Royal Oak Vs Cowboy lump. Photo comparison

What surprises me most about the Cowboy lump in your picture is the absence of the following items:

*plastic ribbons (common)
*big nails
*fiberglass insulation or something resembling it
*concrete chunks (common)
*rocks (common)

You got lucky. :thumb:

the RO seemed to have more 2x4 looking lumps. hope they're not pressure treated.

Dumn question from a n00b. Do we want big pieces of lump? Some of the pieces in the last bag I had (Sams) would barely fit in my chimney! Does it matter at all?

NickTheGreat said:

Dumn question from a n00b. Do we want big pieces of lump? Some of the pieces in the last bag I had (Sams) would barely fit in my chimney! Does it matter at all?

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IMHO you want some large pieces. Now it does depend on how “LARGE” of pieces you are talking about. I’ve had a few that I had to take a hammer to but mostly don’t bother. (But I don't use a chimmey) I like a mixture of different sizes. I use some large pieces for the base of my pile. Then use medium size pieces to fill in and expand the pile and finally fill in with small pieces. This method seems to give me the best air flow in my kamado.

DerHusker said:

IMHO you want some large pieces. Now it does depend on how “LARGE” of pieces you are talking about. I’ve had a few that I had to take a hammer to but mostly don’t bother. (But I don't use a chimmey) I like a mixture of different sizes. I use some large pieces for the base of my pile. Then use medium size pieces to fill in and expand the pile and finally fill in with small pieces. This method seems to give me the best air flow in my kamado.

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Thanks man. My initial thoughts were it didn't really matter. :biggrin1:

You can always make the big pieces smaller...
Making the smaller pieces bigger not so much:-D

NickTheGreat said:

Thanks man. My initial thoughts were it didn't really matter. :biggrin1:

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Your Welcome. :biggrin1:

Texas Turtle said:

My local purveyor of BBQ stuff recently added Lazzeri lump to their stock of offerings. It seems to be cheaper than RO on a unit basis. Anybody use this stuff?

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it is very dense, ashy, and has a smoky flavor compared to Royal Oak. it does heat up
particularly fast. The big bags leak dust through the walls. I don't love it but the price is right.

A denser lump will burn longer and perhaps hotter too. RO is fine in a pinch but it does burn up much quicker than the other brand I prefer. WG. More per pound no doubt, but burn time is much longer too.

I noticed a bag of cowboy just yesterday that was broke open. The pieces were a lot larger than the RO I used yesterday.

Texas Turtle said:

My local purveyor of BBQ stuff recently added Lazzeri lump to their stock of offerings. It seems to be cheaper than RO on a unit basis. Anybody use this stuff?

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Lazarri's been my go-to lump for the last couple of years, since I got a kamado, and I can also get it here locally in NorCal for about $9.49 for a generous 20lb bag. I actually weighed it out once and it was a bit over 20lbs.

I really like it, although cooking with mesquite wood does have a couple draw backs, but nothing that would be a deal breaker.

First of all, it has good sized chucks of lump, not just a bunch of tiny pieces. This can sometimes be annoying, as you will need to break up the real large pieces with a hammer, or by smacking them on the ground

Lazzarri burns hot, and for a long time. I've been able to keep a firebox of it going for 12-14 hours straight at a consistant temp for pork shoulders, and it will heat up to 600+ rather quickly for searing steaks or cooking pizzas.

Most all mesquite charcoal will spark and pop some when starting. This is generally minimal if you mound your charcoal up well and don't have too many real small pieces.

Mesquite charcoal will also impart a very slight mesquite smoke aroma to your food. I find it tastes pleasant but some people do not care for it, especially on fish and chicken. For me, it's always been too minimal to really notice.

Until I can find another brand as consistant and as cheap, I'll continue using it.

According to Naked Whiz - RO private labels their best stuff for "Big Green Egg". I have been using Wicked Good until recently when my supplier ran out. I bought a bag of more expensive BGE lump (Royal Oak) and sad to say - I liked it much better.

I tried a bag of Cowboy yesterday after seeing this review. I figured I'd give it another shot just in case it was actually an improvement over the stuff I remember using before. But no, it still sucks!!!

I had used it for doing pizza on the Weber with my pizza contraption I made. It didn't get hot enough for more than 15 minutes, long enough to get 2 pizza's out of the 7 I was planning on cooking, even with the bottom vents wide open and the front of my pizza adapter being wide open.

Wicked Good or Big Green Egg (Royal Oaks top shelf private labeled) is still far better as far as I'm concerned. I've spent the last $7 and some change on Cowboy. Regards to the Royal Oak red bag, likely won't buy that again for the same reasons. However, their Big Green Egg private label line and their Steak House blend is always welcome in my grill or smoker!!!

I have to agree with Tim. I used 3 bags of Cowboy recently, it definitely looked better than the stuff they used to sell. But it was very slow to get up to temp and burning clean in my Egg.

I'd use it again if I had too but it fits in my "coal of last resort" category.

I wouls always take RO over cowboy Humphrys is very good too My fav is Wicked

Big George's BBQ said:

I wouls always take RO over cowboy Humphrys is very good too My fav is Wicked

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I wish I could get Humphry's up this way! I know the extension of their family up here in Maine, but even they can't get any distributed until the plant inPA is back up and running from the fire they had earlier in the year. Right now, the only output they are making is for the big dollar corporate sales that they have to fill by contract. At least, that's what I was told.

Still not a fan of Cowboy lump. After finding pieces of metal in the lump that was enough to turn me away.