charcoal lump vs briquette

[Harbormaster]

Thanks sportsnut. Where do you purchase that brand?

Kingsford Competition should be available at Home Depot, among other places. The composition is supposedly the same as the RO Chef's Select available through DoItBest via ship-to-store.

 

[trza]

Mmmkay.

But the question was about lump vs. briquettes.

Cowboy is made from leftover flooring, furniture, and wood trim scraps. The source wood has been kiln dried, and it just burns way too hot and fast.

I thought Cowboy was made out of plywood, concrete, and rocks. At least that's the kind of stuff I've found in bags when Cowboy has been the only lump i can find in town.

 

[stglide]

Yeah, another cowboy user, since I was in Lowe's. Yep... I've been disappointed. After reading this, I think I may have found why my temps have been bouncing around lately.

As for the basket, I actually took some expanded metal, cut it fit the bottom, and presto, no more lump dropping through. Ash still drops through just fine...

 

[Ty_]

I grill 2 -3 times a week. The price that HD runs on Kingsford around Memorial day and Labor day is really hard to beat. Significantly cheaper than lump. I still have at least a dozen bags in the garage. I'm constantly scooping ashes but it lights a lot quicker for me than lump, that's especially good on a work night. After saying all that, I do use lump most of the time when I BBQ. I agree with everyone else about Cowboy. Sometimes it is hard to find anything else though.

 

[Hub]

I haven't used charcoal in competition in years but still use it occasionally for family and friends cooks, especially steaks and chops. I've tried most popular brands of both briquettes and lump.

I keep going back to gool ol' Kingsford briquettes. Are they the best? No. What they are is PREDICTABLE. I know how long it will take them to light and how long they will last. No surprises.

Hub

 

[MattG]

Kingsford Competition should be available at Home Depot, among other places. The composition is supposedly the same as the RO Chef's Select available through DoItBest via ship-to-store.

I also would like to try the Kingsford Competition but have never seen, well on TV.:becky:

 

[1FUNVET]

See if your Lowe's carries Stubbs. Great burning stuff but not as cheap as Cowboy's.

 

[BIGBrandon2785]

Hmmmmmmmm,well looks like I bought Cowboy lump for my 6 hour turkey cook:mad2:............Can I put unlit/unsoaked kingsford charcoal briquettes in the smoker and put a chimney full of cowboy lump in the middle to get it going??

 

[Harbormaster]

Hmmmmmmmm,well looks like I bought Cowboy lump for my 6 hour turkey cook:mad2:............Can I put unlit/unsoaked kingsford charcoal briquettes in the smoker and put a chimney full of cowboy lump in the middle to get it going??

Yes you can.

 

[Dave Russell]

See if your Lowe's carries Stubbs. Great burning stuff but not as cheap as Cowboy's.

Amen to that, and I'm starting to think it'll last just as long as K does...w/ just a small fraction of the #$%$ coal suffocating ash. I wish it was more available so we'd see sales on it around here, or something similiar like RO briquettes.

 

[FretBender]

I agree with the foreign junk that comes with Cowboy, but I do like the taste it gives over RO. I don't care if it comes from defective furniture, screwed up flooring, or a raw tree, as long as it's 100% oak or hardwood and has no glues, finishing material, or chemical binders added to it.

 

[stglide]

Amen to that, and I'm starting to think it'll last just as long as K does...w/ just a small fraction of the #$%$ coal suffocating ash. I wish it was more available so we'd see sales on it around here, or something similiar like RO briquettes.

Just bought a bag of the Stubbs. A friend who knows somebody at Lowe's spoke to them about Cowboy. Yes, they know it's not the "good stuff" but it is meant to be a less expensive alternative to the "good stuff". For those who cook seriously, they suggest the Stubbs, as it compares to Kingsford Competition. They said they would address it with Cowboy, but I honestly don't see much changing since this appears to be a common complaint of theirs for the past several years.

One other thing they did mention is it is getting harder and harder for charcoal companies to find wood sources. Yes, they may get scraps from furniture factories, but primarily wood mills. Problem is, with the downturn in the economy, construction has slowed, furniture is being made out of the country now, so mills have scaled way back on their wood, thus the product the charcoal makers use. It was said many are now looking to "green" lumber and actually kiln drying it before turning it into charcoal...

Will be cooking on the Stubbs soon, so I'll post again when I do!

 

[Brauma]

See if you can find some Wicked Good locally. Great lump.

