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Cowboy vs Royal Oak lump

alb73
alb73 Posts: 1
in EggHead Forum
My local IL Walmart has been out of Royal Oak so I grabbed a bag of Cowboy.  What's your take on either brand?
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Comments

  • travisstrick
    travisstrick Posts: 5,002
    Royal oak has been fine for me but I avoid cowboy at all costs.
    Be careful, man! I've got a beverage here.
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  • tarheelmatt
    tarheelmatt Posts: 9,867
    I used Cowboy a time or two and didn't mind it. Some very large pieces.  I use RO pretty much all the time now.  
    ------------------------------
    Thomasville, NC
    My YouTube Channel - The Hungry Hussey
    Instagram
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    My Photography Site
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  • Fred19Flintstone
    Fred19Flintstone Posts: 8,173
    Royal Oak is what I usually use and it works for me.
    I've had plastic banding and fiberglass insulation come out of a bag of Cowboy. No thank you!
    Flint, Michigan
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  • RiverDoc
    RiverDoc Posts: 572
    I have used cowboy in the past it seemed ok tended to pop sparks and create more ash. I now use Rockwood and really enjoy it. I don't have any experience with RO but it seems to be popular, good luck.
    -Todd
    Franklin N.C. LBGE and a SBGE
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  • TigerTony
    TigerTony Posts: 1,078
    edited September 2014
    When I first bought my bge 9 years ago I never gave much thought about brands of lump, I thought for the most part they were all the same. Then one day I bought a bag of Cowboy. I opened the bag and they had pieces of building lumber. Seriously I could clearly see pieces of a door frame and a baseboard. When I lit it, it started sparking and snapping. Then it took forever for the smoke to clear. I made the mistake of cooking a dutch oven peach cobbler on the egg that day using that crap lump. None of us liked it due to a way too smokey flavor. It took a long time for my wife and daughters to agree to taste dessert cooked on teh egg after that.
    Maybe it's just me. But I assure you I will do without lump if I have to buy Cowboy.
    I tried other mesquite lumps they were all bad, especially El Carbon from Mexcio. You need eye protection and a work vest to light that stuff.
    Now using Ozark Oak and Rockwood. Love them both. I will however give Royal Oak another try since it is much less expensive. Next time I geaux to Restaurant Depot I'm gonna buy a bag.

    "I'm stupidest when I try to be funny" 
    New Orleans

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  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
    Return the cowboy and go to homed depot.
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

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  • jhl192
    jhl192 Posts: 1,006
    I had some bad experiences with Cowboy in the early days. Took a long time to gain my families confidence back. I avoid Cowboy at any price. I wouldn't do a clean burn with it.
    XL BGE; Medium BGE; L BGE 
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 33,353
    cowboy is all logs now, the scrap lumber is history. sounds like a good thing but the scrap flooring they used then  was much better
    :)) todays cowboy is sometimes good, sometimes not good, you have to watch the lump as you dump it in the egg and remove a couple of unburnt pieces, other than that i have no complaints.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • MeTed
    MeTed Posts: 800
    I have used one bag of cowboy lump and did not like it. Mostly I use Royal Oak.
    Belleville, Michigan

    Just burnin lump in Sumpter
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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    That's like asking do you like the Dallas Cowboys or New York Jets. ...
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • onedbguru
    onedbguru Posts: 1,648
    henapple said:
    That's like asking do you like the Dallas Cowboys or New York Jets. ...
    and then it depends on who you like... ;) 

    As for Cowboy, I have used it a few times when I couldn't find anything else...  When I went to the beach all they had was a weh..weh...charbroil charcoal grill - rusted out quite a bit... and at the store it was Matchlight or Cowboy...  Then later in the week found a Super WallyWorld and got RO. At home, my storage is full of RO - might be enough to last until Spring.

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  • SkinnyV
    SkinnyV Posts: 3,404
    Gave away 8bags of cowboy. It only cost me $1 bag but it was that bad
    Seattle, WA
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  • anton
    anton Posts: 1,813
    I am limited to two in my area, Cowboy, and Royal oak, I can't seem to find anything else off the shelf. Cowboy has been fine, a little ashy but good in general, (maybe I don't know any better), and Royal oak always comes with a few rocks, I mean like EVERY bag I have bought, has rocks. I have not had the joy of using Rockwood or Ozark Oak, and refuse to pay the ridiculous price for BGE lump out of principle. I will probably order some good stuff online in the future.
     Using a MBGE,woo/w stone,livin' in  Hayward California," The Heart Of The Bay "
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  • stv8r
    stv8r Posts: 1,127
    I too did not like Cowboy.  Strange pieces in there.  I discovered a restaurant wholesale supplier in my area that sells retail(Amrein Foods). I get the Humpfrey Lump there for $12.73 a 20lb bag.  It gets good reviews on Nakedwhiz and Firecraft.  Happy so far and year round availabilty and decent price help. 

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  • KennyLee
    KennyLee Posts: 806
    Never had a problem with Cowboy and used several bags.  Not my favorite, but I didn't notice a lick of difference between it and the BGE lump they threw in when I bought my Egg.  However I will say that all I use now is Ozark Oak and Rockwood because I think they are the best.....mainly OO now because no one around me sells RW.

    LBGE

    Cedar table w/granite top

    Ceramic Grillworks two-tier swing rack

    Perpetual cooler of ice-cold beer

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  • stemc33
    stemc33 Posts: 3,567
    For me, the experience was bad enough that I will never try Cowboy again. I'll use briquettes and clean up ashes or go without before I burn it again. I thought RO was really good until I tried Ozark Oak. I've only used a few bags but it makes a difference. I use a chimney to start my egg and sometimes I run back outside to see if the OO is lit because lack of smoke. Not kidding. Here's a pic of my plate setter after using OO for 2.5 hours at 450°. Hasn't been this clean since new. You'll also notice how much cleaner and brighter your firebox will become using OO. This is with regular cooking, no pizza or clean burn. image
    Steven
    Mini Max with Woo stone combo, LBGE, iGrill 2, Plate Setter, 
    two cotton pot holders to handle PS
    Banner, Wyoming
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