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Royal Oak going down hill? (Yes....another Charcoal discussion)

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Comments

  • In July there was a fire at the Belle MO plant that destroyed 40 tons of charcoal and interrupted production.  I wonder if they are having to make up that shortage from other plants and, perhaps, use more of the small pieces that would previously been ground for briquettes? 


  • Maybe we are the reason the quality is going down (if it is). Evidently, briquette sales have stayed flat, while lump sales have tripled in the past 10 years. Is it possible high demand has created the sale of product that is less than stellar? 

    How can increased demand be blamed for poorer quality?  No.  If RO could not keep up with market demand then shame on them. 

    I'm sorry for straying for a second, but this kind of thinking drives me nuts.  Going to the extreme, after our country was attacked by terrorists, it wasn't uncommon for people to say: "Its our fault.  We angered them somehow."  The truth is we weren't at fault.  It was the terrorist that were to blame.  Not to put too fine a point on it, its unwise to blame yourself for the actions of anotheI apologize for getting light-headed in the thin air atop my soapbox.

    Fred, no need to apologize for using your soapbox. A reality of business is product quality can suffer when demand stretches supply. Producers respond by increasing production, speeding up the production line so as to speak, quality can suffer. RO may be trying to keep up with an increase in market size (sales) without significant investment in production capacity, I really don't know. It is certainly not the customer's fault, unfortunately the customer might have to accept sub par quality or look for alternatives. In the case of lump, I'm still not sure there has been any degradation of quality.   
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • I hope I never see the words "my cowboy is huge and firm" ever again in my life.
    I was thinking the same thing!!
  • In four bags of ro from Walmart, they have all been small pieces and burned way too quickly. Green ro from menards is significantly better. The pallet was packed tight at Walmart which could simply be a handling issue.
  • Lowflyer
    Lowflyer Posts: 785
    I've used RO from Wally World for 9 months for my everyday cooks and no complaints for the price. I've been reassured they will have plenty of stock thru the winter months.
  • Lowflyer said:
    I've used RO from Wally World for 9 months for my everyday cooks and no complaints for the price. I've been reassured they will have plenty of stock thru the winter months.
    My Wally World here in Michigan has replaced the BBQ stuff including lump for Christmas doo-dads.  I found a place that stocks lump (made by RO) year round for a local restaurant so I got in on that!
    Flint, Michigan
  • inkyon
    inkyon Posts: 88
    Lowflyer said:
    Royal Oak just fine here from WW here in Atl. Maybe it's all crushed up from shipping, don't know. No complaints here for everyday use. WICKED is the goto for slo n lows.
    I agree with you about Wicked being the best for the slow and low, but RO has declined for me because too many small pieces and dusty which led me to just buy Wicked. There are some RO bags that was so great, but too many bags that get me disappointed. I rather to stick with the stable product that I know I will get that result all of the time. 
  • LDR
    LDR Posts: 414
    Just out of curiosity - how far outside of Arkansas is Ozark Oak easily found? I'm about two hours from the plant, and there's only one grocery chain here that carries it.  As far as I can tell, WGWW isn't available locally.
  • Sm62577
    Sm62577 Posts: 30
    I just ordered 4 bags of ozark from Firecraft BBQ, great deal and free shipping
  • YEMTrey
    YEMTrey Posts: 6,829
    I ordered some Wicked from my local ACE and have been using it my last several cooks.  So far I've done ribs, pork shoulder, tri-tip, etc and am still working on the same lump.  Still have a bunch of lump in the fire ring.  It burns forever at low and slow.  Granted, I haven't ratcheted it up to do a pizza or anything, but my initial experience has been great. This has been easily, not close, the largest pieces of lump that I've ever seen.

    I'll be placing another order to stock up for the winter shortly.
    Steve 
    XL, Mini Max, and a 22" Blackstone in Cincinnati, Ohio

  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Tjcoley said:

    I've had a couple bags of Wicked Good lately that had a couple of pieces that sparked a lot and had a chemical smell until burned up. Took a lot longer to get to the 'smoke smells good' stage. In looking more closely, there seem to be a couple of really shiny pieces in the bags. No sure if those are the culprit or not.

    +1

    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    I'm fairly new at this. I've used BGE, wgww, cowboy and RO. I know you can get a bad batch out of any brand so I'm still testing and trying. I did an overnight this weekend. Stayed at 5pm and woke early to find a cool egg and empty firebox....
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • Just got in 4 bags of weekend warrior last week with the free shipping to local ACE.   So far it is not even funny how much better the WGWW is than the walmart royal oak.  

    After these 4 bags I may try the ozark oak.  They have free shipping on orders over $100 at grillstuff.com.    After I try that I'll probably standardize on one of the two.
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025

    Just got in 4 bags of weekend warrior last week with the free shipping to local ACE.   So far it is not even funny how much better the WGWW is than the walmart royal oak.  

    After these 4 bags I may try the ozark oak.  They have free shipping on orders over $100 at grillstuff.com.    After I try that I'll probably standardize on one of the two.

    Thanks for the info. I can't find Ozark here so I'll order....free shipping

    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • I just got a new bag of lump I haveb't gotten to try yet, Chigger Creek has anyone got any experience with it ?

     

    Ova B.
    Fulton MO
  • I just got a new bag of lump I haveb't gotten to try yet, Chigger Creek has anyone got any experience with it ?

     

    Never heard of it.  Sounds like a lovely place to visit, though.  I think it's right next Burrowed Tick Brook.
    Flint, Michigan
  • docbipe
    docbipe Posts: 28
    I use Royal Oak if I don't want a hot fire or for it to last very long. Pretty useless lately. Cowboy is my staple.
  • Tried the Chigger Creek Lump this weekend, Had nice size pieces, lit easily ,burned clean, hot and long.Will definantely use again !
    Ova B.
    Fulton MO
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    I went through 4 bags. I know there are bad batches in all products but I won't use RO again. Couldn't get it to last...over night cook a full fb lasted 12 hrs. Picked up a bag of western last night and did 3 cooks. Seemed to do ok.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • I just ordered 10 bags of Ozark Oak from grillstuff.com .   Thanks for the great tip!!