Lump and briqs have their uses. I use lump in the Egg and when I need heat and little ash. I use briqs in the Bandera when I'm starting the fire and when I'm finishing - when the meat is wrapped.

 

[bam]

1. Ozark Oak 2. Wicked Good 3. Humphrey's 4. Kebroak 5. Royal Oak . Cowboy is for grilling.

 

[Dustin D]

I used Kingsford briquettes for the longest time on my Backwoods Party. It certainly lights easily, burns evenly and is easy enough to manage....but the amount of ash it produces as it burns is a problem.

Unless you regularly shuffle the briquettes around, they build up enough ash to stifle the fire. In my older backwoods party, the fire pan has no grate, which meant a lot of fire maintenance, trying to separate the ash from the burning charcoal every couple of hours. What a pain in the ass and what a waste of charcoal (because you can't separate the small burning bits from the ash). I eventually switched to a BWS Fat Boy with a fire grate, but ash continued to plague me.

Even worse for me than the fire maintenance issue was ash in the cooking chamber. I'd get quite a bit of ash carried in with the heat and smoke via convection. It would get so bad sometimes, I'd notice a significant layer of ash on top of anything wrapped in foil in the cooker. What wasn't wrapped didn't look ashy, but the moisture in the food must have been absorbing the stuff. Yuk.

Now I'm using lump. I tried Cowboy (because they sell it at my local supermarket) and as everyone else has said, it sucked. Now I'm using Wicked Good. It burns really evenly and slowly (although it takes a lot more to get it lit then kingsford), and I don't notice any more ash in the cooking chamber. The stuff is great, probably even worth the price and the amount of tiny bits and dust I get in each bag.

For a second I thought I was writing this.

Sounds like I have some shopping to do, oh the horror :tsk:

:tongue:

 

[jdbh]

i use frontier 10lbs bags @ lowes 7 bucks a bag works well

 

[likeadeere]

Well if you just can't settle on any type or brand of lump charcoal - you could always just do what I do.

Make your own!

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Now granted, not everyone has the capacity to burn in your own backyard. But I've been able put apple/cherry/apricot wood in my kiln and with a few adjustments create some excellent lump charcoal. These pics are my first attempt and I didn't quite get the uniformity that I wanted. But I'm getting better. IMO stay with lump, you can't go wrong, if you are looking for lump vs. briquettes.

But I'm in envy of those that use stick wood in an offset, one day brethren, one day.....
I can hear it now, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU NEED ANOTHER BBQ!!!" :crazy:

 

[OneHump]

I've been using Kingsford blue bag and comp until just recently. I switched to lump a few weeks ago and will probably never go back. I find that lump responds much faster up or down that briquettes, it lights faster and my temps are FAR more stable, which is contrary to the advice I had been given prior.

I do find that lump doesn't last quite as long as briquettes, but a refill is no biggie.

Here is a chart that shows the consistency of lump on a WSM over about 6 hours:

Here's a chart on that same cooker, in the same weather conditions using blue bag over 12 hours:

 

[Wampus]

I've tried both. I've tried cheap lump and expensive lump. I've also tried cheap (K) briq's and expensive briq's. I will NOT say by any stretch that I am ANY kind of expert. I do not compete, but only cook for friends and family.

I'm a briquette guy. I recently bought 4 or 5 bags of all natural lump and tried to give it a real go. I can't say that lump lasts longer, at least in MY drum. I love lump for grilling. It's definitely hotter, but for low'n'slow BBQ cooking, I'll always use briquettes. This goes against what many here have said time and time again, but it's what I like. It does indeed yield a lot more ash, but to me, it's not a big issue. I'd rather have a longer cook and then just dump out the ash at the beginning of the next cook.

I just know what I know. That's what works for me. PLUS.....I'm a cheap arse.:becky:

 

[OakPit]

My vote is for lump. A few reasons.

1. Natural - no binders or fillers.
2. Less ash to reduce or restrict air flow.
3. Many different burn characteristics are available. From Royal Oak to Wicked Good, ONO, and a new Orange Lump that I am especially fond of. All have different burn rates and smoke aroma characteristics - allowing for almost infinite applications.
4. Larger pieces allow for great air-flow with smaller pieces filling the gaps. Dense charcoal profile means consistency in temps.
5. Residual charcoal can be re-used if the air is restricted thoroughly enough.

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT trashing briquettes. They have served and will continue to serve up great BBQ. They just aren't for me.

This opinion is based upon my use of BGE's and WSM's - in other cookers, my opinion might not mean squat.