Mesquite Lump Charcoal

CajunEggHead

 Has anyone used the Mesquite Lump and if so how does it make the meat flavoring too strong??Our local Sam's store has it in 20# Bags and if it is too strong I won't waste my money on it....

calracefan

I have use Best of the West and it was fine , no strong taste.

The Naked Whiz

 I've used it a number of times.  In one of my reviews just for fun I did a butt overnight with it (but not smoking chunks) and it wasn't strong at all.  You might not like it as much for fish or poultry, but certainly for beef and pork, it's fine.  It's certainly worth trying a bag to find out if you like it or not.

CajunEggHead

Thanks for the info, I will give it a try..... John

nolaegghead

I've burned through a bunch of those bags and they're fine.  Not as "neutral" as some like Royal Oak, but nothing was overwhelmingly mesquity.

ddegger

Off topic....Geaux Tigers!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I have to eat a little crow here. I used it for months and really loved it. I was telling everyone how great it was for the price, how big the chunks were (they were huge and hardly any dust). I talked with The Whiz about it and he was telling me that wasn't what he was seeing. I just couldn't believe it, the stuff I was getting was great.......for about 6 months. Then it got worse and worse. 

So I've gone through easily 1000 lbs of it and if I could get the stuff I got at first, I would still use it for some things. Here is what i would tell you- Tons of sparks and tons of ash compared to many other brands of lump. I would also say to shake the bags before buying. If it sounds like one of those rain sticks you see at the hippie stores (sandals, hammocks, hipster hats, and rainsticks), walk away or find one that does not. They treat them really rough and lots of times they are small pieces and dust by the time they get to retail. Or they will have one 4 foot log in there and a bunch of dust. The logs break up fine with a hammer and burn like any other lump. They just aren't very consistent with what you will find in there. I have tons of pics on here somewhere. 

So, the lump itself is fine once it stops sparking and is not strong at all. It's just getting a bag that isn't 2 logs and dust or full of quarter sized pieces that is the issue. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Here is what it was early on, Really nice chunks and very little dust:

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Here are some of the big chunks (no, I did not find that shoe in there)

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I have a sack of dust out there I need to weight from the last one. I bet it's 5 lbs out of the 40 lb bag.

Anyhow- it's not bad if you get the good bags. They may be better since its early n the season. I found the longer they had it, more beat up it got. by the end of last year, I stopped buying it and they stopped carrying it. 

BTW- they had 2 last year. Best of the west and a generic version that just said 100% mesquite lump charcoal. Both were from Mexico.  I bought the generic one to do a cochinita pibil pit on the beach last year and it seemed identical to BOTW. It had logs in there but that was cool for the pit. i still have a bag of that. I might separate it all out and see what the stats are.

egger ave

The mesquite lump I find for sale in Central Texas is very inconsistent in quality (size of the chunks) regardless of the brand on the bag. I have returned 2 bags to HEB because they were most mostly dust. I use the "shake method" before putting the bag in the cart. The flavor is OK for most cooks IMHO except for fish.