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Royal Oak vs Cowboy Lump

Pa_BBQ
Pa_BBQ Posts: 132
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
If I am reading this correct than Cowboy Lump gets hotter and Royal Oak is not as hot but burns longer is this correct.
Large BGE
Meadow Creek TS120 Stick Burner
Stoker, BBQ Guru. 

Erie, Pa. 

Comments

  • see nakedwhiz.com
    all your answer's lie there.
  • IMHO-
    Cowboy gets hotter quicker and a load of lump burns down quicker. If you're not paying attention this fire can overshoot your target temp more easily.

    R.O. can get just as hot but needs a little more time to get there.
    A load of lump seems to last longer.

    Just my opinion.
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    If I had a bag of Cowboy I would use it for backup lump or sear my steaks with it.

    I use RO for my primary lump because I like the smoke flavor it puts out as well as long burning and hot and also less ash. An all around good egg. he he pun intended! Tim
  • Personally I prefer RO. I had cowboy once and there was a lot of scrap molding from houses
  • Agree with the statement about scrap in the bag. I've pulled all sorts of things out of Cowboy - rocks, bricks, plywood. I've had some good bags and others that ruined the cook. At least it is cheap.
  • CBBQ
    CBBQ Posts: 610
    How dense the lump is can play a big part in how it burns. Cowboy is very light and quick starting but burns quick. Lump like Wicked Good is much more dense. It takes longer to get there but burns a lot longer. It's a lot like burning hardwood in your fireplace instead of things like pine or birch. When I do regular cooks I use RO(American made). I use Fire King for longer cooks because it burns much longer. You learn as you go with what's available in your area.
    There's nothing wrong with Cowboy but you may need to load up more for a long cook.
  • Clam
    Clam Posts: 117
    I prefer R.O.

    I noticed today at my local Lowes that Cowboy is clearance priced, so I'll pick up a few bags for steaks and such. I've not tried any others besides R.O. and cowboy, but am looking forward to trying something new.
  • What is the clearance price on the cowboy, not that I need anymore. Thank you ace hardware 50% off coupon. I bought 18 20 lb bags for $6.00 each!
  • no...

    lighter lump will burn faster and get to temp faster. but a full firebox of raging lump quickly forgets whether it is royal oak or WG etc.

    if it is denser, it'll burn longer, but take slower to get going.

    if it's lighter, it'll get up to temp quick, but won't stay there all night.

    R.O. is denser than Cowboy, but not as dense as Wicked Good.

    once they all get going though, all lump burns at close to 2000 degrees (when raging)
  • buy enough lump and you'll pull rocks out of all of them.
  • that wood never made it to the houses. it's milled lumber. different shape, but it isn't scrap from construction.

    some cut down trees to make lump, some make it from imperfect (knotty) oak flooring.

    there is no finish or paint, nails, etc. on cowboy lump (nor was there)
  • Boomer
    Boomer Posts: 115
    I'm gonna use some Cowbow tonight cuz I dont wanna walk to the garage and get the BGE Lump, Just hope that I dont pour some pieces of shingles or broken glass outta the Cowbow bag, will report later...

    Boomer...
  • there's nothing like that in it.

    folks see one thing and think another.
  • Where do you get your Royal Oak? I got a bag at Walmart and it claims to be American hardwood but it is the nastiest stuff I have ever tried. I checked the bag and it looks just like the one the Naked Whiz highly recommends. The R.O. smells like chemicals from the moment of lighting and leaves a significant amount of nasty tar like substance on my plate setter. I have gone through about 20 bags of Cowboy and was looking for something different. In those 20 bags I have pulled out maybe 4 or 5 pieces of plywood or incomplete charcoaled pieces. In that one bag of R.O. I got 3 large pieces of bark or incomplete charcoaled pieces.

    Everyone raves about R.O. so I am having trouble reconciling my bag with everyone's experience. It definitely burned slower and cooler than Cowboy, which was the main feature I wanted but I won't use it again and have gone back to Cowboy because I haven't found another type to get locally.
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Hi astro_bbq, :)

    For one thing how was your food from your cook while using RO?

    I get my RO from Publix Food Stores here in middle Tennessee. Royal Oak packages their lump under many private labels and Green Wise is the label Publix uses. Royal Oak is the manufacture of Big Green Egg lump as well. Best Choice is an other private label for Royal Oak.

    Here I have 8.8 pound bags of Green Wise and I paid $5.49 each. I also have one 8.8 pound bag of Cowboy.

    000_1344.jpg

    000_1343.jpg

    Now when I use any lump in my egg I watch for foreign objects and let it burn off all the bad fumes and smoke before I begin putting food on my grate.

    I also pull out some undesirable chunks of wood and concrete and clay ect...what are you going to do? I want to use my BGE so I have to watch for foreign objects in my lump. I hope this helped you. :) Tim
  • I have the red bag RO from Walmart. I cooked ribs and a butt using RO and they seemed okay but I'm not sure. I'm still relatively new at this so there is variance between cooks even when using the same lump because of different rubs and temp control.

    With Cowboy the smoke smells like burning wood right from the start. With the RO bag I have it smells like chemicals from start to finish. Plus there was the accumulation of tar on the plate setter so I am just not willing have that kind of residue on my food even if it doesn't seem to affect the flavor.

    Maybe it was a bad batch of RO or an "accidental" mislabel of the wood inside of it. My experience more coincides with the ratings and comments of Royal Oak with South American wood inside. I'll look at the Publix brand lump to see if the price is good and the burn quality is better.
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    astro_bbq,
    There are other makers of lump one is called Wicked Good and it is a denser charcoal so it burns longer. I think it is considered to be the best lump. I understand many get it by the pallet. The only way for me to get that lump is to go in with others on a pallet unfortunatly I don't know anyone in my area that wants some. Tim
  • I have thought about ordering but I am concerned that I will wind up with 20 bags of junk. So at the moment I am just trying to find stuff locally so I can try it out before committing to a large buy.