Just Bought a Bag of Royal Oak

camofreak · November 2021

It’s Sunday. I know I shouldn’t run out of lump, but I did. I have a couple of rib-eyes I wanted to grill so since everywhere that good lump is sold is closed, I had to buy a bag of Royal Oak. The bag looks good on the outside, but when I opened it, look what I got. Shame on you Royal Oak.

TEXASBGE2018 · November 2021

Odd I've bought dozens of bags of royal oak over the years and never had a bad bag. Sure i will occasionally get a rock or 2, no big deal. Guess I've just been lucky so far. I've mostly switched to B&B as it's a texas brand and available everywhere around here. Also, no complaints. Sure it's not super neutral in the smoke it puts off but it doesn't bother me as I'm not putting my food on until the charcoal is ready.

Don't get me wrong I love Rockwood and similar products but it's not available close to me and I'm not going to buy 5-6 bags at a cost of $150 when I could get 10-12 bags of a product that meets my needs for the same amount. If im by a store that carries it then, I usually run inside and grab a bag but it's not my every day go to charcoal.

Canugghead · November 2021

Even KJ big blocks or Fogo can end up like that if mishandled in the supply/retail chain.

I avoid bags that rattle when shaken gently, also stay away from bags with too much empty space on top, it's sign of too many shattered pieces settling to the bottom.

Canugghead · November 2021

Just took a closer look at the picture…too many uniformly small pieces to be the result of mishandling? My bad. No wonder OP is unhappy.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2021

I actually prefer smaller pieces like this. If i get a lot of bigger pieces, i hit them with a hammer. You wouldn't want to go too much smaller but i wouldn't have thought twice about using that. I think you get more uniform heat with lump like this over the really big pieces.

Canugghead · November 2021

They’re also great for filling gaps between big pieces.

Lowcountrygamecock · November 2021

That looks like my last bag of rock wood. Last as in last I used and last I’ll order. The box was dinged up so I’ll blame it on shipping but I don’t see the hype that everybody has for it. I’ve had much better luck with kamado Joe big block.

FATC1TY · November 2021

Some folks just don’t have the nuance for good wood.

stlcharcoal · November 2021

I'd bet money that bag didn't leave their plant like that. Stuff happens in transit and most of the time no one is the wiser until the bag is opened.

We had some pallets delivered to a dealer a few years back and I got a call that one pallet was about a foot shorter than the others. I figured the top layer of bags got scraped off or stolen (both have happened before), but there were 30 bags on the pallet very flat like feed, seed, or potting soil bags. Upon examination, water softner pellets were scattered around in the bags. Some jackass set a 3000# pallet of water softner pellets on top of a 670# pallet of charcoal and bounced it down the highway for several hundred miles.

Luckily the dealer was able to spot the issue, otherwise those bags could have gone home with someone and they would have been understandably PO'd.

The rocks and the metal banding are just part of the charcoal making process here in the US. They're tough to keep out. There's a big magnet to hopefully grab the metal, but the rocks look just like charcoal. We have an extra 0.4# in every 20# bag to cover for any rocks, machine error, etc.

Just one note about "big chunk charcoal".....lot of times it's not charcoal yet, that's why it's still big. It's been held together with wood fiber, and wood fiber contains water, thus less BTUs. So those brands that are selling their big chunks for more money are double dipping because they spent less time in the kiln--less carbon in the bag, more water & wood fiber. If you can't break it apart by hand, it's not charcoal--it's charred wood. Properly kilned charcoal is brittle, breaks apart by hand, makes a glass or metallic sound, etc.

Here's a good guest blog post I did if anyone really wants the inside track on charcoal..... https://www.pizza-porta.com/blog/2019/8/18/guest-blog-charcoal-rockwood-charcoal

Don't give up on them over one bag, try a bag from another location or in a month or two when a new pallet comes in (in case they had an experience like me.)

RonBurgAM · November 2021

We have been egging since 2016 and have used Royal Oak almost exclusively because of availability. 3 out of 5 bags that I get look like this. Can't tell you how many times I couldn't get temp up due to too many small chips. This year made two changes: 1) bought a Big Ash Basket and 2) Switched to Rockwood. For the latter I have to drive to Ace and pay a premium but first bag I opened had a variety of chunk sizes including very large. I've had too many bags of Royal Oak with tiny pieces that you couldn't give it to me. YMMV but this is my experience.

