All kidding and razzing aside what do you have against Royal Oak?

RRP

I seldom enter into discussing lump brands as I find it like the Ford vs Chevy argument. Both Ford and Chevy will provide you transportation etc for a reasonable price. IMHO lump charcoal is the same thing, but done on a shorter time frame. I mean who milks ONE bag of lump for a year? Full disclosure here...right now I have 140 pounds of OO on hand, as well as 200 pounds of Rockwood and at least 400 pounds of RO. In all these years I have only had one bag of RO that was clearly marked as being foreign wood and it was so smokey that I cleaned my egg the next day and threw the remaining 20# in the trash. Otherwise I have never had any issues with RO!  And the rock issue happens with any reasonably priced brand. I mean RO is readily available, inexpensive and serves my routine egg cooking needs with no issues! Is RO bashing a new national BBQ past time or is it just reserved for eggers here? Please - no flames - I'm just trying to understand the RO slamming that seems to be a growing issue here. 

Scottborasjr

I bought 100 lbs split between Rockwood and Ozark oak right before O.O stopped supplying Firecraft. While I do like them better then Royal Oak to me they aren't twice as much the cost better. I'll probably keep ordering Rockwood for certain cooks where I'm wanting very little smoke flavor or want a particular smoking wood stand out. But for probably 80% of my cooks I'm fine using R.O.

clemsontyger97

Glad you asked this.   I was wondering the same thing.   I've only been using lump for a few months now, and so far RO is the only one I've used.  Mostly because I had read positive reviews, and not wanting to break the bank on charcoal.   I haven't really had any complaints at all, but after some reading on here was wondering if that's just because I don't know any better

jabam

RO is all I have used. I have had some cooks where too smokey mostly on chicken. But I have learned to let it burn for a while before I put meat on. Works fine for me. Again I have never tried anything else. Was going to try Frontier from Lowes but heard all negative stuff about it. 

xiphoid007

Before I discovered fircraft.com RO was my go to lump. Overall I find it very high in the VOC department and it gives very heavy smoke flavor, but not in a good way, to my food. I switched to Ozark Oak and have loved it. I'm down to 2 bags now, and looks like I need to change again. Probably gonna go with Rockwood on my next order.

I don't know I could go back to RO. My wife really didn't like the flavor, and I have to agree. Just no clean burning enough for me. A lot of rocks too. Rocks in literally every bag.

I don't really bash though, just not my favorite.

maso

I liked the royal oak but I do have to say the my wife started to really like food off the egg when I switched to OO. I think it allowed me to more subtly introduce her to smoked foods. Even now, she's not super keen on them. But I keep thinking to trying another bag of RO to see if I can tell much difference since its been since November. And I guess whenever I run out of the OO I'll have to go back to it, or try out firecraft (although I'm not super thrilled about that). 

In in my experience it seems like some people just like to bash stuff. Maybe that's not always true, but we should all be able to functionally disagree. 

RiverDoc

I use RW primarily for the neutral smell/taste . I cook a lot of fish and chicken and my wife is not a heavy "smoke" fan.I'm still fairly new at this game. I've only used RO once and I had to reload during a pizza cook. Looking back I don't think it was the RO fault but my ignorance and inexperience in not loading enough to start. As far as taste I thought it was fine but my wife did notice a difference on a cook when I had not told her I changed lump. But I think your correct it does seem like a new past time to bash RO. 

Chubbs

Ron, I am with you. I have used RO for years as there isn't much of an option here.  I recently found Fogo and that is really good. I can get Fogo for $12 for a 17lb bag and RO for slightly cheaper. I will keep using those two as I have never been upset with either. 

ChillyWillis

Personally I'm just not a fan of the sooty flavor that it can leave on foods when burned in an egg. The air tight confines of the BGE really brings out that soot flavor. I do have several bags of RO, but only use it if I'm cooking with the dome open, using it for clean burns, or use it if I'm firing up my webber smokey joe. It's fine in the smokey Joe, just for my tastes not in the BGE. 

fiver29

People don't like it because it is widely available and you can pick it up at Wal Mart.  Unless you buy your charcoal by the pallet driving for two days in your truck you aren't one of the cool kids.

stlcharcoal

Good domestic product at a great price point.  Gets the big box store consumer who doesn't know any better to try lump vs. briquettes for a few bucks extra, and gives them a much better experience than briquettes.  Even though they are now in ATL, they were originally a Missouri family, and do a lot of business and good for our state.

gmac

Ron, no comment on RO, it's ok but I prefer Maple Leaf and it's easier to get. My real question is. Why do you have 740 lbs of lump on hand?  Zombie apocalypse?

MrCookingNurse

So.... I didn't read all the comments. But I've had my egg for 3 almost 4 years and have never bought anything but RO and it's never let me down. I like the smell and flavor too. I have bought a bag here and there of cowboy and it was always terrible. Either strange pieces or now a terrible smell/taste. 

I would assume I've used hundreds of pounds or RO and the strangest thing I've found is a few rocks. It only took two bags of cowboy to find a nail and some scrap pieces. 

