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Wow...totally different lump

Finished my first bag of lump this week - BGE brand. Being new and having nothing to compare to I wasn't surprised that all the pieces in the bag were the size of a small plum or smaller - lot of it was about the size of a quarter. I did have the sense that I was going through it quickly....only four cooks that weren't very long or hot and burned up a full 20lb bag. Today I brought home some Wicked Good Weekend Warrior - wow! What a difference. All big chunks, mostly 5-6" and some even bigger. Cooked for a few hours tonight and lots left over. I'll definitely be making a permanent switch to the Weekend Warrior.
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Comments

  • daffy1909
    daffy1909 Posts: 498
    edited March 2013
    ive been looking for wgww around here for a while! i found the same thing with bge brand! ive been using royal oak and its not to bad! but i have to go out of town to get that too! so far bge is the only brand i can get in town! just have to stock up next trip to menards!!
  • daffy1909 said:
    ive been looking for wgww around here for a while! i found the same thing with bge brand! ive been using royal oak and its not to bad! but i have to go out of town to get that too! so far bge is the only brand i can get in town! just have to stock up next trip to menards!!

    Royal Oak and BGE are the exact same thing. Different bag.
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • Parallel
    Parallel Posts: 433
    I've yet to try Wicked Good Weekend Warrior mostly because I've to yet to find it local. Right now I find that Royal Oak is the best I've used to date.

    Every time my elbow bends my mouth flies open.
  • Jscott
    Jscott Posts: 174
    I know others have tried many different brands. I've tried BGE - seems like we all do when we start, Cowboy and now WW. I loved Cowboy for awhile, was easy to get at my Ace and was right about $10 for a bag. Recently its up to $14 at my ACE and yesterday I found they are not going to carry it any more. They've switched to WW, so I tried it. Paid $20 for a 22 pound bag and I have to say it does last longer and the chunks are very nice sized. Lasting longer too.
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    edited March 2013
    Bought 4 bags of Wicked Good and gave the last two to Travis. IMO not the lump that Ozark Oak is. Travis seems to like it. But I don't do low and slow at all and Travis cooks briskets.
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Aviator
    Aviator Posts: 1,757
    edited March 2013
    Any comments on B&B hardwood oak lump. Was cheap at Academy, but was hesitant to buy.

    ______________________________________________ 

    Large and Small BGE, Blackstone 36 and a baby black Kub.

    Chattanooga, TN.

     

  • Lmartin
    Lmartin Posts: 11
    I've been using the BGE brand or the Cowboy brand. But the last bag of Cowboy that I bought had some things in it that didn't look like lump charcoal to me. It looked like some sort of plastic bands. I discarded them and still used the lump coal. But I don't know if I would buy Cowboy any more.
  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    Lump is heated in big kilns with a big selection of different woods - some bundled some loose.  So you can get all kinds of "stuff" in the bagging process -- a lot of cement pieces from the wall of the kiln, etc..
  • Hi54putty
    Hi54putty Posts: 1,873
    Aviator said:

    Any comments on B&B hardwood oak lump. Was cheap at Academy, but was hesitant to buy.

    I haven't tried it but know a lot of guys that like it. Give it a shot.
    XL,L,S 
    Winston-Salem, NC 
  • Sookie
    Sookie Posts: 335

    Recently we bought some WGWW and found that it seemed like it was harder to light than the BGE brand, but once we get it lit we have no problems.  Also FYI I was accidentally charged twice for my purchase off the WGWW but they fixed it immediately, and also told me that if there is an ACE hardware around they can ship to that store for you at no shipping cost to you. 

  • daffy1909 said:
    ive been looking for wgww around here for a while! i found the same thing with bge brand! ive been using royal oak and its not to bad! but i have to go out of town to get that too! so far bge is the only brand i can get in town! just have to stock up next trip to menards!!

    If you have a ACE HArdware close by order there. Free shipping to store for Wicked Good
  • ddegger
    ddegger Posts: 244
    @tuna - I hear you, but was using about 1/3 of a bag per cook also. At 30$ per bag of BGE, thats 10$ per cook instead of $2.20. Cost isn't a huge deal, but that adds up pretty quick as often as I'm egging. So far looks like WGWW is holding out a lot longer. I agree that I don't know how someone would easily evaluate the 'burns hotter' thing!
  • Aviator said:
    Any comments on B&B hardwood oak lump. Was cheap at Academy, but was hesitant to buy.
    I'm not a fan at all. Super hard to light and very sparky. Once it's going it's fine but the last few bags i got were so sparky it was like a fire hazard. Had a buddy who bought some for his offset from Academy and he said the same thing


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    If it didn't cost so much I would send you a bag of Maple Leaf. Keep your eyes open for Basqes "Nature's Own" at Costco

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    If I recall correctly, there are several origin points for royal oak and the quality varies dramatically. Check out naked whiz for details. I use wgww in preference to cowboy and whole foods 365 which is also royal oak.
  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    ddegger said:
    @tuna - I hear you, but was using about 1/3 of a bag per cook also. At 30$ per bag of BGE, thats 10$ per cook instead of $2.20. Cost isn't a huge deal, but that adds up pretty quick as often as I'm egging. So far looks like WGWW is holding out a lot longer. I agree that I don't know how someone would easily evaluate the 'burns hotter' thing!
     
    Hold on -- my bag was an eight + pound bag of RO.  NOT a BGE 20 pound bag!  This RO is $6.68 per bag at Walmart.  As i stated "on average" i get about three cooks per bag..  I have a large egg and couldn't fit a third of a 20 pound bag in the fire ring..

