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Cowboy Lump??

Having used a gas grill for many years, I am not used to the lump hardwood terms.  What is cowboy lump?  I have been using only the Green Egg brand lump and as everyone knows, its rather expensive (something on the order of $30.00 for 20 lbs).  Is there a bigger bang for the buck out there?

Comments

  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    Cowboy is a brand.  Check out the lump charcoal database for a lot of information and product reviews: The Lump Charcoal Database
    The Naked Whiz
  • SmokinDAWG82
    SmokinDAWG82 Posts: 1,705
    Cowboy is a brand of lump. I'm not a fan of Cowboy brand. Royal Oak is pretty good was on sale at Walmart for $10 for a 20 lb bag. Where do you live?
    LBGE
    Go Dawgs! - Marietta, GA
  • dajogejr
    dajogejr Posts: 12
    After buying 4 bags of Cowboy (Mexican made, it DOES make a difference) I went back to Royal Oak.

    Green Egg Lump is made by Royal Oak...BTW.

    If you have a Restaurant Depot near you, they have 17.6 lb bags on sale for 8.99.  They do in Metro Detroit, anyways.

    Gordon Food Service also carries a bag of lump that is made by Royal Oak.  I've had the best results, however, with RO branded lump in the red bag.

    Cowboy used to be a horrible product.  It is better, but still not as good as RO.
    It doesn't burn as clean.  However, it does burn a little longer.

    But after 2 bags of Cowboy, I gave another away and have a new, unopened bag left.
    I went back to RO and it's cleaner burning.  From slow and low, heat and serve meats to pizzas and steaks, it's my go to.

    Wicked Good Weekend Warrior is my all time fav.  Good luck finding it and it is EGGSPensive!!
  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    Here Lowes carries Cowboy and i bought a bag just to try, it was about the same as RO.  It was made up from actual tree limbs, a few as large as six inches in diameter!  Some of it refused to burn!!  I tossed the balance of the bag in the garbage.
  • currycoma
    currycoma Posts: 12
    Yea Cowboy while cheap, is not good in my opinion.  

    Like others have said, the wood they use is of horrible quality and I found bits of molding in one bag I bought.  Other bags have had tree limbs in it which would not burn and smelled horrible.

    Also it was a terrible pain to get lit, took forever to heat up and burn clean.

    RO or BGE is all I use now.


  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    im finding the new bags of cowboy to be a very good lump starting this year, been very pleased with it this year
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Dave in Florida
    Dave in Florida Posts: 1,157
    Got this at Ace Hardware.  Website says $10.99 a bag but I paid $9.99 a bag at my store.  I will be buying this again.

    http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3931573

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Welcome to the Swamp.....GO GATORS!!!!
  • KennyLee
    KennyLee Posts: 806
    im finding the new bags of cowboy to be a very good lump starting this year, been very pleased with it this year
    I've not had the problems with Cowboy that others seem to, but I agree w/fishlessman.  The last two bags of Cowboy I've gotten have been really good in every aspect.  Good size chunks, lights easily, burns steady with minimal ash and with very little waste.  And I go through each bag after purchase and transfer to my storage.  I'd guess 3-5% actual waste due to dust or too small to use.  At about $.50 a pound (at least around here), that's hard to beat.

    LBGE

    Cedar table w/granite top

    Ceramic Grillworks two-tier swing rack

    Perpetual cooler of ice-cold beer

  • Cowboy is a brand of lump. I'm not a fan of Cowboy brand. Royal Oak is pretty good was on sale at Walmart for $10 for a 20 lb bag. Where do you live?
    I second the royal oak. My wife bought me a bag of BGE when she bought me my egg.  I have used it and it is sufficient but not so for the price.  I bought a small bag of Royal Oak the other day to see what the quality was.  Nice big pieces.  Great aroma when you open the bag.  Seems to be enough not-completely-charred pieces to give a decent smoke flavor without actually having to smoke.  Really a good buy for the $.
    When you get to a fork in the road, pick it up, spear something with it and throw it on the grill!!!
  • robsillup
    robsillup Posts: 8
    Cowboy is a brand of lump. I'm not a fan of Cowboy brand. Royal Oak is pretty good was on sale at Walmart for $10 for a 20 lb bag. Where do you live?
    Florida
    Cowboy is a brand of lump. I'm not a fan of Cowboy brand. Royal Oak is pretty good was on sale at Walmart for $10 for a 20 lb bag. Where do you live?

  • MO_Eggin
    MO_Eggin Posts: 282
    My most recent bag of cowboy had lots of not fully carbonized wood.  I used it for a pizza cook, so not a big deal, but definitely would not want to use it for a low and slow.  Bag before this one had a harsh chemical smell that took much longer to go away than a typical VOC burn-off.  
    LBGE - St. Louis, MO; MM & LBGE - around 8100' somewhere in the CO Front Range
  • Bugster
    Bugster Posts: 2
    When I first got my egg, I bought a bag of cowboy from Lowes and while the cook was good when I cleaned up after a few cooks there was a handful of stones in the ash.  I found a deal on Kroger lump and bought all they had and it was fine.  Now that I have run out of the Kroger brand lump I found cowboy on sale at True Value and bought several 20 lbs bags.  I am glad to report that after two bags I have found only one stone and both large and small pieces of lump which have been fine on all of the items I have cooked.  It appears they got the word about how unpopular they were becoming and are maybe trying to fix things.  I hope that is the case.
  • beteez
    beteez Posts: 548
    Bought several bags of Cowboy when Lowes had it on sale 2 bags were 25% dust & the product ashed a lot making me clean out more often than normal. Back to Royal oak for me.
  • Arbucklej
    Arbucklej Posts: 90
    cowboy is just an inconsistent brand in my opinion but you get what you pay for...my go to's are wgww, ozark oak, and bge brand which my local dealer sells for 24$ a 20lb bag.

