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I hate to say this!!!

2

Comments

  • Grillin_beers
    Grillin_beers Posts: 1,345
    @WeberWho?‌ I'm still missing some arm hair from the last time I didn't burp my egg. I have a buddy who burned off some eyebrow hair during a clean burn. I've never been burnt badly or anything but definitely lost some hair along the way!
    1 large BGE, Spartanburg SC

    My dog thinks I'm a grilling god. 
  • I must say for me personally I love my LBGE ...but before I purchased it (500.00 new off craigslist) I was fixing to get the KJ large for $725 with the stainless steel bands since I was going to put it in my own table...did a lot of research on both ...I liked the egg but it came down to the $$$$....luckily for me days before my KJ purchase My wife saw the listing on the LBGE and less than an hour I was driving it home        =D> :D

    Large Big Green Egg / Ceramic Grill 2 Tier grate / Maverick ET-733 / homemade egg station / Amelia Island Fl. "Go Gators"

  • WeberWho? said:
    The Big Green Egg is made in Monterey Mexico for a reason and it is not to reduce costs. It is manufactured by the Dal-Tile corporation which has several plants across the US but none of the US plants are capable of producing the level of ceramics the Egg is made of. The Egg is made in the same plant that manufactures the ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. The Kamado Joe is a much lower grade ceramic and is made in China. Run the temperature of the Big Green Egg and a Kamado Joe up to 500 degrees or so for an hour or more and then take a reading of the outside surface temperature of the domes. They are not the same. If you are really brave throw a bucket of ice water on each of them and see what happens. Lots of Kamado cookers on the market but only one Big Green Egg in my opinion.
    Ice bucket challenge for eggs??? =)) Proceeds go to people who forgot to burp the egg?
    And no good ceramics come from China.... 8-|
  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    edited August 2014
    I have a weber summit gas grill, an XL egg, and a drum smoker.  If i had to do it all over again, i'd keep the Summit, do standard size kamado joe for pizzas and easy overnights and a meadow creek PR-36
  • NDG
    NDG Posts: 2,431
    @DMW . . . that meadow creek stuff looks real purdy - might order some rub.

    PS I have been on crazy work travel last 2 weeks and spent some time in your state. Randomly stayed overnight in a town called Jim Thorpe, PA and tried Scrapple for the first time.  Never heard of it until you posted about it.  Enjoyed it . . reminded me of Goetta that ate growing up with my Mom's family in Cincy.

    image 
    Columbus, OH

    “There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as if everything is” 
  • The Big Green Egg is made in Monterey Mexico for a reason and it is not to reduce costs. It is manufactured by the Dal-Tile corporation which has several plants across the US but none of the US plants are capable of producing the level of ceramics the Egg is made of. The Egg is made in the same plant that manufactures the ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. The Kamado Joe is a much lower grade ceramic and is made in China. Run the temperature of the Big Green Egg and a Kamado Joe up to 500 degrees or so for an hour or more and then take a reading of the outside surface temperature of the domes. They are not the same. If you are really brave throw a bucket of ice water on each of them and see what happens. Lots of Kamado cookers on the market but only one Big Green Egg in my opinion.
    I see someone has been reading the BGE propaganda page :)).

    I seriously hope the space shuttle is made out of better materials than my egg. I've gone through a base, 2 fireboxes, 2 rings, 1 platesetter, and a grate in 9 years. My insides are cracked again as we speak. You may be right on the difference between KJ and BGE but let's not say that this is a space age material they are using here. And it is for cost that they are in Mexico.Not sure when they moved but I bet it was right around the time NAFTA was signed. If you want to see space age ceramic construction, go check out Kamodo Kamados. $4000 but they are built like it.

    I will also note that all of my cracked stuff was taken care of without a hitch so I love my eggs and have no complaints. I just think they have a better marketing dept and customer service dept than mfg and materials depts. I'm cool with that though.








    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008



    The Big Green Egg is made in Monterey Mexico for a reason and it is not to reduce costs. It is manufactured by the Dal-Tile corporation which has several plants across the US but none of the US plants are capable of producing the level of ceramics the Egg is made of. The Egg is made in the same plant that manufactures the ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. The Kamado Joe is a much lower grade ceramic and is made in China. Run the temperature of the Big Green Egg and a Kamado Joe up to 500 degrees or so for an hour or more and then take a reading of the outside surface temperature of the domes. They are not the same. If you are really brave throw a bucket of ice water on each of them and see what happens. Lots of Kamado cookers on the market but only one Big Green Egg in my opinion.