  • smokesniffer
    smokesniffer Posts: 2,016
    daffy1909 said:
    ive been looking for wgww around here for a while! i found the same thing with bge brand! ive been using royal oak and its not to bad! but i have to go out of town to get that too! so far bge is the only brand i can get in town! just have to stock up next trip to menards!!

    Royal Oak and BGE are the exact same thing. Different bag.
    Up in our neck of the woods Royal Oak is just about half price of the BGE bag. Whats with that if they are the same thing, wouldn't it be better for the dealers to lower their price and sell more volume.
    Large, small, and a mini
  • ddegger
    ddegger Posts: 244
    ddegger said:
    @tuna - I hear you, but was using about 1/3 of a bag per cook also. At 30$ per bag of BGE, thats 10$ per cook instead of $2.20. Cost isn't a huge deal, but that adds up pretty quick as often as I'm egging. So far looks like WGWW is holding out a lot longer. I agree that I don't know how someone would easily evaluate the 'burns hotter' thing!
     
    Hold on -- my bag was an eight + pound bag of RO.  NOT a BGE 20 pound bag!  This RO is $6.68 per bag at Walmart.  As i stated "on average" i get about three cooks per bag..  I have a large egg and couldn't fit a third of a 20 pound bag in the fire ring..


    Yeah, I was off by a bit, but not much. Counting back I realize that I got four cooks (filled to top of fir box) out of the 20lb bag and there was a bit left over in the bottom. I really think it was because it was a bag full og quarter sized pieces. I will get many more fills out of this bag og wgww....no where near 1/4 bag per fill with this big lump.
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    If it burns and smells good, I'm ok with it.  If it's sparky and a fire hazard, I have a hose right by for those 90 seconds of lighting.  Once the lid is closed, the sparks mostly stay inside.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1EYTZjhBuY
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Turkle
    Turkle Posts: 5
    Have you guys tried Ozark Oak? It's the best for me for the money. I can consistently get it for around $5/bag. What's the average cost for everybody else?
  • nemo
    nemo Posts: 113
    Turkle....I pay $11 per bag in Dallas area. Where are you located? Nearby I hope!
    Fairview, Texas
  • WGWW I found that I like it the best, I never have problems with BGE but for me you get bigger chunks and a cleaner burn with WGWW. This is a chunk I have left over from a six hour 330 deg burn only about half is gone.  

    image
  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
    @Turkle I'm with @nemo and pay around $11 a bag for Ozark Oak in Oklahoma City I bought some Royal Oak when I didn't have time to run to my dealer and was amazed at how fast I went through it compared to Ozark. I will pay the extra 3 or 4 dollars and use Ozark whenever I can. I might have to take a weekend trip and stock up on it at that price if you aren't too far away.. 
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
  • Turkle
    Turkle Posts: 5
    nemo said:
    Turkle....I pay $11 per bag in Dallas area. Where are you located? Nearby I hope!
    Nemo. I get it at Harps in Rogers, AR
  • Deckhand
    Deckhand Posts: 318
    May be hard to get Wicked Good from ACE... No longer on their website.  Only Cowboy lump, Kingsford and Grillmarks briquettes. Two people on the BBQ brethren forum said it could still be special ordered by the store ... SKU # 8322786.  Hope so... I love the stuff (except for the fireworks when you hit it with a weedburner. 
  • Austin  Egghead
    Austin Egghead Posts: 3,966
    Aviator said:
    Any comments on B&B hardwood oak lump. Was cheap at Academy, but was hesitant to buy.
    Bought a 25# of B&B (SAmerican hardwood) and will never buy that brand again.  Sparks way too much, has a funky smell that irritated my airway, way too many small branches, some very large pieces of lump that sparked every time I opened the egg....Nope never will buy that again.  
    Large, small and mini now Egging in Rowlett Tx
  • LDR
    LDR Posts: 414
    edited April 2013

    As far as I know, the only place Ozark Oak moves at $5/bag is at Harps grocery stores in Arkansas.  Ozark Oak is out of northern Arkansas, but Harps is still the only place to find it under $10.  I recently saw somewhere that if you go to the plant in Centerville, you can get it at $3.89 a bag.

    I just now noticed that Harps also has locations in southern Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.  There's also one in Oklahoma City.  If anybody's near one of those sites, you might let the forum know if those stores have it at the better price.

    http://www.harpsfood.com/StoreLocator/Store_S.las?-token.S=CF2T9REC7280578P7ee20D32OioN6L5113028B%7C19940%7C1002251344%7C%7C%7C

     

     

  • This is definitely one of the most popular topics around here.  If I had to rank the lumps purely based on reading every lump thread (theres probably about one or more per week! :D ) I would say the consensus order would look like this: 

    1.  Ozark Oak
    2.  Royal Oak
    3.  Wicked Good Weekend Warrior (credibility seems to have been dropping lately)
    4.  BGE
    .
    .
       Many others
    .
    .
       Cowboy
    .
    .


    There are of course many others but these seem to be the most widely used.
  • horseflesh
    horseflesh Posts: 206
    I started with BGE brand, and compared it to the Wicked that my BBQ shop also carried. Liked the smell of BGE better, but man, is it expensive! Tried RO as soon as I learned it's the same thing. Currently I get RO at $15 for a 16lb bag, at an independent hardware store. Unfortunately it's a 30 minute drive, and if they stop caring it, I am hosed... They are the only RO source in the Seattle area-- and I have tried to find more by calling the RO mothership.

    It's easy to get mesquite cheap around here, but I just don't like it as much.