Royal Oak Vs Cowboy lump. Photo comparison

Every single bag of Cowboy I've ever opened has completely sucked ass, it's garbage; I'm mystified as to how that company remains in business

I just went on the Cowboy kick after it was such a deal on True Value online.
8.99 a bag plus 5 bucks off, free ship to store.
I can tell you, the wood is better than it was in the past.
But back to back with RO Red I get from Restaurant Depot, I'll take the RO.

The Cowboy burned hot, it burned long, it just didn't burn as clean as the RO.
I use a BGE XL, BTW. Your mileage may vary...

I also light my egg with a weed burner/torch. The Cowboy sparked and popped like crazy. Imperfections in the wood? Possible. It is strictly my opinion, but I don't think the heat up the wood enough to get rid of the impurities. Again, my opinion.

I would use the cowboy again in a pinch, I still have a bag left over. But I prefer RO.
I stacked up on 10 bags before the RD sale ended May 31st. @8.99 per bag as well, it was worth it.

I won't call the Cowboy garbage, I will say, for what I cook and what I do, I prefer Royal Oak.

dajogejr said:

I just went on the Cowboy kick after it was such a deal on True Value online.
8.99 a bag plus 5 bucks off, free ship to store.
I can tell you, the wood is better than it was in the past.
But back to back with RO Red I get from Restaurant Depot, I'll take the RO.

The Cowboy burned hot, it burned long, it just didn't burn as clean as the RO.
I use a BGE XL, BTW. Your mileage may vary...

I also light my egg with a weed burner/torch. The Cowboy sparked and popped like crazy. Imperfections in the wood? Possible. It is strictly my opinion, but I don't think the heat up the wood enough to get rid of the impurities. Again, my opinion.

I would use the cowboy again in a pinch, I still have a bag left over. But I prefer RO.
I stacked up on 10 bags before the RD sale ended May 31st. @8.99 per bag as well, it was worth it.

I won't call the Cowboy garbage, I will say, for what I cook and what I do, I prefer Royal Oak.

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now that I have used it for awhile, I tend to agree.

And by the way RO is still on sale at RD for $8.99

I was there yesterday :becky:

I have tried cowboy multiple times and have not liked it. There are usually 4-5 large chunks then the rest is stone and pebble sized charcoal pieces.

I have used Royal Oak, Cowboy and Wicked Good over the last year and here is what I have noticed. No off putting odor and does not effect food taste.

3 Royal Oak 20lb red bags from Restaurant Depot - Foreign debris (rocks and insulation), pieces that are obviously scrap wood (1x2 and 1x1 pieces of wood) Charcoal pieces are very light and burn very fast. Lots of dust and chips which are not useable. No off putting odor and does not effect food taste.

2 Cowboy 20lb bags from Lowes made in Mexico - Mostly medium sized chunks. All pieces are shaped like branches/chunks of wood, not 1x2's or 1x1 pieces of scrap wood. Wood is denser and burns longer than Royal Oak. 1-2 large chunks that have to be broken up to be useable. Unusable pieces and dust is minimal.

4 Wicked Good Weekend Warrior 20lb bags - Mostly medium sized chunks. All pieces are shaped like branches/ chunks of wood and not processed pieces of scrap wood. Charcoal is the most dense out of the 3 charcoals and burns the longest. 2-4 large chunks that need to be broken up to be useable. Very little unusable pieces and dust. Strong odor which goes away quickly and does not effect taste on food.

From my experience between the 3 charcoals. Wicked Good > Cowboy > Royal Oak. Once i go through my cache of charcoal, I will be trying out the Kamado Joe lump. KJ source for lump is supposedly the same as Wicked Good.

aawa said:

From my experience between the 3 charcoals. Wicked Good > Cowboy > Royal Oak. Once i go through my cache of charcoal, I will be trying out the Kamado Joe lump. KJ source for lump is supposedly the same as Wicked Good.

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I would love to find a local source of WGWW. We used to have one years ago. However, they're gone and I'm not paying over twice the price once you add in shipping, etc. for that.

Our favorite lump is WGWW.

Has anyone used Fogo or Kerbroak hardwood charcoal?

Thanks for the photos showing comparison.I found out today Tractor supply has the Royal Oak on sale for fathers day. I will be stopping by to pick up a few bags. It definitely looks like the winner.