tcoliver Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 I was just in Home Depot today and saw some lump charcoal briquets. Forgot to jot down the name. Said it was 100% natural but I guess it is a briquet instead of regular lump. Anyone else see this or use it. May need a new review from the whiz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 Re: Lump Charcoal Briquets I was just in Home Depot today and saw some lump charcoal briquets...The Despot has been carrying Kingsford, and Kingsford has come out with something lumpy. Maybe that was it. From what I read, the Kingsford lump sparks like a short circuit. Oh, speaking of sparks... Don't wear your polar fleece snuggly sweater when you Q in the wintertime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 I hace a 40# bag of them in my garage. Mine are Royal Oak, "100% hardwood briquettes" They are food-serve pack, so they are in a brown bag with Red/Black labeling. As for my unscientific monkey-review, They give off some white smoke when first lit. I suspect that they are bound with starch and the smoke is the starch burning off. They are fairly clean burning, and dont impart much wood or smoke taste at all. I dont think I have used them alone for anything except maybe burgers, but I have mixed in some of them with my regular lump several times. They burn fine, are capable of higher temps, and handle being shut down and the leftovers re-used. Their ash seems to be heavier and more dense than the lighter flaky powder of my Lazarri lump I would say they this particular brand is fine for consistent, easy to measure fuel. My cost on a 40# bag is about $14, where our group purchase of mesquite lump finished at $12 for the same weight (more volume - not as dense). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 Don't wear your polar fleece snuggly sweater when you Q in the wintertime. You got a few little scratchy spots where the sparks landed? So now you have a dedicated cooking sweater! Go ahead and add nylon shorts to the list...little sparks result in lots of pen-tipped size burn holes. at least they are melted around the edges so they cant snag Speaking of charcoal, Sanny. I see you have your fingers crossed on getting some mold-free extruded coco from RJ. Good idea to get your order in now for the 2009 season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcoliver Posted May 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 Sounds like the same thing. These were #10 brown bags with black lettering. I tried to find the manufacturer but could not in my quick perusal. The bag had a comparison on it of what was in theirs and what was in others and it did mention some sort of binder, it may have been starch. This was the only other ingredient other than the 100% wood charcoal. It was $5.00/bag so it doesn't sound like there is any benefit of using it vs. regular lump. May be good if your going somewhere where your not cooking on a ceramic (god forbid). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 Speaking of charcoal' date=' Sanny. I see you have your fingers crossed on getting some mold-free extruded coco from RJ. Good idea to get your order in now for the 2009 season [/quote']S'ok, Firemonkey. I'm not in a rush - I have about 15 boxes in the shed, still, from my last order. But given the customs difficulty he's been having, I figured I'd order now to be in line for when the ship comes in. Maybe Dennis will find a smoother source for us. ::nudge nudge:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted May 13, 2007 Report Share Posted May 13, 2007 May be good if your going somewhere where your not cooking on a ceramic (god forbid). I have used lump in a kettle grill many times. Now, if you were stuck using one of those permanently installed grills at the park, that dont have a lid.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 The "Old Timers" might remember... Nature-Glo natural briquettes. they were ok. lots of ash. worked ok on low and slow; not a hot burning briquette. have used "Big Bloq" natural briquettes from a local Meijers and, again, just ok. they all have the natural veggie starch binders (read "cellulose") and produce way too much ash imo. for an overnite low-and-slow, not a good choice. tends to cause airflow problems. imo, no point in messing with a winner. good ol' natural lump charcoal. royal oak and cowboy are what i use, and almost always have good results. the occasional moon rock, sure, but otherwise good to go. one of the reasons i dont understand all the hoopla on the mexi-k site over "extruded lump" (ooooooooooo....) whatever. if you wanna spend WAY too much money, wait forever, and end up storing a metric ton of moldy charcoal in the garage, its your trip. sorry; i digress. natural