stubbs briquettes NO-NO

Here is a letter I wrote directly to stubbs bbq. I was totally shocked but at least this will explain why I had a huge infestation of flies.




I would like to know that I have been a long time user of your briquettes but this might have just changed. I cannot say 100% if this is your charcoal(the vegetable coating you use) of if it was something else, but from my findings your briquettes attract maggots. Today when I was preparing for another smoke and reached into my rubbermaid container where I put my charcoal I found a very large swarm of maggots. After disposing of the little charcoal I had left in the rubbermaid container I decided to check my second rubbermaid container that had only kingsford original(the first rubbermaid container had a mix of kingsford and stubbs). I pulled handfuls at a time of the kingsford and moved it to the cleaned rubbermaid container and at the bottom I found 2 maggots total for a container that was filled to the top with kingsford. This one the first thing that was pointing me towards the stubbs briquettes being at fault for the maggots. The next thing I did was move all the pecan wood I had in a rubbermaid container to a clean container and found no trace of maggots in that container. I then moved the containers(i purchased these containers two weeks ago and I had my stubbs placed directly on the ground for a week before that) and exactly where the stubbs briquettes were(before I placed the rubbermaid container over it) were another pile of maggots. The common denominator in all this was the stubbs, but I cannot 100% put blame on it, but I am leaning towards this being the culprit.

In the below image is the stubbs/kingsford mixed rubbermaid container. As you can see, I was particularly freaked out after I dug my hand into it.


The next picture shows kingsford only charcoal and I was able to count 2 total maggots. The stubbs container was sitting on top of the kingsford only so maybe they worked their way down. One on the far left, one of the far right.


The next two pictures are of my very small but clean back patio.



I just wanted to say there is a very good chance I will not be buying stubbs briquettes anymore. I originally bought them because of the ALL NATURAL approach you took, but maggots are a little too natural for me.
Kris Lewis

I just sent it right before I posted here. I will reply with their reply. I showered after cleaning that because I felt NASTY, and not in a good way.

Let us know what they say, I have been using it for close to a year and have never seen one.

I wanted to think of all the nice Vietnamese dishes I could have made.

I will keep everyone updated. I hope they get back within 24 hours. I assume they were closed when I sent this at to 2pm PST

The only thing I can think of is the vegetable binder(5%) according to random websites. I do not have a bag in front of me.

I am almost tempted to do a test and find out if this is the case.
Catch a couple flies and put some in a jar with lid each with a few briquettes, kingsford vs stubbs.

Now just a statement I should have made, I am in now way affiliated with kingsford nor am I attempting to make kingsford sound better than stubbs. I just happened to have kingsford in my second rubbermaid because it was on sale from depot.

Brand new containers, very clean backyard. I sweep it up and clean both of them after use. I do not prep anything back there. What really shocked me was the rubbermaid container that contained the stubbs. I have said I cannot 100% say it is the stubbs, nor have i ever contacted a company to complain about a product, but this time was just wow to me.

:shock: and .....I got a bucket in the shed I need to check.

they were not noticeable until I got to the ash at the bottom. Is it a freak accident or is it the vegetable binder?

I am almost thinking of doing a test and reporting back to stubbs(cowboy) about this. Two glass jars with lids, flies, briquettes from stubbs and X company. If larvae attach to stubbs and form maggots then my theory is sound and the experiment would be repeatable.

swamprb said:

I live in an Apple Maggot Quarantine Area-therefore I am ever so vigilant about transporting out of state homegrown fruit. I will check my Stubb's supply at first dawn and report any suspicious happenings with my stash. Hopefully this is just an isolated incident? Anytime I mix Stubb's and K its in the cooker and no Maggots can survive the weed burning Minion Method. Although I'm sure most Maggots can thrive on my Q!

How can you be sure its the Stubb's?? I would think Maggots would flock to the K?

Click to expand...

I can't but its a good hunch.

As you can see I have four containers. The bottom right(colorful one) has the pellets from when I owned a traeger. One above that was wood. Then on the left I had fuels. top was stubbs/kingsford mix(maybe 100 total briquettes) and below it K only. All were found in the stubbs container. I bought the containers(not the colorful one) less than a week ago and at that time I transferred the stubbs and K to the containers. I am not sure of the ETA from flies to larva or larva to maggots(and so on) but one week is all they have been in the container.

Interesting. Would that little amount of oil cause maggots? I keep 10-20 bags of stubbs in my garage year round and haven't seen anything. Maybe the sealed containers foster growth, especially if you return unused coals to the containers? I have no clue!!!

neither do I. I contacted them and will see if they plan to do anything.

For now I will just use regular kingsford(its nicer on my wallet, but the kettle seems cheaper than a UDS to operate already).

Next time I ran by walmart I will pick up a bag of royal oak.