Wicked good or royal oak

adajmk · December 2012

My local Walmart carries royal oak (8.8# bags) and an ace hardware has 22# bags of wicked good.

When I factor in the ace coupon for $20 off $100 purchase the cost is practically the same per pound.

Thoughts?

Village Idiot · December 2012

Everybody has different personal experiences. I like and use Royal Oak. I bought a bag of Wicked Good once and the lumps were as big as boulders. So, I haven't used them anymore. Others have had bad experiences with RO.

It's not like you're making a lifetime commitment here. Buy a couple of bags of each and make your own decision.

adajmk · December 2012

Thanks. to take advantage of the coupon at ace though i would need to buy 5bags of wicked good so it is a commitment to use that brand for a while.

Skiddymarker · December 2012

To me they are very similar.

I picked up a couple bags of WG to try it and compared to the 17.6# bag of RO, I noted little difference in size and performance. The WG did seem to start slower and burn longer.

It should also be noted, like others here, the 17.6# bag of RO is better and has considerably more mid size and larger chunks than the 8.8#bag. I've not used the 8.8# bags in some time.

This conclusion was reached after a comparison to only two bags of WG and probably 100 bags of RO, so the sample size would be what pollsters call "scientifically correct 1 out of 50 times"...If you can get them at close to the same price, go for it.

bigguy136 · December 2012

I've been an 8.8 lb RO green bag user for some time. I use a Stoker temp controller and I have Excel record all my data every 2 minutes I'm cooking. Normally I clean out my large BGE, dump 1 bag of RO and I had 22 hours of cooking time (at 250°) with some extra. Lately I've been running out. My last time with RO was a 21 lb beef clod. I filled my BGE until the lump hit the plate setter. 12.5 hours into my cook, I had temps dropping. I pulled everything out of my egg and there was a few coals burning. I dumped another bag of RO and put everything back in. It took about an hour to get going again. At 27 hours my temps were dropping again but my clod was close enough. After pulling my clod off, I looked and was out of lump. I don't know if I got a bad pallet of lump or if the quality is dropping but I'm looking at other brands of lump.

gte1 · December 2012

I just picked up 10 bags of WG for the same reason. At the same price it is a no brainer over RO. Sometimes you will need to whack some giant pieces with a hammer though. It just lasts longer, and produces less ash it does take longer to light though.

IrishDevl · December 2012

Wicked good, hands down

Fred19Flintstone · December 2012

Village Idiot said:

Everybody has different personal experiences. I like and use Royal Oak. I bought a bag of Wicked Good once and the lumps were as big as boulders. So, I haven't used them anymore. Others have had bad experiences with RO.

It's not like you're making a lifetime commitment here. Buy a couple of bags of each and make your own decision.

VI, your comment got me thinking. We are loyal to our lump brand that is kind of reminiscent to loyalty to a car company. Growing up my Dad worked for GM, so we drove Chevys and Oldsmobiles. Nowadays, I'm a Chevy guy, but Wilma likes a minivan and Chrysler makes the best one IMO. So I guess we are an American car family.

Maybe a lump brand isn't a lifetime commitment, but people are pretty loyal. I usually buy RO made lump for everyday stuff and WG for low & slows. I prefer WG, but RO is cheaper and I can go to a store and buy it. I have to order WG and have it shipped to my local ACE.

Skiddymarker · December 2012

Fred - it is not just loyalty to a brand, although that is without a doubt a significant consideration. After performance, value for money spent, the next consideration (or maybe the first) is easy to use. RO is available everywhere in our neck of the woods, WG not so much. Even if WG was 15% better, I'm not sure it is worth the trouble to go get it. I am envious of those who can simply make a choice and pick up what they want.