briquettes produce too much ash. not a bargain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jehlinger Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 one of the reasons i dont understand all the hoopla on the mexi-k site over "extruded lump" (ooooooooooo....) whatever. if you wanna spend WAY too much money, wait forever, and end up storing a metric ton of moldy charcoal in the garage, its your trip. Porkchop, I have to disagree with you on the extruded. Here are the advantages: 1. lb-for-lb you pay more, but you don't any non-usable pieces with a box of extruded. I typically had about a lb. of non-usable pieces, dust etc. from a bag of lump. 2. No crackling and popping from extruded whatsoever, not that it's a big deal, but if you light with a torch, sparks from lump can flash back all over you, I had to wear goggles just to keep sparks out of my eyes. 3. No off-flavors with extruded, none, zero nada. Now a good bag of lump won't have any either, but sometimes you can cook with a load of lump and taste/smell something not-quite-right in there. 4. No dumping your firebox and re-positioned pieces of lump before every cook. With the extruded, all I have to do is shake the ash off by picking up the lump saver (wire basket) and then add more if I need to. With lump there are many leftover pieces too small that fall through the basket and have to be replaced on top, or discarded. Not so with extruded. 5. The extruded is boxed neatly and the pieces are bagged in a plastic bag. I live in Houston, and even with our humidity and me storing boxes in the garage and storing 1-1/2 years worth of extruded, I've never had any mold. Plus you store about 4-5 20# boxes in the space you can store two 20# bags of lump. Is it somewhat of a luxury to have these added benefits, sure. But if you add the real cost up it's not that much more than lump. As with most things, to each his own..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Take yer lumps (again) I use the extruded for lower temp things, so it does go far. Like you, PC, I use Cowboy for the other hot and quick sear/grill stuff. Or Royal Oak (in some other rebranded bag). It's fine too. Some have recommended setting up the fire in a certain way, with big pieces of lump, then little ones. I find if I pour the lump into a bucket and give the bucket a shake, the little ones go to the bottom. Then I can use the big ones for the base of the fire, and work my way to littles on top. You know, someone eventually worked out the physics/geometry/math of why that is that the little ones go to the bottom. Seems obvious, but there you go. There's math in it, so someone had to do an equation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNakedWhiz Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 jehliner, Just to clarify, the mold he referred to is that fact the Kamado shipped a bunch of extruded charcoal that was moldy when they shipped it. It wasn't a problem of people not storing it correctly, but rather moldy product being shipped. Then, IIRC, Kamado didn't offer refund or replacement, they just said to let it dry out, and it won't hurt anything. So, that left a bad taste in some people's mouth, no pun intended. Re: the flavor, the flavor isn't off, but extruded coconut charcoal does give the food a very definite flavor. I did a side-by-side blind taste test using the wife as a subject (the wife who sits down to a nice tenderloin steak and asks if it is lamb ) and even she easily could tell that the extruded coconut flavored the food more than Royal Oak. It is a pleasant flavor, but it isn't tasteless like many people claim. I think if you get a box that wasn't shipped full of mold, and if you get it at an acceptable price, the extruded coconut is good charcoal, it just isn't quite like it gets described. BTW, when I review charcoals, I don't give the price too much weight since price can vary so drasticaly from outlet to outlet, and I gave the Kamado charcoal a very good rating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Stacking I just pour my lump from the bag into the KK (or K) and don't have any trouble there, but yes, there are smaller pieces that do fall through the lump saver. I just shake the lump saver to get the ashes out and start from there. But I used to use the Huck-wok method and never lost anything that way. I may start putting the wok inside the lump saver if I start seeing usable pieces of lump in my ashes. But I haven't seen any yet. Once in awhile there's a moon rock, but not very often. I never have had any off flavor probs with the Royal Oak, but once I had a bad petroleum smell from a bag of some off brand lump I bought. It was pretty bad indeed. Bags stack very well too. I bgt 40 bags of Royal Oak recently and stacked 39 of