Mail Order Lump

Black_Badger said:

I've purchased Ozark Oak from Firecraft in that past. I thought the price was reasonable and I did like the charcoal, but I will say a few bags arrived pretty beat up and I always ended up with a lot of dust and unusable rubble. I think a big, bulky, heavy, dirty, somewhat fragile bag of carbonized wood is just a difficult thing to ship effectively and efficiently.

I hope you find something you like, and I do recommend giving Ozark Oak a shot for at least a bag or two.

Cheers -
B_B

stlcharcoal said:

RajunCajun said:

 ....it seems over time most lump mfgs have more and more smaller pieces in their bags.

It's not anything we/they can really control.  Any small chunks before bagging occurs fall through the screens and get sold for briquettes, composting, munitions, etc.

It's all mother nature.  Density of the wood, grain, cut of wood, moisture content, ambient humidity, etc are all factors.  The wood comes in slabs, scraps from the lumber mills, so it's never going to be any bigger than what could have been a board.  You can make charcoal out of cord word, but it's hard to get an even char (brittle on the outside, wood on the inside.)  Same goes that you just couldn't throw a tree in a kiln, then cut off a 20# block of charcoal......not gonna happen.

I got a cantaloupe sized chunk out of one of my bags the other day--that was one of the biggest diameters I had witnessed in years come out of a RW bag.  Had a chunk the size of my forearm a few weeks ago (same run of bags.)  That was just a good kiln for big chunks......who knows if it will be that way ever again.

In any case, the higher the carbon content, the more brittle it's going to be--thus the more it's going to break down every time it moves (like a bag of Lay's potato chips.)

The good news it that know matter what the size, it has the same amount of BTU's and burns the same.  Yes, you're more susceptible to a flame out due to less airflow with smaller chunks--just get a high-flow fire grate and pour toward the outsides of the firebox.  Or always do your first pour to the bottom with a new bag, then save the bottom half of the bags to top off the upper half.  Us kamado guys are the only guys that want big chunks.  All my Weber, offset, and gravity fed guys want small to medium......so we shoot for medium-large if mother nature allows.

Thanks a bunch for the detailed info.  I understand and agree with it all, but something tells me that something has changed at a macro mfg level.  Meaning for many years as I would open a bag of lump (any brand), there was a range of chunk sizes.  I could always sift through and find enough large chunks for my cook as well as a nice selection of smaller pieces, which would nicely sit atop of my pile.  Over the  years the number of larger pieces has dwindled.  All things equal (i.e. transportation), why would we see such a sharp decrease in larger chunks.  Have the trucks become rougher riding?  Or could it be that due to global demand the feed stock size assortment has broadened....moreso on the smaller end.  If my theory holds true, I would await a premium cost for "sorted" lump.  Just not sure if the market will buy.