    I see someone has been reading the BGE propaganda page :)).

    I seriously hope the space shuttle is made out of better materials than my egg. I've gone through a base, 2 fireboxes, 2 rings, 1 platesetter, and a grate in 9 years. My insides are cracked again as we speak. You may be right on the difference between KJ and BGE but let's not say that this is a space age material they are using here. And it is for cost that they are in Mexico.Not sure when they moved but I bet it was right around the time NAFTA was signed. If you want to see space age ceramic construction, go check out Kamodo Kamados. $4000 but they are built like it.

    I will also note that all of my cracked stuff was taken care of without a hitch so I love my eggs and have no complaints. I just think they have a better marketing dept and customer service dept than mfg and materials depts. I'm cool with that though.










    I've been told that the sand (maybe its some other material in it) can only be found in Mexico. The reason why the ceramic is made in Mexico and not the U.S. I believe everything else is red, white, and blue.

    (I'm sure BGE isn't going out of their way to get the material shipped up from Mexico) ;)
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    @WeberWho? - right! Like it is easier to ship final ceramic parts than it is to ship sand....NAFTA has opened the door for many companies to manufacture in Canada, USA or Mexico. I'm happy, it means I can buy an egg in the States and only pay Goods and Services Tax(5%) plus our Provincial Sales Tax(7%) when I import it. No Duty at all. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • WeberWho? said:
    The Big Green Egg is made in Monterey Mexico for a reason and it is not to reduce costs. It is manufactured by the Dal-Tile corporation which has several plants across the US but none of the US plants are capable of producing the level of ceramics the Egg is made of. The Egg is made in the same plant that manufactures the ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. The Kamado Joe is a much lower grade ceramic and is made in China. Run the temperature of the Big Green Egg and a Kamado Joe up to 500 degrees or so for an hour or more and then take a reading of the outside surface temperature of the domes. They are not the same. If you are really brave throw a bucket of ice water on each of them and see what happens. Lots of Kamado cookers on the market but only one Big Green Egg in my opinion.
    I see someone has been reading the BGE propaganda page :)).

    I seriously hope the space shuttle is made out of better materials than my egg. I've gone through a base, 2 fireboxes, 2 rings, 1 platesetter, and a grate in 9 years. My insides are cracked again as we speak. You may be right on the difference between KJ and BGE but let's not say that this is a space age material they are using here. And it is for cost that they are in Mexico.Not sure when they moved but I bet it was right around the time NAFTA was signed. If you want to see space age ceramic construction, go check out Kamodo Kamados. $4000 but they are built like it.

    I will also note that all of my cracked stuff was taken care of without a hitch so I love my eggs and have no complaints. I just think they have a better marketing dept and customer service dept than mfg and materials depts. I'm cool with that though.








    I've been told that the sand (maybe its some other material in it) can only be found in Mexico. The reason why the ceramic is made in Mexico and not the U.S. I believe everything else is red, white, and blue. (I'm sure BGE isn't going out of their way to get the material shipped up from Mexico) ;)

    I'm just feisty today. I always chuckle a little at the space shuttle references companies make. I'm pretty sure my underwear has threads that hold the entire space program together. I don't really care where it's made. They take good care of me and that's all I care about. The fire grate is made in China. Wonder if there is something special in the ore over there ;) .
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • JohnInCarolina
    JohnInCarolina Posts: 30,867
    The NASA stuff doesn't really matter, but it's possible there is a difference in the quality of the ceramics.  Has anyone actually tried that temperature test? 
    "I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    It's a status thing, mostly. I think you pay extra to be part of the BGE cult/tradition/brand name. The same is true with motorcycles (Japanese bikes vs. Harley's). Same goes with thermometers (others vs. Thermopen)., etc, etc. There are always cheaper alternatives that do basically the same thing. If you have a KJ, you can't use it to cook at an EggFest. LOL
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • tcampbell
    tcampbell Posts: 771
    I have 5 eggs and love them ,that being said I needed a wedding gift and waited as long as I could on the mini Max.just purchased the K J Jr.and for the money I think its a great buy.it comes with everything you need ,but I've never cooked on one.
  • sctdg
    sctdg Posts: 301
    I looked at the Joe side by side with the Egg at a dealer that had just about every grill you could think of . Got to say the Joe did not do it for me .The weird thing is I could not put my finger on what I did not like but just was not impressed .Oh yeah ,this was before I bought my Egg .At the time I was using an offset and a Chargriller Acorn for smoke so you can see I was not using any high end stuff and still there was no wow factor with the Joe.
  • timekpr1
    timekpr1 Posts: 151
    The ore probably came from here.
    Mama always said, Grilling was like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get.
  • Its not just any sand, its magical Mexican sand.
    Gittin' there...
  • Gogogordy
    Gogogordy Posts: 460
    The Big Green Egg is made in Monterey Mexico for a reason and it is not to reduce costs. It is manufactured by the Dal-Tile corporation which has several plants across the US but none of the US plants are capable of producing the level of ceramics the Egg is made of. The Egg is made in the same plant that manufactures the ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. The Kamado Joe is a much lower grade ceramic and is made in China. Run the temperature of the Big Green Egg and a Kamado Joe up to 500 degrees or so for an hour or more and then take a reading of the outside surface temperature of the domes. They are not the same. If you are really brave throw a bucket of ice water on each of them and see what happens. Lots of Kamado cookers on the market but only one Big Green Egg in my opinion.