them in my garage in the space it took to put 3 bags down on the floor. It went 13 high, but by altering the overlapping I haven't had one fall yet. I could have gotten more height too, if I had more bags. I've never used the boxed lump, but would certainly give it a try once Dennis gets things going...if it's affordable that is. But I definately won't be giving anymore bidness to the other guy, it's a matter of principal. I wouldn't buy from him if it were on time and cheaper than the RO...cause he's stealing it . But I definately can't see paying any more than I pay now unless I'm convinved it's going pay off. I am definately one of the "Ignorance is bliss" crowd, which is why I haven't bgt a Guru yet I guess But hey, I was smart enough to get into the ceramic groove, so I do have an "ignorance is bliss" thresh hold that can be crossed if someone convinces me it will pay off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jehlinger Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 gotcha Whiz, wasn't aware of the moldy batch. My wife is the taste/smell tester in my house as well. She's never noticed an after-taste imparted by the extruded. In fact she can tell when we're on the road and I use regular lump in my #1. Maybe she just likes the taste of the extruded better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 well, i guess i inadvertantly hijacked this thread; wasn't about extruded lump, but "natural briquettes". still, for the "benefits" listed above, i don't see them as sufficient offset for the cost and wait for the almighty extruded lump. my royal oak will do both low and slow AND hot and fast, and, even with the smaller pieces and moon rocks considered, its less expense. plus, i just plain prefer it to extruded. i LIKE my lump to impart a pleasant flavor to my Q; otherwise it might as well come out of a crockpot or gasser. i don't consider it a benefit that extruded is "flavorless". seeing prices like 15-16 bucks for a 15# box of charcoal when i pay $5 for a 10# bag that i dont have to wait 6months-1year to get? somehow, the extruded just has too much expense and INconvenience built in to make it a worthwhile purchase. take $5 out of the ol' wallet and hand it to the cashier, and walk out with my lump and grill that afternoon. dont have to throw in with 20 other people for a pallet delivery, buy 20-25 boxes (thats like 400# of charcoal!), drive 50 mile to go pick it up IF and when it finally shows up, store it in my garage, and HOPE it isn't covered in mold. sorry, but it better come with a d**n monkey trained to light it for me for all that trouble. but, i'm probably in the minority in my opinion. i mean, that extruded lump is just the cats meow, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 pat pat PC Hey, PC. It's ok. We each like what we like, and don't like what we don't like. And sometimes the reason we don't like something is not the product, but the support. For example, I don't like meatball sandwiches. Not that I don't like the meatball or sauce or sandwich, but it was the first lunch I ever bought in school in first grade, and I thought I couldn't go to recess unless I finished it. I was the last person in the cafeteria, and I couldn't finish my sandwich, and cried because I thought I couldn't have recess. So, no meatball sandwiches for me. So, if you got a delayed, fuzzy, expensive shipment of extruded lump, I can surely see why you wouldn't want to do that anymore. Especially when you could have something other than a meatball sandwich that you like just as well. You're a very experienced Q-er, and are good at controlling your temps. I'm still a novice at that, and like the fact that it's hard for me to get the extruded to make a bonfire. Din't say it was impossible, just harder for me to accomplish. And, I like that it's from a very renewable source. On the other hand, many of the lump mfgs use waste wood that would otherwise be trash, so that's fine with me, too. What I don't like is the thought that someone is chipping up mature wood just to make charcoal. So, I avoid that if I can. And you're right! Much of the "fun" of Q is the yummy "outside over a wood fire" smell that gets into the food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 first off, any sad story involving a meatball sammich has my sympathy. it breaks my heart that you would have been put in that situation as a child, and is surely litigible(?) uhhh, just sue 'em!! i never ordered the extruded lump. my good friend wes gave me a box out of the kindness of his heart, as i was VERY enthusiastic about trying it. it was ok, but nothing to write home about. one of the things i did notice, and it just may have been that batch, but... when i tried to re-use the extruded lump that hadn't been