On The other hand, I have never used a boutique charcoal to have a comparison. 

Zmokin

Never used RO, never bad mouthed it either.  I used BGE brand at first.  Then tried a bag of something from Lowes or Home Depot.  And now I've got some monster bag of "Made in Mexico" Oak that I found for cheap at a Kamado Joe dealer.

Grillin_beers

Everyone has there preferences.  I know this one guy who only uses Whole Foods lump.  I personally think he's an idiot, but that's just me. 

Lit

I found a zip tie in a bag the other day. I won't stop using it but that kinda sucked. It sucks that more people can't figure it out and produce lump locally. OO was $5 for a 10 pound bag if you lived local. It was cheaper than RO and obviously way better. I always keep RO around though for burgers, dogs, sausages, to warm up my backwoods and start a base for the wood. 

ChillyWillis

Grillin_beers said:

Everyone has there preferences.  I know this one guy who only uses Whole Foods lump.  I personally think he's an idiot, but that's just me. 

I don't even want to think about how much a bag of lump costs at whole foods. 

EGGjlmh

Ok.

I used nothing at all but RO for probably around 7 yrs.  I recently, around February, ordered from firecraft to try a bag of RW because that is all I read about on here.  Actually I ordered a bag of RW and a bag of OO.  (Wasn't crazy about the OO like everyone else here, but that's a totally different debate.)  I loved the RW instantly because it was soooo much less smokey from the beginning.  I have since ordered more RW from fircraft.  I "think" for me the reason I like it so much is because when I get home after work and sometimes pressed for time I can get some meat on the grill in a hurry.     ........Now.....all that being said, I am contemplating buying some more RO simply because of the price.  With ordering RW online I am paying probably more than double compared to RO. 

WeberWho

Takes too long to burn off the VOCs and once you get clean smoke it's still too heavy for certain cooks.  It's not terrible but just not good

WeberWho

Zmokin said:

Never used RO, never bad mouthed it either.  I used BGE brand at first.  Then tried a bag of something from Lowes or Home Depot.  And now I've got some monster bag of "Made in Mexico" Oak that I found for cheap at a Kamado Joe dealer.

@Zmokin Royal Oak is BGE lump

Fred19Flintstone

I'll burn Royal Oak when they have a NASCAR.  Until then, it's Kingsford for me!

All kidding aside, RO hasn't given me much trouble, it's inexpensive and can be found easily year round.   It's my workhorse lump.

CtTOPGUN

 Royal Oak is readily available here. It is also priced attractively. Once I learned to let it stabalize long enough I have never gotten complaints of the smoke/soot flavor. For the money(especially when on deal) I will continue to use it happily. Next Firecraft order I will try Rockwood to see what the differences really are.

  Jim

EGGjlmh

CtTOPGUN said:

 Royal Oak is readily available here. It is also priced attractively. Once I learned to let it stabalize long enough I have never gotten complaints of the smoke/soot flavor. For the money(especially when on deal) I will continue to use it happily. Next Firecraft order I will try Rockwood to see what the differences really are.

  Jim

Be careful!  You will like RW a little too much and it will cost you!

EggHead_Bubba

I'm pretty sure @stlcharcoal has explained and debunked the "VOC" situation in other threads. I used to use Royal Oak but have switched to Rockwood. I like how Rockwood is ready faster and has lighter smoke flavor compared to Royal Oak.

SoCalTim

People are sheep.

Lit

I tried rockwood from firecraft and bought 2 bags I used one and gave one to a buddy. It was neutral smoke but garbage lump it was all small crappy pieces. I bet I threw away 2 pounds of dust and my buddy had the same thoughts. OO is 10 times better than Rockwood in my opinion. If Rockwood was like $14 a bag I would probably use it. Way over priced IMO.

lkapigian

Other than some small lump, I have never had a problem....if ever a smoke issue its was on my end, not RO...I rarely do short cooks mainly overnighters, back to backs...it's consistent and neutral

g37

Royal is sum good stuff not as dense as other lumps  but still good. I have not had any bad experiences with Royal oak. 

SmokyBear

My big issue with RO is that I constantly get bags with tons of tiny, unsuable pieces and lots (bucket fulls) of dust - and the pieces I CAN use burn up super quickly.

I was a OO guy - consistently decent size pieces that burned much longer.  Didn't care one way or the other about the smoke profile and actually like the RO smokiness.

EGGjlmh

Post has only been up for about an hour with 27 comments.  When I get home from work tomorrow it will likely be like a famous brisket thread!

RRP

gmac said:

Ron, no comment on RO, it's ok but I prefer Maple Leaf and it's easier to get. My real question is. Why do you have 740 lbs of lump on hand?  Zombie apocalypse?

Take your pick>>>
A) because when I bought my first egg 15 years ago lump was not readily available and I had 40# to last me like 4 months so I said to myself NEVER again!

because I CAN have that much if I want!

C) because I buy lump on sale vs. run out and buy a bag at a time

D) why NOT?

E) because I happen to use A LOT of lump!