What i do know, BGE is not worth the heavy premium charged by the dealers.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · December 2012

I opt to use what makes my food taste the best, I feel you can't beat the oak/hickory mix of Royal Oak. JMO

Fred19Flintstone · December 2012

Skiddymarker said:

Fred - it is not just loyalty to a brand, although that is without a doubt a significant consideration. After performance, value for money spent, the next consideration (or maybe the first) is easy to use. RO is available everywhere in our neck of the woods, WG not so much. Even if WG was 15% better, I'm not sure it is worth the trouble to go get it. I am envious of those who can simply make a choice and pick up what they want.
What i do know, BGE is not worth the heavy premium charged by the dealers.

@Skiddymarker, I thought all you Canucks burned that Maple stuff. I forget the brand name.

fairchase · December 2012

Here is an older post I made.

I will probably get bashed here , but I am going to play the devils advocate. I don't see Wicked Good WW as the holy grail of charcoal as most others seem to.

I bought 3 bags awhile back @ 20% off , 2 bags after thanksgiving @ 20% off as well as 1 bag at 50% off.

Here is my take on this.
An 8.8 lb. bag of royal oak will pretty much fill my xl. This load will easily cook 24 hrs with coal left over.

It will take about 3/4 of the 22 lb. bag of WW to fill to the same level . It will burn longer , but not that much.

As well as I can tell 1 - 22Lb bag of WW might last a little longer than 2 - 8.8 lb. bags of RO.

If getting enough coal in your egg to last through a long cook is an issue the WW would have an edge , but this is not an issue with my XL.

WW produces less ash than RO , but again this is not an issue with my XL.

RO produces a more hearty hardwoods type smoke that I tend to like vs WW.

RO lights faster , comes to temperature quicker , and sparks much more when light with a map torch.

The biggest pieces of WW are way bigger than the biggest pieces of RO. Of the 2 bags of WW i've used there were 5-6 huge pieces , a small amount of medium pieces , and lots of small stuff. While I really liked the large pieces I disliked the amount of small pieces more than I liked the # of huge pieces. Just really not enough medium size stuff to my liking.

The WW bag is nice.

So while I think WW is good coal , and will continue using it for low and slows if I can buy it for $17 or less. For grilling , and high heat cooks as well as cooks 4hrs or less I prefer RO.

jjmills · December 2012

I use both. RO burns a lot faster. Longer cooks I use WG

JohnInCarolina · December 2012

How do these compare to the lump BGE puts out? That's all I've used so far.

Skiddymarker · December 2012

Fred19Flintstone said:

Skiddymarker said:

Fred - it is not just loyalty to a brand, although that is without a doubt a significant consideration. After performance, value for money spent, the next consideration (or maybe the first) is easy to use. RO is available everywhere in our neck of the woods, WG not so much. Even if WG was 15% better, I'm not sure it is worth the trouble to go get it. I am envious of those who can simply make a choice and pick up what they want.
What i do know, BGE is not worth the heavy premium charged by the dealers.

@Skiddymarker, I thought all you Canucks burned that Maple stuff. I forget the brand name.

No, Maple Leaf is great, but to my knowledge it is only available in the center of the universe, Ontario/Quebec, of course that's where LS lives....

Out west in the Republic of Cascadia, we are more closely tied to our American cousins, hence RO and WG.

Lit · December 2012

Wicked good is way better than the 8.8 pound bags of royal oak. I choose the 20 pound bags of cowboy over royal oak. I buy cowboy for my small and mini and wicked good for my large and XL. The large pieces in wicked good work fine in the large and XL but not so good in smaller eggs. I won't even use royal oak anymore. There is a store by me that sells the Canadian maple lump think its called nature something and it is good also. Think it is like $17 for a 20 pound bag.

cortguitarman · December 2012

JohnInCarolina said:
How do these compare to the lump BGE puts out? That's all I've used so far.