    NASA sources space shuttle tiles from Mexico? :^)
    When I'm not Eggin', I'm scootin'   Eggin' and 'cueing from Temecula Ca; an hour from San Diego, an hour and five minutes from Palm Springs, and an hour and a half from Los Angeles (yeah, right. With THAT traffic?)
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    I owned many grills before my BGE--- I have owned an average sized offset, brinkman smoker, ducane gasser(s), Webber, blah, blah. I looked at several brands of cookers before I purchased my LBGE. And my next one, which I have prepaid for is the Max. If you base it off of price I guess there are clear winners and losers. I based my decision off of a lot of word of mouth, my dealer whom didn't push anything and OBTW sells many different grills, and the fact that the tight knit community of eggers exist. It comes down to personal preference in the end. I'm extremely happy/satisfied w/ my dealer and I absolutely love being part of the egging community. Period end of story.
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
  • PNWFoodie
    PNWFoodie Posts: 1,046
    Everyone knows the space shuttle program has been discontinued, right? ;)
    XL, JR, and more accessories than anyone would ever need near Olympia, WA
    Sandy
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    edited August 2014
    PNWFoodie said:

    Everyone knows the space shuttle program has been discontinued, right? ;)

    Booooooo! :-q Bring it back :-bd
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
  • bcsnave
    bcsnave Posts: 1,009
    edited August 2014
    dude (NPHuskerFL)..where do you live?

    The Dude..a Mini and a Large Egg..a DigiQ DX (BGE Green)..some Cast Iron...a Thermapen.............and an Ol' Fashion

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    Glenbeulah, WI

  • stemc33
    stemc33 Posts: 3,567
    You people are killing me. When I first started getting serious about buying a ceramic cooker, you EggHeads swayed me into the big green wonder. The first cooker I looked at was the KJ. I've read a few things about BGE's in the past, but never really gave it any thought until I came across the KJ. After spending about 20 minutes reading the propaganda at the KJ dealer, my mind started thinking about my future outdoor cooking ventures.

    On the way home, the local jacuzzi dealer had a sign advertising BGE's and had one on display in front of the store. I stopped in and the dealer didn't seam to know too much, but did tell me some story about the ceramic quality is the best of the best as far as ceramic cookers go.

    After seeing both cookers, I knew I was gonna get one of them. I just needed to justify the purchase to my wife and figure out which one was the best. Immediate response was NO! "You get a BBQ every year". In my eyes, that meant maybe, she just needed more convincing.

    So, with a maybe, I needed to get busy with the research. Obviously, I started with each companies websites and then broadened the search. Yep. Stumbled across this forum and that's all she wrote.

    I had all the information I needed right here on this forum.
    1. Reasons to justify spending almost twice as much as the price of a KJ when I included accessories. 2. Lots of information to present to my wife on why I needed a BGE (worked).

    As I was writing this, I decided to check out the KJ forum again to see if anything has changed. Nope, still couldn't navigate the site without being a member and the website design is lame. So there you have it. I don't know anything about space shuttle ceramics or anything like that, but I know I'm sticking with the BGE because of this forum.

