I'll tap my recycling bin for combustibles.

Did anyone notice how far down in the egg the butt laid when he put it in?   With PS in, the grate would be close to felt level.

I guess the insinuation of putting the butt "down in" the egg gives more of a real smoking machine perception!!

Toxarch said:

Things I have learned from this thread. First, I should have started a lump company. People pay $25 for a 22 lb bags of lump and are happy with the price? Second, I need to be a diesel supplier to whoever buys $750,000 of diesel every year.

I think you misread he did not buy $750,000 of fuel rather a RV that cost $750,000.  

If a bag of lump is 20% more expensive than a bag of briquettes you might also be buying 20% less heat units with the briquettes.

Gerhard

Toxarch said:

Things I have learned from this thread. First, I should have started a lump company. People pay $25 for a 22 lb bags of lump and are happy with the price?

Lump is big and heavy, so the distribution, storage, & freight eats up a very good part of that.  It also takes 6# of wood to make 1# of lump--so everytime the wood price goes up, you feel it 6x over.  Lot of other stuff adds up quick, then everybody in the supply chain has to make some profit or what's the point?  Not as lucrative as some may think.  I have a 18ft flat bottom aluminum jon boat.......not a yacht.  :(

gerhardk said:

 If a bag of lump is 20% more expensive than a bag of briquettes you might also be buying 20% less heat units with the briquettes.

Pretty close......25%-30% less.  Depends on the brand and how much coal (not charcoal) is in the bag.  Consumers that go crazy over a small rock or two in a bag of lump would get out the torches and pitchforks if they knew how much rock (crushed limestone) was in the average briquettes.  The anthracite or lignite coal fly boosts the BTU's back up.  All of that is plus water and sawdust cheaper than hardwood lump charcoal fines.

To me, egging is one of life's pleasures. It hasn't put me in the poorhouse.  It has put me in the doghouse a couple of times.  Cost/benefit analysis and BTU studies suck the fun and relaxation out of egging for me.  So crank up your computers, open your spreadsheets and nerd on my friends.

I got an Egg for the fun of it and the bonus is the amazing food it produces. If I spend a little more for a bag so be it. If a different option exist other than lump that would sound interesting and might try it. But I love my RO 

Everytime I put 2$ of lump in the medium to do an 18 hr L & S, I just smile.  My old cooker took almost an entire bag to do the exact same cook.  

@Toxarch. When I said diesel pusher, I was referring to a high end RV - think tour bus

yljkt said:

I would really like to try the Rock Wood but cant find it near me. Even though the website says they have a distributor in Jersey.

What's your nearest Ace or ZIP?  I can look at the list.  Should be available at any Ace in the south half of NJ.  Maybe not on the shelf, but able to able to be ordered and delivered in a day or two.

Darby_Crenshaw said:

if you buy an additional egg (a mini-max) for 600+/- bucks, for the sole reason of saving money on charcoal, how long before you recoup that expense by the few cents a cook you are 'saving'?

Kind of like buying a Tesla so you can save money on gas.  I laugh when people tell me they traded their nice 10 y/o pickup or SUV on a new hybrid car or something "save" money.  C'mon!  If you want a new car, or to cut emissions, just say it......but you're spending more money to do it because of the way our infrastructure and economy is set up.  Just like e85......For a brief while when it was the price per gallon was lower than 87 (w/ 10% ethanol in MO), I ran it in my Explorer.  I got about 12-13 miles to the gallon rather than 18 on the highway, the engine would surge at idle, and I could not tow a trailer over 2000# without it bogging down.  25% less mileage for 10% less cost and all the issues, no thanks!

BTW, if I had the money, I'd buy a Tesla in a heartbeat for running around.  Drove an 85P last year and DAMN (!!!), what an incredible piece of machinery.  Expensive and impractical for me where I live, but man do I want one.

SkySaw said:

Darby_Crenshaw said:

if you buy an additional egg (a mini-max) for 600+/- bucks, for the sole reason of saving money on charcoal, how long before you recoup that expense by the few cents a cook you are 'saving'?

Absolutely no one buys a 2nd Egg solely for the purpose of saving money on charcoal, but lots of people buy 2nd (3rd, 4th...) Eggs. It's nice to imagine there could be some savings in that extravagance.

i agree.  but that wasn't the premise offered for buying a mini-max.  the idea was that it would save cash on charcoal.

Lit said:

Fred19Flintstone said:

After pulling a cork all evening, I find this thread more silly than before.  With all due respect to the OP, you bought a BGE.  In case you don't remember, they are quite pricey to buy.  It's like buying a Porsche and then complaining about the cost of the premium gas that you're supposed the burn as opposed to the economical regular unleaded gas.

This is a serious problem.

The egg is actually fairly cheap when it comes to smokers.

Agreed. In the world of outdoor cookers Eggs (and its peers - KJ, Primo, Vision)  are easily in the lower tier when it comes to pricing. But I can appreciate that for many folks they are one of the more pricey options they may have considered.

I see nothing wrong with trying to find a fuel/source that is more economical. The caveman just doesn't grok that apparently.

I guess if I had Gates/Buffet money I would burn nothing but binchotan.

However, I don't and as a poor retired guy I try to buy my fuels at the best price possible.

DO NOT BURN COAL. The gasses given off by coal are poisonous. Coal stoves held the coal in a complete different chamber, and exhausted the fumes through a separate chimney.

Carolina Q said:

Mosca said:

DO NOT BURN COAL. The gasses given off by coal are poisonous. Coal stoves held the coal in a complete different chamber, and exhausted the fumes through a separate chimney.

Lombardi's has been baking pizza in a coal-fired oven in NYC since 1905. Others for nearly as long. 

You beat me to it.

There are still companies manufacturing coal fired pizza ovens and I have read that there has been an uptick in coal fired pizza places in the last decade or so. Used to be just a northeast thing but now they can be found around much of the country.

Not all coal is the same and most pizza oven operators use anthracite coal as it burns hot and clean.

SkySaw said:

Darby_Crenshaw said:

i agree.  but that wasn't the premise offered for buying a mini-max.  the idea was that it would save cash on charcoal.

Everyone agrees. That's why the other benefits in buying a MM (or small) did not need to be specifically stated. 

Wasn't put that way.

"This thread could be an argument to buy a smaller egg".

That clwarly says that the only difference between not buying a smaller agg and buying a smaller egg is the saving of the money otherwise spent on charcoal

if what you meant was that the tiny savings might be *another* benefit, well then sure

but it certainly sounded like a person who didn't have a reason to buy one suddenly did. 

On the Project smoke show (last season) - steve raichlan used briquettes in the egg. Can't tell what type but you can see the shape pretty clearly - http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1184388/project-smoke-tv-show-charcoal-briquettes-in-the-bge#latest 

You can see the briquettes at about the 25 second mark in the video

trust me, at 1200 degrees theres no particulates, off flavors, etc sticking to the pizza from a couple pieces of nut coal in an egg, the velocity of the smoke and heat is incredible