BGE lump is made by Royal Oak. The only difference is price.

losttree · December 2012

My wife didn't like the smoke flavor (or maybe my cooking) when I used WG so I've switched back to RO for grilling. I think I'll be sticking with WG for smoking though because the pieces are larger and seem to burn longer than RO.

jeroldharter · December 2012

Wicked Good works for me. Seems to last forever. Although there are big chunks, there is a good mix of sizes. I bought about 20 bags from Ace on sale and it is a great deal. One incidental thing is that the actual bag or packaging material is also very good and durable. I do a variety of cooking. I suppose that lump with a bunch of smaller pieces and dust might be better if you do a lot of short, high temp cooks.

I have an XL, fill up the fire ring with WG, and it seems to last forever. I just close the vents at the end, and then add a little lump with the next cook and it burns fine. If I am going to do a long cook, like pork buts low and slow, I empty the firebox and add a good mix of new and old lump.

So buy the Ace deal plus one bag of RO and compare. You will use it all.

NDG · December 2012

wicked good.

Stargaze · December 2012

I have both in my stockpile. I tend to use RO for every day use and WG for long burns and that good smokey flavor.

adajmk · December 2012

Went with the wicked good. Picked up 5 bags yesterday and smoking my first 6 pound chuck roast today. Got the egg at 250 and shooting for early dinner.

Ed Earl · December 2012

Check out this link. It will help with lump selection.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

AleBrewer · December 2012

I'm another in the minority here....I prefer RO red bag.

Brownie · December 2012

Try them both. They are both good lumps.. I use them both, but if I think know that WG will last longer than RO. If the size bothers you than just break the huge pieces apart as I'm sure others have already stated. I use them both and like them both but if WG was the same price as RO I would go with WG.

SmokinDAWG82 · December 2012

Went to Wally world this afternoon and they have NO Lump whatsoever, cut it out to make room for Christmas decorations. Good thing I have plenty of other sources!

lousubcap · December 2012

My discriminator-any time you can get what you need and want from anywhere besides Wallyworld-go for it. Price is not the only or best measure of the overall value. An opinion and we all know what those are worth-

Stargaze · December 2012

Just an FYI, Acehardware is having a one day sale today. Get 15% off your order, yes this applies to Wicked Good coal.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12791311

Sundown · December 2012

I've been using WG for almost as long as I've had my Egg, 12 years. I'm one of those fortunate people that enjoyed WG Competition Blend.

You couldn't beat that stuff with a stick!

When WG had to move to the Weekend Warrior blend I squirreled as much Comp blend as I could. That stuff would burn almost forever.

Today, under lock and key I have about 40 bags of Comp Blend stashed in the shed. When I have a long cook I break out a bag and use it. I do save CB for special occasions only.

I also have a fair amount of Weekend Warrior too and use it for most every day cooks.

I see that a lot of folks don't like the big pieces but, I'm just the opposite, LOVE those huge chunks!

Egg was just cleaned out for Holiday cooks and is filled to the top of the fire ring with CB. That should last me well into the first of the year even with all of the cooks we'll do.

I have emailed WG and asked what I'm going to do when I run out of CB. The response was simple (and correct), "buy Weekend Warrior and learn to live with it. Stop complaining."

Oh well, some day I'll sit and reminisce about 'when I had a load of Competition Blend and how good it was . . . back in the day. Geezers do that you know.

HDmstng · December 2012

I just used WGWW for the first time on Saturday, prior to that it was one large bag of RO that came with my Egg and a couple of smaller 8.8lb bags of RO. Not a large sampling, but one thing my wife noticed was the WGWW had much less of a smokey/charcoal smell. She didn't have a problem at the Eggfest when I got my egg, but with her being pregnant, the morning sickness as well as the bloodhound nose she's seemed to develop, the WGWW will become a staple after this since she stayed away from the egg like the plague due to the smell.

I did notice the pieces were huge, but should be easy enough to break apart. The one large bag of RO I had did seem to have much larger pieces than the two smaller bags of RO I had purchased.

xraypat23 · December 2012

wicked good, hands down. Wait for 20% off ace coupons!

Wicked good or royal oak

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