Fred19Flintstone · November 2021

Opening that bag would have surprised and disappointed me some, but I’ve burned too many bags of Royal Oak to know that is not a normal bag I receive. So it would not deter me from buying more. I might change retail stores to avoid the mishandling for a while. To date, the only brand of lump I bought and swore “never again” is Cowboy. When pieces of plastic strapping and fiberglass insulation tumbled out of the bag I bought some years ago, that was it for me.

Photo Egg · November 2021

When you buy enough bags of the same brand of lump you will be able to pick through a few bags and know which bags are good and which bags have been mishandled or slipped through the quality check.

Just save this bag and add a couple shakes to the top of your larger lump bags.
Life is to short to get wound up over a $12 bag of lump.

Langner91 · November 2021

I would be mad. But, I gotta ask, do you always open your bags that way? I am sitting here very anxious that you ripped it open that way.

I am in the "painstakingly careful to get the string to unzip in one pull" camp. So, seeing that bag chewed open makes me freak a little.

Sorry it happened to you!

womaus · November 2021

Hell, makes me wonder if it's not the combination of a few bags of trailings.

But that's my questioning side....always gets me in trouble.

Fred19Flintstone · November 2021

I though he opened the bag of lump like Eli Wallach opened the bags of gold in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

stlcharcoal · November 2021

womaus said:

Hell, makes me wonder if it's not the combination of a few bags of trailings.

But that's my questioning side....always gets me in trouble.

When you say "trailings", do you means the pieces that fall through the grating / screening? Most manufacturers screen somewhere between 1/2" to 1". Then that product is called "charcoal fines".

The fines are not discarded, and are worth plenty of money. They have a lot of uses too--whether it be screening to smaller sizes for industrial use, hammer pressing them into powder for briquettes or pellets, agricultural soil amendments, animal feed supplements, etc. We sell the fines for all kinds of industries.....even to the US Army's Pine Bluff Arsenal for use in munitions.

No fiscal reason to bag those fines in lump bags when you can easily use or sell them in other channels of the company.

Trust me, it's a supply chain issue. I've personally witnessed employees of a big box store tossing charcoal bags of the top rack to the bottom to avoid having to close the aisle for the forklift to lower a new pallet. They treat them like a bag of kitty litter, dog food, etc.

fishlessman · November 2021

those small pieces are gold if you use the little 10 inch mini bge

Hansm · November 2021

Bummer ... I gave up on Royal Oak years ago for the same reason. I had the same issue with Cowboy. Had a lot of chips from both fall through the Weber grill into the ash bucket. Had actual stones in the Cowboy bag. I order direct from FOGO, never any issues.

lkapigian · November 2021

After meeting @stlcharcoal , and see the passion he has for his lump, ( that didn't come out right) I would look @ nothing else other than Rockwood IF you can get it......That being said, pulverized pieces are fine with me

littlerascal56 · November 2021

My local Westlake Ace Hardware keeps Rockwood on the shelf for $28.99/bag. And you can redeem Ace Rewards coupons for a discount.

Carolina Q · November 2021

My walmart store sells a lot of fines (RO). My Home Depot sells good sized RO lump. Pick up a bag and flip it over. The sounds they make make it obvious whether you're getting fines or real lump.

stlcharcoal · November 2021

Carolina Q said:

My walmart store sells a lot of fines (RO). My Home Depot sells good sized RO lump. Pick up a bag and flip it over. The sounds they make make it obvious whether you're getting fines or real lump.

My point exactly......two locations near each other, probably coming from the same distribution and/or plant. It's handling in warehouses, stacking in trucks, and racking at the store locations.

I was at a plant once where the pallets were stacked FOUR high in their warehouse. You would not want anything off the bottom pallet.

At our warehouse for national distribution, we never stack higher than two pallets since that's how they ship in the trucks. At the local delivery warehouse for St. Louis, we go three high since it's a smaller warehouse, but the bottom pallets are labeled for restaurants, caters, and others wanting the smaller chunks (in any case, the breakage is still negligible since the mileage on these are minimal).

