Parkers Mountain Pure Lump, quick review.

The_Stache

As stated earlier, I was fortunate to receive a bag of Parkers Mountain Pure Lump.  It's manufactured just outside of Jamestown, TN BUT there is no distribution at this time in the fine state of TN.  Available in Arkansas, Texas and along the east coast.



I opened the bag and poured it into my "bucket"



I would classify the lump to be mostly medium (2" ish) size and there was not a lot of variation in sizes and while there were some smaller chip sized piece there was very little "dust" in the bag.  Overall a good useful mix.

I've now cooked 3 different cooks with this bag in my LBGE.  The first was a 350ish cook for some burgers for the Grandkids.  The second was a low / slow (250ish) cook of about 5 hours on a small picnic ham and the last was a hot cook (450-500) for a sear on some flank/skirt steak.

In all cases this charcoal is VERY easy to light.  I'm the old school chimney type startup process but I only had to use 1 and 1/2 newspaper pages (I think I could have gotten away with just 1) and the chimney was fully ablaze within 10 minutes.  In comparison I would say it is the fastest lighting lump I've ever used!

Smoke clearing on the hotter cooks was very quick and the grill came up to temp quickly and with no drama.  On the low/slow cook it took about 20 minutes to clear the smoke (no big deal).  The smoke aroma that this lump gives off is very reminiscent of oak wook camp fire smoke.  Not overpowering but just a hint of that smell. 

I was really shocked at the lack of ash that was produced.  The quantity was very small vs the amount of lump I started with and the ash was very fine and easy to shake off if you have a product like the KickAsh basket. 

Overall, I like this lump and I'm very hopefull that it will become available in the TN area.  The price on a bag is listed at 16.99 per 20 lb bag.

From my perspective Rockwood is still my normal go to charcoal but should this become available in my area, I would definitely be using Parkers as my primary charcoal.

SMALL PRINT... I have no affiliation with Parkers and had to work some magic to just try a bag.  @Biggreenpharmacist initially turned me own to this lump (Thank You) and when I realized it was "local" lump.... well that started this process.

Hope this is helpful information but remember this "review" is only worth what you paid for it!

Cheers!

Biggreenpharmacist

It does seem to be smaller pieces especially the bottom of the bag but it still burns clean. Its local so I use it. 

Killit_and_Grillit

Why don't they sell it here?

lousubcap

@The_Stache -  thanks for the review.  Candid user comments carry some weight with me.  I will search it out but being lazy the rockwood/firecraft set-up is tough to top.  

The_Stache

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Why don't they sell it here?

That was my question to Parkers... They stated no one has stepped up to sell it in middle TN.  They did send a pallet out to several distributors for "testing".  I think maybe they need some marketing assistance!

It's a great lump for 17 bucks!! 

The_Stache

lousubcap said:

@The_Stache -  thanks for the review.  Candid user comments carry some weight with me.  I will search it out but being lazy the rockwood/firecraft set-up is tough to top.  

My pleasure!!  Hope you find some!