    I am also trying the amazon brands fogo and kebroak. free shipping if you have a duper saver account.
  • Jeremiah
    Jeremiah Posts: 6,412
    I'm reviving this thread because despite what I was told at my local walmart, they don't carry royal oak all winter. So, after running out and running all over town looking for lump charcoal I got frustrated and spent the $27 on bge brand. Well that's gonna break me so I just got a bag of cowboy at lowes. $14 but I swear it sparked so bad on start up tonight I worried it might catch the house on fire. Grr. Sorry for the rant. Just ticked off.
    Slumming it in Aiken, SC. 
  • @Jeremiah -Firecraft has free shipping for orders over $99 and have a good variety. That will save you running around. I wanted to try Humphrey's, Ozark Oak and Rockwood since there was so much chatter about them here on the forum. This was a good way to experiment. I usually use WGWW or Newman's 
    LBGE 4/2012, MBGE 6/2012 & Mini 11/2013
    Rome, GA
  • I love Fogo from Amazon. The price for a 35 lb bag drops below $40 fairly often, and as a Prime member I get free shipping. It has large pieces, with little, if any, sparking, and burns a long time.
    http://www.amazon.com/Fogo-FHWC35LB-35-Pound-Hardwood-Charcoal/dp/B009P166SU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385778497&sr=8-1&keywords=Fogo+lump
  • DMW
    DMW Posts: 13,832
    Newtonjj said:

    I love Fogo from Amazon. The price for a 35 lb bag drops below $40 fairly often, and as a Prime member I get free shipping. It has large pieces, with little, if any, sparking, and burns a long time.
    http://www.amazon.com/Fogo-FHWC35LB-35-Pound-Hardwood-Charcoal/dp/B009P166SU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385778497&sr=8-1&keywords=Fogo+lump

    I just used Fogo for the first time to do my turkey last weekend and now tonight for pizza. By far it is my current favorite. You get good smoke quickly, large pieces = good airflow, and I just cleaned my ash out in prep for a pork butt going on, and what ash? I couldn't believe how little ash was left. This is very dense lump that burns hot and clean. I can get RO for $12/17.7 lb bag, so Fogo will be a premium for me, but I really like it.
    They/Them
    Morgantown, PA

    XL BGE - S BGE - KJ Jr - HB Legacy - BS Pizza Oven - 30" Firepit - King Kooker Fryer -  PR72T - WSJ - BS 17" Griddle - XXL BGE  - BS SS36" Griddle - 2 Burner Gasser - Pellet Smoker
  • Jeremiah
    Jeremiah Posts: 6,412
    edited November 2013
    Is it just me or does anyone else find it weird that we now live in a world were it's actually cost effective to buy what is effectively 'burnt wood in a bag' over that internet and not locally. But I'm not complaining-- keep the responses coming!
    Slumming it in Aiken, SC. 
  • Jeremiah
    Jeremiah Posts: 6,412
    Now that I'm thinking about it, my wife will be taking her grandma home to Jupiter, fl. in January, is there anyone local to there that knows what is sold locally?
    Slumming it in Aiken, SC. 
  • Home depot is now stocking Royal Oak.
    The guy said they will have it in stock all winter.
    They are now my garage. Let them store it
    XL   Walled Lake, MI

  • @stevesails, certainly hope my Home Depot has RO. After reading you're post I'm going tomorrow. My Walmart was out of RO. I substituted Publix Brand rather than going with Cowboy. Not bad but clearly prefer RO
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited November 2013
    You couldn't pay me to use Cowboy brand lump. Over the years I had to buy it a couple times in the winter, because it was the only lump any of the stores seemed to have in stock. Nasty stuff. As for the lump I use in my Egg, my prior experience is giving me a slightly different attitude. Using my old horizontal offset barrel smoker I used to burn through charcoal briquettes in a scary fashion. My Thanksgiving turkey usually took a bag and a half or so if the weather was cold. With the Egg being so stingy on charcoal, I don't buy my lump based on price. I use WGWW lump, which is pricey, but I like how it has a relatively neutral smoke flavor. I like adding the smoke flavor via wood chunks or chips if I'm doing barbecue, and if I'm baking I don't want a lot of smoke flavor in the baked goods.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • @stevesails, certainly hope my Home Depot has RO. After reading you're post I'm going tomorrow. My Walmart was out of RO. I substituted Publix Brand rather than going with Cowboy. Not bad but clearly prefer RO
    If you have a Tractor Supply near by, check their site.  HD does price matching.  

    Dan, Columbia,Mo.