Royal Oak Lump

DWFII

I have had good luck with this charcoal in the past--there's not much else to be found in my area.

Recently I bought a 30lb. bag. At least 20% of it wasn't even charcoal--it's either wood with what looks to be an oil of some sort and a lot of black charcoal dust on the surface, or it's bark (up to an inch thick) again un-carbonized but black.

I have to load my egg by hand trying to eliminate as much of that detritus as I can...one handful at a time.

And it smells odd when it is ignited.

this is actually the second bag that has been like this--I had similar experiences with a smaller bag last year.

I have been cooking with it...mostly pizza but if I don't pull out the garbage, the food has an off taste to it (or maybe it's my imagination...maybe it's dirty smoke and creosote from uncarbonized wood burning)

In any case, I thought I would share my experiences with it--even if it's safe it's not even the marginally acceptable quality it used to be.

SamIAm2

@DWFII - So glad to see a post of yours on the front page of the forum. Sorry about your issues with charcoal in your area. One of the members of this forum sells a very good charcoal, Rockwood, which I would use all the time. Your local Ace hardware store may carry it or order it for you. You can also purchase directly from the company https://rockwoodcharcoal.com. 

alaskanassasin

I had a chunk of firewood in my last bag of RockWood. My understanding is that he adds a extra pound to the bags to cover things like that. I run RockWood exclusively and it’s only the second time that has happened.

Langner91

I had a bag of Royal Oak once that was as described.  The only way I could get through it was to do 2-stage cooking with it.  I filled, and I mean FILLED my egg with the charcoal, and lit it in three places.  I let it get ripping hot and closed the lid.  I basically made charcoal out of the stuff in the bag. 

On the second, third, and fourth lighting, it was fine.  It was a pain in the backside, as I had to keep running the egg and not cooking when I needed more lump.  

stlcharcoal

alaskanassasin said:

I had a chunk of firewood in my last bag of RockWood. My understanding is that he adds a extra pound to the bags to cover things like that. I run RockWood exclusively and it’s only the second time that has happened.

There's about 1/2# overage in the 20# bags.  We do that to cover for any rocks or under carbonized pieces that may sneak in.  The good thing about an under carbonized piece of a domestically produced lump is that it's probably going to be oak, hickory, or something else you'd already be smoking with.  So it's not going to ruin your food like an under kilned bitter rainforest species would.

Powak

DWFII said:

I have had good luck with this charcoal in the past--there's not much else to be found in my area.

Recently I bought a 30lb. bag. At least 20% of it wasn't even charcoal--it's either wood with what looks to be an oil of some sort and a lot of black charcoal dust on the surface, or it's bark (up to an inch thick) again un-carbonized but black.

I have to load my egg by hand trying to eliminate as much of that detritus as I can...one handful at a time.

And it smells odd when it is ignited.

this is actually the second bag that has been like this--I had similar experiences with a smaller bag last year.

I have been cooking with it...mostly pizza but if I don't pull out the garbage, the food has an off taste to it (or maybe it's my imagination...maybe it's dirty smoke and creosote from uncarbonized wood burning)

In any case, I thought I would share my experiences with it--even if it's safe it's not even the marginally acceptable quality it used to be.

I’ve gotten that in $30+ bags of BGE coal. Messed with that for a minute and back to RW it was.

alaskanassasin

stlcharcoal said:

alaskanassasin said:

I had a chunk of firewood in my last bag of RockWood. My understanding is that he adds a extra pound to the bags to cover things like that. I run RockWood exclusively and it’s only the second time that has happened.

There's about 1/2# overage in the 20# bags.  We do that to cover for any rocks or under carbonized pieces that may sneak in.  The good thing about an under carbonized piece of a domestically produced lump is that it's probably going to be oak, hickory, or something else you'd already be smoking with.  So it's not going to ruin your food like an under kilned bitter rainforest species would.

Wasn’t it a pound before?

stlcharcoal

alaskanassasin said:

stlcharcoal said:

alaskanassasin said:

I had a chunk of firewood in my last bag of RockWood. My understanding is that he adds a extra pound to the bags to cover things like that. I run RockWood exclusively and it’s only the second time that has happened.

There's about 1/2# overage in the 20# bags.  We do that to cover for any rocks or under carbonized pieces that may sneak in.  The good thing about an under carbonized piece of a domestically produced lump is that it's probably going to be oak, hickory, or something else you'd already be smoking with.  So it's not going to ruin your food like an under kilned bitter rainforest species would.

Wasn’t it a pound before?

Yep.....if you buy two bags.  

HeavyG

So buying 40 bags is essentially getting one bag for free. Sweet!

alaskanassasin

stlcharcoal said:

alaskanassasin said:

I had a chunk of firewood in my last bag of RockWood. My understanding is that he adds a extra pound to the bags to cover things like that. I run RockWood exclusively and it’s only the second time that has happened.

There's about 1/2# overage in the 20# bags.  We do that to cover for any rocks or under carbonized pieces that may sneak in.  The good thing about an under carbonized piece of a domestically produced lump is that it's probably going to be oak, hickory, or something else you'd already be smoking with.  So it's not going to ruin your food like an under kilned bitter rainforest species would.

I figured it to be hardwood and almost threw it in with my chicken last night but didn’t want to risk it. Though it will not be wasted!

Longtrain

Never used or saw Royal Oak as yet, I picked up a bag of BGE lump at our local Ace, expecting greatness.  It was ok but fairly small lumps (if you can call them lumps), no decent sized pieces.  Got a bag of Frontier from BJ’s Wholesale, top of the bag had nice sized lumps, worked well, we’ll see how it goes as we get down the bag a bit.  Back to Rockwood at ACE, premium price there.  Most of their BGE’s and accessories are MSRP. 

Langner91

If you used BGE lump, you've used Royal Oak.  

stlcharcoal

Longtrain said:

Never used or saw Royal Oak as yet, I picked up a bag of BGE lump at our local Ace, expecting greatness.  It was ok but fairly small lumps (if you can call them lumps), no decent sized pieces.  Got a bag of Frontier from BJ’s Wholesale, top of the bag had nice sized lumps, worked well, we’ll see how it goes as we get down the bag a bit.  Back to Rockwood at ACE, premium price there.  Most of their BGE’s and accessories are MSRP. 

Don't get hung up on the size.  If they are all larger chunks, there's a good chance they have wood fiber in them (which means they also have water in them).  They are going to smoke, produce more ash, and provide a lower BTU/#.....thus you're paying for extra water (which is heavier than carbon) in a product sold by weight.

Highly carbonized charcoal is fragile just like crispy potato chips--agitation breaks them down.  So, hopefully most of the time you get good bags that have had an easy journey and kind handlers.  Sometimes you get a bag that got the crap beaten out of it in transit and it's smaller chunks.  But all those chunks are still a high BTU/# and will burn at the same rate as any other.

Since no charcoal manufacturer can control the supply chain, a Kick Ash Basket is a way to solve an airflow issue if it's all really small chunks.  I only take home bags that I've accidently run over or stabbed with a forklift.  When I get to the really small stuff, I'll start a new bag to fill the fire box up 3/4 of the way then top dress with the smaller pieces (dust and all), until that bag is gone.  No reason to throw away good carbon--it all burns the same.