expended from a previous cook, it tended to be very fragile and sort of fall apart. i'm thinking, since there aren't any binders in it, that the expansion/contraction of the charcoal during the cook caused the charcoal fines that the extrusion briquettes are made of to lose adhesion and fall apart. have you experienced this? typically, i dump a whole bag of lump (about 10#) into my cooker and use that payload for several sessions until it runs out. so, anyway, never had the problems others have had, and, hey, if they find it worth going thru all that for their charcoal, that's none of my business. can't say i understand it, but i don't have to, do i? as far as temp control goes, well, i fully expect you could learn to control your fire quickly with regular lump, and without the benefit of a stoker or whatever. if you are ever in the neighborhood, i'd be glad to make you a meatball sub you would be sure to enjoy, and give you some pointers on how to prolong that slow burn all night long btw, how's that candy striper boyfriend workin' out?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodieB Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 lump charcoal in utah Hi All, Been following this thread with interest, because as I posted in the "forum members" thread, I'm about to become part of the KK family and get my very own, shiny new R2 OTB Supreme Plus, etc, etc, etc. Ooooo, it' s gonna be so nice sitting on my patio. However, I'm not sure there are many (any) sources of good lump charcoal in Utah, (Salt Lake City). I checked out the online charcoal store, but ouch! $15.95 per 22 lb. bag of Wicked Good WW blend, plus another $10.00 per bag shipping makes it pretty steep. I've been PM'ing with another forum member who lives south of me a ways, and he has been using extruded coconut stuff. If there are any other Utah ceramic cooker owners out there, maybe we can band together ala Sanny & friends and order a few metric tons or so to share:) If you have a ceramic in the SLC area, chime in! Dennis, hurry up with that charcoal bidness! I'll be your mountain west distributor! Just waiting to hear from Dennis now on when my OTB will clear customs in LA and head my way. Maybe I'll start standing on a downtown street corner with a sign around my neck saying "Will cook for Lump":) Woodie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jehlinger Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I've never had any trouble with the extruded falling apart, but I don't move it much anyway, just shake my ash off (hehe couldn't resist ) I'd rather buy mine from Dennis as well, I know he'll come up with some improvement that'll make it more worthwhile, hopefully at a better price. My supply that is running out only cost me about $10 for a 15# box, but the quote from the "others" was around $14 a box with shipping. I haven't seen lump at $5 for a 10# bag in quite awhile, but things are generally more expensive in Houston. I like flavor as well, but I like to impart the flavor of choice with chips or chunks. My favorite is oak chips from wine barrels, following by Jack Daniels chips. Anyone ever throw a whole onion on the fire? Crap that is good. I don't think we'll have to have a separate forum for lumpers or extruders, we'll get along fine...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 dude, salt lake city? that's kind of a big place to not have anyplace you can get lump. do you have walmart there? they (generally) carry Royal Oak lump. menards generally carries cowboy. even Ace hardware carries lump around here. do any in your area sell BGE? if so, you should also be able to get lump there fairly reasonably. BGE brand lump is usually in a 20# bag. around here, it goes for like, 13-14 bucks a pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Anyone ever throw a whole onion on the fire? isn't that just crazy??? awesome fragrance, isn't it? not sure that i tasted it in my food, but the scent in the air just made my stomach growl! ah, don't take my opinion of extrusion lump personally, dude! just cause i don't get it doesn't mean i hold those that use it in contempt. i reserve that for them that hold by kingsford or propane! just not my bag. i've always been a proponent of the "KISS" philosophy. messing with remote control blowers or trick charcoal just isn't my thing. the space age ceramic cooker does all that stuff for me, y'know before discovering the ease of ceramics, i was using a homemade twin-barrel steel cooker and stick burning! i considered using any kind of charcoal to be "cheatin'"! so, i may have sold out and gotten the trick cooker, and i may use lump charcoal, but THAT'S WHERE I DRAW THE LINE! how much are those rotisseries again, anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
