Wood Charcoal - Learning there is a difference

Welcome aboard brother!  Search thenakedwiz website for lump reviews. This site is replete if you take the time.  Others are about to chime in.

Noticed the "ranking list" for lump the other day. I burn Royal Oak, but picked up a bag of Rockwood. Once the RO is used up I'll see what the fuss is all about. 

It is wrong to judge a brand of lump by the particle size based on a sample of one bag.  Lump charcoal is brittle.  In fact, the better lump is more brittle than the lower quality ones.  Any bag from any manufacturer can receive rough handling in the distribution process resulting in crushed pieces.

Rockwood is my first choice, by far. I have had very good results with Carbon del Sur. Lighting is about the same as RW, takes a bit longer to get good smoke, (3-5 minutes) both share about same amount of time to get to temp, both have very little ash, size of lump distribution is better than Rockwood, but Rockwood has a slightly less smoky taste. That is my most important feature when judging. Nothing I have tried has beat Rockwood in that regard.

Don't want rocks you say.  Ready for the solution??? Sell your egg, WSM, etc and go to LP or NG. PROBLEM SOLVED. FWIW most manufacturers bags weigh more than advertised. I use RW, FOGO, WGWW & even with quality control it's impossible in their operation not to have an occasional non combustible. I have written off certain manufacturers because of plastics and other items I rather not burn in my egg (and this happened on 6 bags in a row---not just 1). Ahhh the obligatory lump discussions.

Grilld17 said:

Recently I saw a comment on another website the Royal Oak wood charcoal was very good.  Wrong.  It was like a bag of potato chips, all the big chips were on the top and the crumbs started soon after that.  Also, I found 8 rocks in the charcoal after I finished cooking.  To buy a 8.8lbs bag and find 8 rocks means that at least 1/2 lb. of the bag were rocks not wood charcoal.  I'll chock it up to being an Eggrookie.  

Give it another shot......the size is not necessarily indicative of their manufacturing.  It could be, but there's a lot more factors that [literally] impact that bag after it leaves the plant that could have broken it down.  Just like you said--a bag of potato chip--if you got a bag of crushed up Lay's, it's more likely something from distribution process, not manufacturing......and either way, isolated.

As far as the rocks go, while that is excessive, it happens.  Some bags are rock free, some have 1 or 2, and some have more if you're just unlucky.  Nothing in the manufacturing process is going to stop the rocks without driving the price up 20x.  I don't know about the competition, but our bags are overloaded by 4-6% to make sure we account for any rocks.  Most of the times, the customer comes out ahead.

Finally, you will find that most companies are pretty apologetic and embarrassed when a bad bag gets sold.  You would be surprised with the response you might get from contacting the manufacturer......because they cannot respond when you take the anonymous public shaming route that you did here.  Good luck.  

I agree that bags are overloaded. I long ago posted a pic of cowboy lump weighing 22#, and another at 25#, when someone here was b!tching about another rock

it's reactionary entitlement i think. People these days are inflexible. They are suspicious that a bag of chips is "half empty" when they opened it.

really, most consumers are thoroughly unfamiliar and uneducated about much of what they purchase, and merely like to use the "i'm the customer dammit" card at EVERY opportunity to get some recompense and attention

i may be overstating it, but if so, not nearly as much as those crabbing about how wronged they were by a charcoal manufacturer (or potao chip maker, or insulated cup manufacturer, or whatever the product may be)

Biggreenpharmacist said:

has anybody noticed their beer bottles don't seem to be as full as they used to be?

No, AB here in town got nailed with a lawsuit saying they were watering it down for the last few years.

Darby_Crenshaw said:

stlcharcoal said:

No, AB here in town got nailed with a lawsuit saying they were watering it down for the last few years.

how could anyone tell they were watering it down?

Woooooosh

@Grilld17, as @stlcharcoal, said most of the time it is how it is handled.  I buy all off my lump at my Egg dealer, because it is only handled a few times and they sell @stlcharcoal's Rockwood lump.  I used Royal Oak for awhile, but I like how RW lights up fast, less smokiness and neutral flavor.  If Royal Oak is all you can get I would do what @Eggcelsior suggest.  I can usually tell just by picking up a bag now if it has small pieces or not.  

Where i live  theres are only 2 places that sell premium  lump  (bge or wicked good).  I don't  want to mention  the stores  name but every  time  i buy  lump it seems, like a worker did  the Mexican  hat dance on every bag.  This last experience  pissed me off. I paid 33$$ for a bag of wicked good and it was all crumbs. The lump  fell straight  thru my kick ash basket.  So i decided  to just  get sum royal oak. I was pleasantly  surprised the lump was in top shape. 

nolaegghead said:

Any lump production line:  Some automation (varying) - dude with a skid loader dumping buckets into a chute.  He probably makes $15/hr.  Another dude working a crude valve dumping into bags with a scale (maybe $10 hr) ...quality control minimal or cost will be astronomical. 

Man you are not too far off    Only correction.....not a "crude valve", bagging machines are $15000 and turn on/off automatically and are calibrated for the paper's weight, size, etc.  Conveyor line is designed to separate the fines and there are magnets and dust collectors along it.  I hope the quality control is better than minimal, but you can only do so much or you're absolutely correct--cost would be astronomical.

It's funny, I have been burning GFS lump--RO private label---for about a year and a half straight. It's 8.99 for 20 lbs. I burn a lot of it. Now that's relative too as I don't feed a village. But let's say 40 bags a year. In that time I have found some rocks. Not a five gallon bucket full, but some. I huck them over the fence. All good. The dog finds them, I find them later with the mower--not all good. I am a dump and light guy. I store lump under my "kitchen" counter in the bag. I don't separate or worry about fines etc. I get it all of it from every bag. I even tap the bag to get all the dust out. It all burns, or falls through. Now I figure a rock or two is nothing. These are monster operations processing thousands of tons of refuse lumber, slash, and hardwood etc. I am sure the belts, shakers, and screens do the best they can to deliver consistent size and quality.  But we are still talking about enough charcoal bury your neighborhood in a hurry. They don't scoop that stuff by hand and the haulers bringing it in don't wash and blow dry it first. I figure when I find a full size unbroken concrete block In a bag I will send a picture to see what the reaction is. I don't need a refund or a free bag. Just the satisfaction from knowing I got the biggest Cracker Jack prize. In the meantime I will curse at the dog and continue paying 8.99 while smiling and smelling porky goodness.