Cowboy Lump Review


 
J

J. Wilson

TVWBB Fan
So I've never cooked with lump before so I gave Cowboy a try. I honestly don't understand the negative reviews.....it was extremely easy to light in a chimney.....no sparks ( I was expecting 4 th of July)....could smell the wood burning which the family really liked.... made a very good smoke flavor from the coals.

They have obviously changed from the particle board/fiberglass days and I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised....I know I am. If this is the " worst" lump then I may never use briqs again. These were nice pieces of carbonized wood....some branches which made me feel like I was cooking "caveman" style which was fun.

I was surprised how much a full chimney burned down before ready to use....I will need to hand pack next time as there must have been gaping holes.....also some huge pieces in the bag but a few taps of the hammer broke those up.

Double thumbs up from this guy.
 
You smoked or grilled with it?

Lump seems like it's more difficult to work with and results can be inconsistent.

IME, lump ash is so light that it flys around everytime I open a lid or the air flow changes.
 
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I used cowboy for grilling only. It works good. No crazy sparks. Smoking I prefer KB for long smoking sessions.
 
Cowboy is used here for both Smokin' & Grillin'...
by far, Cowboy lump is the best i've used, with local Grove in second.
the only others I've used (many times) were Royal Oak (dislike, more like chip charcoal than lump charcoal) and Humphrey (ok)
 
I've bought a couple of the big bags from Lowe's, and I agree. It's a pretty good lump, and nothing like the old Cowboy crap in the little bags. For long smokes though, I prefer a denser lump like Wicked Good, especially if I'm using the 22.5" wsm. It's all good, though. It's not like it's a sin if you have to refuel during a long cook.
 
good to know they have improved as cowboy is one of two options up here (frontier being the other choice). I had heard nothing but bad things in the past. I normally use KB as it is 25 cents/lb as opposed to $1/lb for lump. May have to put out the $$ and try the new and improved cowboy!
 
Jim - interesting on the RO. I know a lot of people that swear by it, but my last three bags (red) had tons of chips and dust.
 
Jim McKelvey said:
Jim - interesting on the RO. I know a lot of people that swear by it, but my last three bags (red) had tons of chips and dust.
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I don't know if it's any help, but the big bags of RO lump I've been getting from Restaurant Depot have much less crap in the bag than the smaller bags from Walmart. i find it comparable to the Cowboy at an even better price.
 
I use lump mostly for grilling. I either use the big red bag of RO hardwood lump from Restaurant Depot, about $8/bag, or 40 lb bags of Mexican mesquite from a local firewood yard for $10/bag.
 
Dave - Thanks for the response - I did get at Walmart. Perhaps one of two things...Walmart's purchasing power has caused RO to use a lesser product for this retail outlet or Walmart's handlers are trashing it. I suppose either is just as likely as the other! If I find it elsewhere I'll certainly give it a try.
 
Jim McKelvey said:
Perhaps one of two things...Walmart's purchasing power has caused RO to use a lesser product for this retail outlet or Walmart's handlers are trashing it.
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I think I read that same critique on naked whiz.:)
I get my RO lump from Menard's. I always check the bags and sort thru to find the ones that look the most full, compared to ones that look flat, like laying at the bottom of the pallet and getting stepped on.
Now to the OP, I have tried the new and improved C-boy and it ain't bad, the one thing I noticed was a lot of whole branch pcs, which had a plastic type of look.
Kinda weird looking but I didn't notice any offensive smells.

Tim
 
I started using Humphrey's when I started a quest to get the cleanest burning charcoal I could find. Humphrey's is one of the few brands that uses American hardwood. It seems like a lot of charcoal comes from South America which smells a bit different when burning.
 
j biesinger said:
I started using Humphrey's when I started a quest to get the cleanest burning charcoal I could find. Humphrey's is one of the few brands that uses American hardwood. It seems like a lot of charcoal comes from South America which smells a bit different when burning.
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I remember the Royal Oak from South America smelling funny, but Wicked Good lump smells a bit different as well. Thankfully though, the flavor is fantastic and I'm pretty sure it's North American hardwood. I'm pretty sure that the Cowboy and most of the Royal Oak lump sold now is American hardwood, but anyhow, I was kind of lazy on my little butt cook the other night and used Kingsford Comp. Even though most of the smoke came from the six chunks of hickory, the flavor just wasn't quite the same. Funny how different smells can mean different things when it comes to taste, though. Bradford pear sure smells nothing like apple, but the flavor isn't too different.

Regards,
Dave
 
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Jim McKelvey said:
Dave - Thanks for the response - I did get at Walmart. Perhaps one of two things...Walmart's purchasing power has caused RO to use a lesser product for this retail outlet or Walmart's handlers are trashing it. I suppose either is just as likely as the other! If I find it elsewhere I'll certainly give it a try.
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Yeah, both could even be contributing factors. You might also check out Gordon Food Service (GFS). Been a while since I was in there, but they had big bags of RO lump. Might've been under their brand, though. Anyhow, back to the OP, the big bags of Cowboy lump at Lowes aren't at a bad price. Neither will last as long as the premium stuff, but they're both easy to load, both at the start and for refueling. As to J's post, just check out where the stuff is manufactured on the bag to see if it's made in the US or not.

Regards,
Dave
 
I was in GFS today and they had nice 20 lb bags of lump charcoal. They were priced decently, too. I just bought 400 lbs. of Kingsford (original) and frankly have little to complain about. Just thought I might want to try lump for steaks and chops. I wondered if anybody had used the GFS brand...

Dale53
 
Robert McGee said:
I was in GFS today and they had nice 20 lb bags of lump charcoal. They were priced decently, too. I just bought 400 lbs. of Kingsford (original) and frankly have little to complain about. Just thought I might want to try lump for steaks and chops. I wondered if anybody had used the GFS brand...

Dale53
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A guy that was working in GFS told me it was Royal Oak.
 
Robert McGee said:
I was in GFS today and they had nice 20 lb bags of lump charcoal. They were priced decently, too. I just bought 400 lbs. of Kingsford (original) and frankly have little to complain about. Just thought I might want to try lump for steaks and chops. I wondered if anybody had used the GFS brand...

Dale53
Click to expand...
Just buy one bag and try it.
I used it for quite a while till a few years ago. I ran into three 20lb bags which I didn't care for at all.
Could of been a bad run, and things might have changed.

Tim
 
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