Basque Nature's Own Sugar Maple at Costco?

lousubcap

@loco_engr - I just google Basque's Sugar Maple Lump Charcoal and see where the least painful deal is listed.  Don't get sucked into the Amazon unit price as once you run the shipping $$ they are out of the game.  The final price point is a bit above Rockwood per lb.  
When you light it, the sweet aroma is evident and it is dense and burns clean.
No affiliation here.  
Hopefully the GWN heavy users will offer more valuable information.  
@GrateEggspectations, @Canugghead, @paqman and others.
Edited to remove the great white space.

paqman

Basque’s has pieces of bark that is not fully carbonized.  It smells nice when it burns but it leaves creosote on the walls/dome of the egg.  I prefer Maple Leaf.

Canugghead

Guess I have better luck with Basques, don’t recall having not fully carbonized lump issue. Mind you, I’m still using my 2016 stock, they may have gone downhill since.

GrateEggspectations

@paqman @cannughead

Yes, I have noticed it does sometimes contain some bark, but I just toss those chunks when I see them. Otherwise love that lump and at that price point.

paqman

@Canugghead

Here’s what I am talking about, the lump pieces are typically fully carbonized, it is pieces of bark specifically and there is too much of it for them not doing it on purpose:

Canugghead

@paqman Aha, I have seen one or two odd pieces like that in each bag occasionally, not enough to bother me. Like I said I'm still using what I hoarded over five years ago, how long have you been noticing this?

paqman

I switched from Basque’s to Maple Leaf a couple of years ago.  I had a hard time finding Maple Leaf last year so I stocked up on Basque’s at Costco but I am looking forward to going back to Maple Leaf.  

alaskanassasin

What are you guys rambling on about!? Eggheadforum.ca? Just kidding carry on, seriously though the bridge is open come get some RockWood 

alaskanassasin

I would guess that you would want to strip the bark off the wood before turning it to charcoal? 

paqman

alaskanassasin said:

What are you guys rambling on about!? Eggheadforum.ca? Just kidding carry on, seriously though the bridge is open come get some RockWood 

Rockwood is not available here as far as I know but I’ve ordered it a couple of times and had it shipped to myusaddress.ca and crossed the border to pick it up in Ogdensberg for 5$/box service fee.

My #1 choices are Maple Leaf and Rockwood.  They are very similar quality wise IMHO.  The main difference was the shape of the pieces of lump.  I suspect that Maple Leaf is made from scrap of raw Canadian wood and Rockwood from pieces of lumber from US wood.

#2 choice is Basque.  It is good charcoal but I find it annoying having to sort it to remove the pieces of bark.

paqman

alaskanassasin said:

I would guess that you would want to strip the bark off the wood before turning it to charcoal? 

I really think that they are adding the pieces of bark on purpose for the smoke.  I prefer a neutral charcoal and add wood as needed if I want smoke.