Lump Charcoal Question

bevg

Has anyone ever heard of or used "Best of the West" 100% Lump Mesquite Charcoal?  Wondering if it is any good?

Doc_Eggerton

It will generally have huge lumps, which don't work the way you expect.  You need to break them up some.  It lights well, but sparks a lot.  I use it frequently.  If you have a good price, go for it.

I tend to lay some of it down, then put some RO on top.

nolaegghead

That looks like the smaller bag version of the stuff I was using from Sam's Club.  It smelled a little like anthracite.  Lots of dust. Like 1/3 of the bag one time.  I stopped buying it. The food tasted fine, however, and it had some serious BTU.

Dave in Florida

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Hopefully you can find a better fuel.  Never a fan of Mesquite in the Egg....too strong. IMO

nolaegghead

SMITTYtheSMOKER said:

Hopefully you can find a better fuel.  Never a fan of Mesquite in the Egg....too strong. IMO

Yeah, and there's that - mesquite's the "cigar" of lump.  Strong like a house fire.

FxLynch

I used about 60lbs of the Best of the West.  It really ran the gauntlet between huge pieces and dust.  And i got a few pieces shaped like branches that really sparked. No problems at all during the egg closed phase, but problematic during high heat cooks where I had the Egg buring at Lava temps for steaks and was frequently opening the Egg during the cook.

Skiddymarker

Doc_Eggerton said:

It will generally have huge lumps, which don't work the way you expect.  You need to break them up some.  It lights well, but sparks a lot.  I use it frequently.  If you have a good price, go for it.

I tend to lay some of it down, then put some RO on top.

If you want some mesquite flavour, this is the way to go. Works very well. Not sure what Doc finds works best but I never use more than 20% mesquite mixed with the RO and it adds a great hint of mesquite, burgers and steaks mostly. 

bevg

Thanks for all the feedback!!!!

Jonnysouth

I've used Best of the West for the majority of my cooks...I've experienced the "sparking" during most of the lighting stage....I asked my wife to pick up 3 or 4 bags of Royal Oak or Best of the West while she was in town....she came home with 4 BOTW 20lb bags as she only paid $8.74 per bag! I thought that was a pretty good price so I got some more of it. This was at my local Sams Club. If anyone else likes this brand it might be worth checking to see if prices have dropped in your area.

Fred19Flintstone

My Sams carries Kingsford only.  Cowboy and RO are easy to get and I just burned some WW for the first time and ordered more from ACE.  I've never seen mesquite charcoal (except Kingsford) here in Michigan, but if I do I'll check it out.

FxLynch

I finally had a really bad bag of the "Best of the West".  I had two pieces in the grill that were throwing sparks in a bad way.  One got my eyelid even past my sunglasses. (literally like a sparkler from 4th of July) I closed the lid after the fire was going pretty good and actually had sparks coming out of the top of the BGE without the daisy wheel on.  I'm all about a bargain, but after that little fire shower I won't be buying any more.  

As someone mentioned above, it seemed both of these pieces were shaped like branches rather than cut lumber.  

I found my favorite anyways, WGWW for about 1 dollar/lb so I'm happy for now.