Finally throwing in the towel on Pit Boss brand pellets

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Cabin Fever

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I'd just like to start off by saying that I love my Pit Boss Tailgater. I bought it last year at Wal-Mart when they marked them down to $150 in my area. For the money they look good, are built well and perform better than they should at that price range IMHO. I have a tradition that I always do when I try a new flavor or brand of pellets.

I throw a pork butt on with just kosher salt and butcher grind black pepper so I can really focus on the smoke flavor of the pellets. I run on smoke mode for the first 5 hours and then finish the cook at 225 without wrapping. Last weekend I finally got my hands on the new charcoal pellets from Pit Boss which seem to be all the rage right now. The end result was a pork butt that was just like the last two I smoked (one with PB hickory and the other with PB mesquite).

Really delicious and tender meat with a great smoke ring, but zero smoke flavor. Even when reheating in the oven or microwave there's no hint of smoke in the air. I've read a ton of reviews on their new charcoal pellets and people seem to really love them claiming they provide a ton of smoke flavor and or taste exactly like charcoal. I just don't get it. They taste just like the other brands of PB pellets that I've tried. On the other hand, Lumberjack's 100% hickory and competition blend always provide a ton of smoke flavor not really that different from when I had a WSM. Am I missing something? Am I the only one who feels this way? I know a lot of people dig PB pellets, but I've never been happy with them. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the pellet grill twilight zone. :wacko:
 
They're mostly cheap filler wood, very little flavor. I'm not impressed at all. I've switched to Papa's Grilling Pellets. They're not 100% one type of wood, but they are dark in color and much more aromatic than the pale Pit Boss pellets, yet half the price of Lumberjack.
 
I like the Lumber Jack Charhickory for hot cooking steaks and chicken pretty well,I mix with hickory for long smokes, adds a little something but I switch around a lot. I am leaning towards the LJ comp blend as my go to .
 
I bought a bunch of Pit Boss when it was sale. I tried 1 bag in my MAK and had very poor smoke flavor results. I also found PB pellets to be extremely dusty, as the soft pellets break down very easily. I had to do a lot of sifting.
I promptly went back to Lumberjack 100% flavor wood pellets during one of their Group Buys. Lumberjack has always given me great flavor and performance, at only a slight increase in cost over PB. Yes, I returned the rest of the PB pellets.
Just a note, pellet cookers are not all created equal, when it comes to smoke flavor production, as controllers can be programmed to produce more or less smoke, which will intern impart the flavor. That said, even using a smoke generator will do little to help PB pellets produce more smoke flavor.
 
All I've used are Pit Boss Competition Blend pellets with my Copperhead 5, and I've no complaint. $15 for 40 lb bag at Lowes and is always available so I don't have to stock bags at my house.

I find the pellet smoke flavor definitely lighter than the smoke from my charcoal smokers like WSM and Kamado Big Joe but still plenty noticeable and pleasant. And I never run my Copperhead 5 on smoke mode and tend to cook most meats at around 300 F. And I wrap my meat usually around the 4-5 hour mark if it's longer cook.

I guess some people just really like heavy smoke. To me, smoke flavor should never be the star. It should be subtle and in the background as far as flavor profile. I hate food that has in your face overpowered smoke flavor to it. Pretty much any food from cookers like PBC or UDS smoked without heat deflector where the grease drippings directly fall and burn on the hot coals have this nasty harsh smoke flavor I hate. But plenty people seem to love this kind of rancid smoked food. I used to be one of them. Now just the thought gives me headache and stomach pain.
 
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't care for them. I do think that PB pellets can still serve a purpose though. Such as topping the hopper off with them after wrapping/foiling meats or when doing jerky and you have to run on smoke mode for five plus hours.

That tiny bit of smoke flavor would suit jerky perfectly whereas using a better pellet would make the end result way too smoky or bitter IMO. Does anyone know what the 70% filler wood is that PB uses? To me all of their pellets that I've tried give off an odd ashy flavor that I can't quite put my finger on.
 
After returning several bags of PB pellets to WM, I was left with about 6 bags that I could not return. Now that I'm using LJ 100%, I use the LJ for the smoke part of the cook, then I switch to PB when smoke is no longer necessary, like after foiling and such. Keeps me from using up the LJ when all I need is heat.
 
I have their competition blend and I’m wondering if it contributes to my constant overheating issues (error code Erh). I’ve been vacuuming the dust out of the pit each use now since it’s happening more and more. I set the temp to 225 and it goes to 350 and shuts down. Wiped the crud from the temp probe and use water in my pan. This thing is a mess but I’ll try another pellet brand before I give up on it.
 
Sounds more like cooker issues, however PB pellets come with tons of dust, so I'm sure that's a contributor. Try a bag of LJ 100% Hickory or Apple. If that doesn't do it, no other pellets will.
 
Czarbecue said:
I have their competition blend and I’m wondering if it contributes to my constant overheating issues (error code Erh). I’ve been vacuuming the dust out of the pit each use now since it’s happening more and more. I set the temp to 225 and it goes to 350 and shuts down. Wiped the crud from the temp probe and use water in my pan. This thing is a mess but I’ll try another pellet brand before I give up on it.
Click to expand...

I have the Copperhead 5 like I'm assuming you do and when I run it at 225 it's all over the place for temps, I've had it up to 380 and drop to 170. I think it just hates 225. I have better luck at 200 or 250. I think it is mostly just the controller because i use PB pellets in my Davy Crockett and it runs fine.

As far as smoke flavor goes I'm not sure, I've used LJ cherry and Hickory, Smokehouse Brand from Sams, Bear Mountain Gourmet blend, PB Competition and Hickory. I can't really tell a difference but when I give food to people they all say it has a nice smoke flavor whereas i don't really taste it. So at this point I just know my food tastes good both to me and them.
 
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