Over on another forum, it has been reported that Weber Charcoal has been discontinued. It seems pretty credible with reports from the CEO's assistant and an e-mail campaign directly to this assistant trying to get them to change their minds. It's not available at Weber directly and ACE supposedly has discontinued stores being able to order it from their warehouses.
Anyway, I thought I would share here so those that love it have a chance to find a little bit or mourn appropriately. There's probably still a few bags sitting in local hardware stores and there was still some availability on HomeDepot.com.
Cooking gadgets
Weber Summit Charcoal Grill Center
Weber Summit Platinum D6
Blue Rhino Razor
Dyna-Glo XL Premium Dual Chamber
Camp Chef Somerset IV along with their Artisan Pizza Oven 90
Anova WiFi
Thermometers
Thermapen Mk4 - ThermaQ High Temp Kit - ThermaQ Meathead Kit - ThermaQ WiFi - ThermoWorks IR-GUN-S - ThermoWorks Signals & Billows - ThermoPop -ThermoWorks ProNeedle - ThermoWorks TimeStick Trio x2 - and a Christopher Kimball timer - NO, I do not work for ThermoWorks...I just like their products.
Other useful bits...
KitchenAid 7-qt Pro Line stand mixer
A Black & Decker food processor that I can't seem to murder
A couple of immersion blenders, one a "consumer" model & the other a "high end" Italian thing. Yes, the Italian one is a bit better, but only marginally
Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8-qt + accessories like egg-bite & egg holders
All-Clad pots & pans, along with some cast iron...everything from 7" Skookie pans to 8.5qt Dutch ovens
Weber GBS griddle, pizza stone, and wok
Knives range from Mercer to F. Dick to "You spent how much for one knife? One knife?!" LOL
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
I bought one bag of Weber, had a horrible time with it, and the price was pretty premium. Never bought another bag. If there's a lot of experiences like mine, I can see the problem for Weber.
Their reasoning is that the product is not cost effective. I don't think they made it themselves. Sorry to hear you had struggles. I haven't used it much but seems to be great stuff.
I still have 30 or 40 bags left from the Home Depot sale last year. Guess I will really need to start rationing it and start thinking "Is this meal Weber Charcoal worthy?"
Sad to see it go as I really like it. I save it and use it exclusively for low and slow because I think it really shines there. I only ever bought it and stocked up when it was on sale though. I’m ok with paying a little more for a good product but $20 for a single bag is outside of my price range.
The report is that Weber says it's not cost effective. I can see that with them paying someone else to make it, using the resealable bags, etc. I've only used it a couple times, but I ordered some more before it's gone. There was a friend of a friend claim on the other forum that a B&B rep at a comp told this person they make the Weber Charcoal, so maybe it's similar to the B&B hardwood briquettes? I don't know how much I trust I put into the claim.
Over the past few years I bought a bunch of KBB in holiday sales at HD and Lowes and end of season clearance at Target, so that's mostly what I've run in my kettles before and WSCG now. I'm kinda frustrated with the amount of ash they leave behind though and it seems I can fill my ash catcher in 2-3 cooks. Lately, I've been looking for something that burns a little hotter and cleaner so have tried Fogo and Weber and have been very impressed with both. I don't love the pricing, but I probably burn more $ worth of fuel in pellets vs charcoal doing the same cook so I don't stress too much about it.
I was able to order a few more bags from HD at full price, to me it's not worth the hassle and cost of my time and gas to go from store to store to see if they have any locally and if it's on sale. If I'm out and about, I might check ACE in town and the True Value a few miles away though. The 10 bags I'll have of Weber along with the 2-3 each of Fogo and KBB will probably last me a couple years giving me plenty of time to find something else. Though I need to quit stockpiling fuel as I'm running out of space to keep it in the garage. I bought a bulk of CookinPellets this spring when they had a sale and have jumped on the Bear Mountain BOGO, the Almond pellets sampler, etc. I'm probably burning at least 60-80 pounds of pellets a month right now, so at least that pile is shrinking.
I hear ya on the ash! IDK if it’s because it gets used a bit more or what, but I can get BUNCHES of ash in my WSCG catcher in what seems a ridiculously short period of time, especially when considering how much unburned charcoal is left after a cook. What the..? O_o
Equipment:
Weber Genesis
Weber Spirit Special Addition, with Griddle and Grillgrates (just got)
Thermoworks Smoke (2)
Thermoworks Thermapen (2)
Thermoworks IR (1)
Maverick IR (1)
Penzey's Spice rack with loads of spices
Hobbies:
Cooking, wine, guitar, golf, beach, board games, travel, herb gardening
Like others, I didn't buy the Weber nor have I bought other premium brands due to cost comparisons. I keep a local mesquite and KBB on hand, and royal oak. I use aluminum cans lined up to hold 'em - about 5 bags each I think. Just seal the handles so rain can't get in.
Last edited by JGo37; September 17, 2020, 04:39 PM.
I've only seen it at at HD up here, at $40 a bag the skid looks the same now as it did back in May.
I'm sure its good stuff but Royal Oak is $8.88 at Walmart, at 4 to 1 I'm going with 4.
When I first read the title my brain translated it to "Kingsford" and I was in shock. I’ve had a few fantastic Weber kettles in my day, but don’t think I’ve ever used their charcoal.
I've been a blue bag guy for a long time. Recently started experimenting with lump again.
I tried the Weber charcoal and it was good. Didn't notice a lot of difference from KBB though. When I need clean and hot, I use mesquite lump or other hardwood lump. Some of the Kingsford upscale briquets are nicer than the regular blue bag. I tried the Kingsford Competition briquet and it was hotter with less ash than KBB but not hugely so. Less ash is nice.
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