Royal Oak Vs Cowboy lump. Photo comparison

When I didn't know any better, I bought a bag of Cowboy when I bought my first Chargriller and side firebox. All it was back then was burnt lumber. I used abt 1/2 of the bag and never went back.

I then went to the K briqs, old style.... after they "improved" I switched to RO lump and never looked back. I have tried a few other brands that I could find locally, but RO is available now in several local stores.

After I built my first UDS, I was amazed how well the RO lump burns in it. I would use abt 40-50 lbs a night in my offsets.... the drum will use approx 5-7 lbs for the same cook, and I can control my temps real close to what I want.

I am sure there are other brands out there that may be better (at least to some people), but I am happy with my RO and will stick to it for now.... availability makes it a go to for me.
 
CarolinaQue said:
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!!!
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If you were looking for a hot fire you need to use either split wood or mesquite lump.
 
V-wiz said:
If you were looking for a hot fire you need to use either split wood or mesquite lump.
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Actually...Wicked Good would have given me plenty of heat. But I didn't have any left and no one in the near vacinity of me carries it. Not sure how splits would do in a kettle:confused:
 
I was nearby a Walmart and decided to stop by and pick up another bag. They dont seem to be any good.. I would press the bag/coals with my finger and the lump would just easily crumble and fall apart, i tried 4 different bags, i ended up not getting them.
 
I used RO in my kettle for the first time earlier tonight. I can tell ya, it's my new go-to lump.
 
After reading hundreds of opinons the last couple months I decided to give lump a try. Found RO at a local lumber yard (15# bag for $15.00). I'm on my 2nd bag now and a true believer in lump. But, I have'nt smoked with it yet only grill. It burns HOT and my Tri Tips have hit a new level. Even my Wife noticed a diff. Gonna give Cowboy a shot next time though.
 
fedex said:
After reading hundreds of opinons the last couple months I decided to give lump a try. Found RO at a local lumber yard (15# bag for $15.00). I'm on my 2nd bag now and a true believer in lump. But, I have'nt smoked with it yet only grill. It burns HOT and my Tri Tips have hit a new level. Even my Wife noticed a diff. Gonna give Cowboy a shot next time though.
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Yup, lump is the way to go, if your doing low and slow you need to have some experience with it as it gets hot fast.
 
I'm currently using the new Cowboy lump and I'm very impressed. I started @ 11:00 last night when I put a 10lb packer brisket on. I took it off @ 203 degrees @ 12:00 noon today. I then put on two slabs of baby backs. It's now 3:15 PM and it's still going strong at 248 degrees. I use a WSM 22.5. I love the stuff. I have 6 bags left.
 
cowboy changed their source for wood a while back. It used to have pretty uniform size, after the change I was getting bags with a few handfulls of lump and like 2-3 HUGE pieces of lump. I let it slide the first time but the next bag was the same thing, just a small amount of useable lump and a few extremely large pieces. I contacted Cowboy, that's when I found out about the change. That was a few years ago, I think I bought it once or twice since then (out of necessity). I buy RO mostly.
 
I'd take RO over Cowboy

I've used both quite a bit. They both aren't bad, but the RO seems a lot more consistent as far as size and quality go. I have found plywood in Cowboy before.

Also, I light my BGE with a torch, and Cowboy tends to spark a ton more than RO. Lots of dust, which I assume is from the break down of the lump during shipping and stocking.

Around my parts, RO tends to be a bit more than Cowboy (unless there is some kind of sale), but I'd say the couple bucks more are worth it as the RO seems to last longer, burn cleaner, and has less dust.

Also, and I don't know if this really indicative one way or the other, but I have seen fire-grilled (or whatever they call themselves) using RO for their grills. Don't know if this is just because that's what Sysco carries or if they actually prefer it. Usually restaurants favor consistency above all else (including taste).

Naked Wiz has a great charcoal comparison guide by the way, though most probably know that. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

(Is it cool to give other sites props here?)
 
Lazzari is pretty good stuff. It does have some huge chunks. I cannot get Wicked Good right now in the Houston area so I am scrambling. The only place I see Royal Oak is at Wal Mart and they have a policy of handling a bag of lump charcoal 100 times before the customer gets their hands on it. That way, all of the annoying big pieces are sufficiently broken into dust. HEB and Academy seem to have the same policy on the B & B they stock. On a side note, I have tried to do business with B & B and as people go, let me just say, there are way nicer people in the world then them. By a long shot. They have good product but they are world class jerks.

I run a distribution company in Houston and have a bunch of warehouse space and the ability to bring products in as long as I can turn them and make a profit. I am looking at getting into the charcoal business. I contacted Wicked Good about being a distributor for them here in Houston, but they are having serious supply issues according to the owner. My plan is to bring in full containers of charcoal and sell it out of my warehouse to stores. I will also have it available to individuals. All I have to do is find a good source, so all of you Texas guys stay tuned. Unless I can sell Wicked Good or a product as good as what they have sold in the past, I will not bother with it though.
 
I have no problem with the cowboy. Been using it for a few months now and love it. I did buy some RO a couple of weeks ago and I like it too but the Cowboy is just as good IMO and cheaper. BTW, this was in the last bag of RO I used. That's right, a 5.3 oz rock.
 

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Who buys the small bags of cowboy? The 20# bags I have bought lately have had a bunch of fist size or better in them. I'm not familiar with the red bags R.O. But the green bags have been very good lately. The R.O. Seems to be less dense than the cowboy and thus burns faster. All just my opinion but it comes from a lot of trial and error!
 
I went to Lowes about 2 weeks ago and bought 2 bags of the 20# that were on sale. It's the first time I've used Cowboy in about 3 years after reading here how much better it is now. BULL@#$&! First off the pieces that I was able to use were about the size of a foot ball. I had to smash them up with a hammer. The rest was about 10# of dust and unusable very small chips. I still don't know what to do with it and I'm to cheap to just throw it out. I will never buy cowboy again!
 
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