since the fire was still going....

[RonB]

Thanx for the write-up.

[scottranda]

I use KJ lump for low and slow in my Kamado, and charcoal briquettes for hot and fast. That’s because of the price of the charcoal (like you said).

[Spinaker]

Yeah, briquettes are better for a Weber Kettle. It is like they were made for each other.

Quality lump is worth every penny, IMHO, when it comes to running it in a Kamado. The low ash is what you are after because there is so little airflow in a Kamado, and briquettes do work as well. $25 for a 20 lb bag is middle of the road for lump. FOGO is $50 for a 35-lb bag.

[lual]

If you can catch a Kamado Joe demo at your local Costco--I bought 3 bags of KJ lump at one of these for somewhere between 70 & 75 cents per pound.

Play your cards right, and you'll never pay full retail for charcoal (briquet, or lump) ever again.

[EdF]

Nice avatar!

[DWCowles]

I have two bags that I haven’t open yet. I will try it in the Big Joe when I get home.

[EdF]

Kinda sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRKNw477onU

[W.A.]

Using some right now. Almost out

[customtrim]

Curious is all but why is your ash catcher out

[W.A.]

customtrim , more airflow. Sometimes I leave it and sometimes out. To be honest, i think i forgot to put it back in tonight.

[JoeSousa]

When they have it at Costco I usually pick up a couple bags. For the most part the chunks are much larger than most other lumps I have tried. I don't use it often but it is the best lump I have used.

[JeffJ]

The only ding I give it is all of the initial sparking and the tiny ash shower it produced. Other than that I was impressed with it.

[vandy]

If you catch a Costco Roadshow you can get a 30 lb bag of KJ for around 22 bucks. They are supposed to be coming here at the end of the month and I plan on stocking up while I have the chance.

[JeffJ]

I just cooked with it again and, damn! The flavor it imparted was more than subtle, it was very noticeable and absolutely wonderful.