Lump - Another Variable!

patsboosta · March 2012

I have only had my egg for three months and I have been buying Cowboy brand lump from Lowes. The other day I was at the other end of town and got a bag of Wicked Good lump. First thing I noticed was that the large pieces were about three times as large as anything I have seen in the Cowboy lump. The second thing I notices was a much more appealing smell. The Cowboy leaves a heavier smoky taste than the Wicked Good lump. I'm curious if the long time eggers use different lump for different cooks or if they stick with their favorite. If you stick with one which one do you like?

fishlessman · March 2012

i use both those, cowboy has been inconsistent the last half year or so, one bag will be good, the other not so good.

noarmysargent · March 2012

Same for me. I bought 2 bags of cowboy. One bag was mostly fines. I believe a lot of it has to do with how it is handled through delivery.

Shiff · March 2012

I use Royal Oak for my everyday cooking but I use Wicked Good on the long low and slow cooking since it seems to burn longer than RO.

Doc_Eggerton · March 2012

I have bought one bag of Cowboy and that was enough. Burned down faster, heavier smoke, and too much small stuff that clogged or fell through the air holes.

The only other brand avaiable here is BGE and I use it. Since I got the Eggs I have use about 10 bags of BGE brand, and only had an issue with one bag. That one had a number of rocks in it, and something like sand that was in lumps that would break. It burned inconsistantly and I had troubles with getting to temperature.

Logger · March 2012

We can't find Wicked Good in Oklahoma so we buy it by the pallet (60 bags). Several of us get together & place our order and it gets delivered to a business that has a forklift.
22lb bags for just under $17.00 each. Very happy with WG.

Chubbs · March 2012

This is completely different than what I have experienced. The Cowboy I get in SC (Columbia) has been much more consistent (larger pieces) than regular RO and BGE Royal Oak I have gotten. I have not had small pieces of lump clog my vent holes until I bought RO. I guess it just all depends on the batch you get. Looks like I got bad RO and good Cowboy. Interesting to see how it differs.

OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO. · March 2012

Wicked Good is exceptional stuff. I typicially use an 80/20 combiniation of Wicked Good/Cowboy. The Cowboy is basicially an accelerant for the WG. I order it directly from the manufacturer in 3 bag shipments for about $25 a bag. Apparently I need to look into a pallet order.

Scott805 · March 2012

Bought a small bag of B & B (Made in Mexico) yesterday at Central Market and that was the best bag I have ever bought. Huge chunks, very little dust. Must have been handled properly.

Hi54putty · March 2012

Royal Oak for quick cooks and WG for long. WG is the best I have ever used. I also order it 3 bags at a time for $20/bag.

patsboosta · March 2012

The Wicked good is almost twice as much as the Cowboy but it smokes much less and has a much better smell. I swear that on some bags the Cowboy smells like it has lighter fluid in it. Walmart has royal oak that is in the same price range as cowboy so I may give that a shot. If the wicked good burns longer it may be worth the extra price plus the first two cooks were very tasty!

stike · March 2012

stick around enough and you'll see the complaints about sizes, smells, density, fine, broken stuff applies to just about every bag of lump you can buy.

in the end, carbon is carbon, and you can cook with it all.
they might behave differently, but at a certain point, it doesn't matter much

gte1 · March 2012

I bought a
bag of Wicked Good to see what all the fuss was about. So far 4 cooks, chicken,
steaks x2, and 4 hrs of low and slow country ribs. The stuff is very dense and
some of the pieces are absolutely huge. I have broken down many of the pieces
to a more manageable size. I will say
the stuff burns very hot and consistently.
Temp held very steady at 250 for slow cook, with lots of lump left after
4 hrs. as expected. Startup time much
longer as this stuff is very hard to light.
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RO $.73/#
or .83/# if they switch to the 8.8# bag.
Wicked Good $1.25/#. Not sure if
it is worth the price difference unless it really does last that much
longer. I’m in the process of figuring
that out for myself.

George

stike · March 2012

each has pluses/minuses. wicked good can take too long for some to get to temp and burn clean, but that;s because it is dense, which means it burns nice and steady, and long. some have complained it smells of ammonia. all lump has that to a certain extent, but you'll notice it in the denser lumps more.

some complain cowboy is too light and burns too quickly. others laud it because it is light, and burns quickly. you'll be cooking that steak faster with lighter lump, for example

r/o is a great example. it varies based on the source and how it's handled before it gets to you. some huge pieces sometimes some small bits and pieces another time. not consistent enough to declare it one thing or another.

fishless has found cowboy to vary this year. i've seen nothing but denser, tree-chunk-like stuff. used to be much lighter sawmill scrap (not debris, just short lengths).

wicked good is the most consistent brand that i have encountered. but some might not want their daily driver lump to be that dense, or huge.

all i know is that any time my fire has gone out it's been my fault, not the lump's.

boatbum · March 2012

Have always used BGE - been happy with it - nothing to really compare to. Local dealer has been out for two weeks, bought some Cowboy - didnt like it as well - same as above.

Would like to try the Wicked, but don't know where I could find it in the DFW area.

Any DFW area folks know of a source?

stike · March 2012

try royal oak. your BGE charcoal is nothing more than R/O in a BGE bag

gte1 · March 2012

try royal oak. your BGE charcoal is nothing more than R/O in a BGE bag

At 2X the price.

stike · March 2012

@gte1: no joke in that....

Doc_Eggerton · March 2012

Ha, nobody I know has RO here, but Sears carries it. I looked on line and it was a good price, and $180 shipping.

DevDave · March 2012

I've stocked up on RO at Walmart, (the only reason I ever go to Walmart - you can't drag me there for anything other than RO refill), and I've been really happy with it.

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Lump - Another Variable!

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