    @DubbsBBQ‌, I know you hated to say it, but I definitely don't hate saying there's a reason I bought a BGE.
    Steven
    Mini Max with Woo stone combo, LBGE, iGrill 2, Plate Setter, 
    two cotton pot holders to handle PS
    Banner, Wyoming
  • victor1
    victor1 Posts: 225
    One of our local dealers used to sell BGE's but switched to KJ's due to price and I assume lack of sales.  My wife insisted that if we buy one it must be a BGE.  We did some research and decided on on a medium.  On a recent trip to Salem Winston NC (1100 miles from home) we found a great dealer who had a nice selection.  The sales person was a good guy with one bit of advice...buy a "large, you'll never regret it."  They had a package price which I think was fair. So, out the door with a Lg BGE. Yes, I'm still learning, temp control is my challenge but starting to get the hang of it.  I've done several different things so far with very good success.  My bbq ribs a couple of weeks ago were the best I've ever had.  Would I buy the same cooker again?   Yes!  Have to add, our dentist has a bge and really helped us make up our mind.
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    bcsnave said:

    dude (NPHuskerFL)..where do you live?

    It's in my signature. Middleburg, FL
    Why do you ask?
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
  • Grillin_beers
    Grillin_beers Posts: 1,345
    Btw I decided after my pizza cook tonight that no other grill could satisfy me. I'm gonna buy a small big green egg. Screw the KJ! In other news, it's at this point I realize I'm drunk. I also need to get off my phone and enjoy my guests. Y'all have a fun night!
    1 large BGE, Spartanburg SC

    My dog thinks I'm a grilling god. 
  • Cookinbob
    Cookinbob Posts: 1,691
    I have two eggs now, and I guess I have drunk the BGE Kool Aid.  Yes the grill is expensive, but it will last a lifetime, and pass on to my kids.  In the grand scheme of things I think it has been a great investment.  I always liked to cook, and I love cooking on the egg.   I really like being a part of this forum, and have learned so much and have raised the bar for my cooks.   I am even a celebrity of sorts in the neighborhood as no one else has taken the egg plunge yet.  I don't think I would feel that way if I had bought any other grill.

    BTW, I am loving my small.  Fired it up tonight and did some personal pizzas with grilled peaches for dessert.  Quick to temp, and I am going through a lot less lump than when I cooked everything on the XL.
    XLBGE, Small BGE, Homebrew and Guitars
    Rochester, NY
  • BYS1981
    BYS1981 Posts: 2,533
    One thing is for sure.. KJ lump is far superior to that CRAP BGE sells.

    I'm not sure about their grill though.
  • bcsnave
    bcsnave Posts: 1,009
    Just got some "Best of the West"..100% mesquite lump..great stuff...long burning

    The Dude..a Mini and a Large Egg..a DigiQ DX (BGE Green)..some Cast Iron...a Thermapen.............and an Ol' Fashion

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    Glenbeulah, WI

  • Bullibe
    Bullibe Posts: 132
    mrw123 said:
    They look good and I don't doubt the quality or value. But I REALLY wanted to support US manufacturing when I was buying. I know BGE quality is great and I was willing to pay more for a product made here. I fully support everyone spending their own money EXACTLY the way they want though. Just my two cents.
    BGE is made in Mexico as far as I know, but I love mine !

    Redneck Riviera, Gulf Shores, Alabama
  • freddyj
    freddyj Posts: 129
    Gogogordy said:
    The Big Green Egg is made in Monterey Mexico for a reason and it is not to reduce costs. It is manufactured by the Dal-Tile corporation which has several plants across the US but none of the US plants are capable of producing the level of ceramics the Egg is made of. The Egg is made in the same plant that manufactures the ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. The Kamado Joe is a much lower grade ceramic and is made in China. Run the temperature of the Big Green Egg and a Kamado Joe up to 500 degrees or so for an hour or more and then take a reading of the outside surface temperature of the domes. They are not the same. If you are really brave throw a bucket of ice water on each of them and see what happens. Lots of Kamado cookers on the market but only one Big Green Egg in my opinion.

    NASA sources space shuttle tiles from Mexico? :^)

    Lol yes @Gogogordy‌ , not sure you've ever crossed the border @'Tijuana, but there are street vendors pushing shopping carts selling gum, trinkets, souvenirs and, of course, ceramic tiles that are used in space-shuttle construction.
    Kamado Joe Big Joe, Classic & Junior
  • Gogogordy
    Gogogordy Posts: 460
    Yes, of course. Interestingly the decorative painting on those Mexican tiles NEVER shows-up in pictures or TV footage I've seen of the shuttle. Of course that makes the ceramics used in the BGE vastly superior to others for....space travel. For cooking, grilling, searing, smoking, baking I dont see the connection.
    When I'm not Eggin', I'm scootin'   Eggin' and 'cueing from Temecula Ca; an hour from San Diego, an hour and five minutes from Palm Springs, and an hour and a half from Los Angeles (yeah, right. With THAT traffic?)