The agitation is what really beats this stuff up. You can bubble wrap the hell out of a bag of lays potato chips, but its still going to break down if it's shipped 1000+ miles. Every bump in the road does some damage to brittle products.

There was a manufacturer that was boxing charcoal for a while--but it didn't solve any problems. In fact, it allowed the charcoal to bounce around more. At least with the multiwall bags, it can hopefully "nest" and spread the PSI with minimal breakage.

JohnInCarolina · November 2021

stlcharcoal said:

The agitation is what really beats this stuff up. You can bubble wrap the hell out of a bag of lays potato chips, but its still going to break down if it's shipped 1000+ miles. Every bump in the road does some damage to brittle products.

Reminds me of an assignment we had in my high school physics class. We each had to design a container that could transport a single Pringles chip through the mail from a local post office to the school. The grade was based on how light the container was, assuming the chip survived without breaking.

I just thought I would share that, in case any of you weren't already convinced that I'm a geek.

stlcharcoal · November 2021

JohnInCarolina said:

stlcharcoal said:

The agitation is what really beats this stuff up. You can bubble wrap the hell out of a bag of lays potato chips, but its still going to break down if it's shipped 1000+ miles. Every bump in the road does some damage to brittle products.

Reminds me of an assignment we had in my high school physics class. We each had to design a container that could transport a single Pringles chip through the mail from a local post office to the school. The grade was based on how light the container was, assuming the chip survived without breaking.

I just thought I would share that, in case any of you weren't already convinced that I'm a geek.

Ha! Love projects like that. Probably couldn't get away with it, but the best packing material would have been more Pringles.....the subject one being in the middle.

JohnInCarolina · November 2021

stlcharcoal said:

JohnInCarolina said:

stlcharcoal said:

The agitation is what really beats this stuff up. You can bubble wrap the hell out of a bag of lays potato chips, but its still going to break down if it's shipped 1000+ miles. Every bump in the road does some damage to brittle products.

Reminds me of an assignment we had in my high school physics class. We each had to design a container that could transport a single Pringles chip through the mail from a local post office to the school. The grade was based on how light the container was, assuming the chip survived without breaking.

I just thought I would share that, in case any of you weren't already convinced that I'm a geek.

Ha! Love projects like that. Probably couldn't get away with it, but the best packing material would have been more Pringles.....the subject one being in the middle.

I ended up taking a block of styrofoam and splitting it in two. Then I carved a cradle into one side that was chip-shaped, and a space on the other side for it to fit. I tested it by hitting it with a golf club (driver) that I had in my front lawn. It seemed to work.

Then I took it to the post office, where the postal worker promptly pressed down pretty hard with the stamp tool she had. I thought for sure I was screwed. Somehow the chip survived and I ended up having the lightest design in the class.

dbCooper · November 2021

Let the Pringle soak in water, put it in a baggie and flatten, then the baggie into a envelope. 😁 Or did chip also have to maintain original shape?

Back in college days applied for a summer production line job. Various mental/physical tests were given. One was dexterity, timed test to move 30 or so pegs from wooden slab with holes holding them to slab with empty holes. I took empty slab and put it on top of full slab, then flipped over. Test givers were unimpressed with my under 5 sec. time. Got the job though.

jtcBoynton · November 2021

One thing to always remember is that quality lump is brittle. Crappy lump is as tough as wood.

RyanStl · November 2021

stlcharcoal said:

Just one note about "big chunk charcoal".....lot of times it's not charcoal yet, that's why it's still big. It's been held together with wood fiber, and wood fiber contains water, thus less BTUs. So those brands that are selling their big chunks for more money are double dipping because they spent less time in the kiln--less carbon in the bag, more water & wood fiber. If you can't break it apart by hand, it's not charcoal--it's charred wood. Properly kilned charcoal is brittle, breaks apart by hand, makes a glass or metallic sound, etc.

It's always good to get your perspective and insight with this subject. I was at Sam's the other week and didn't have time to get to an Ace for Rockwood. Don't know the brand,but it had a lot of big chunks. It ended up smoking food I wasn't trying to get a smoke flavor on. Your explanation makes sense.