Frontier Lump


 
LarryR

LarryR

TVWBB Diamond Member
Anyone have experience with Frontier Lump (American)? I just picked-up 300 lbs and will be using it for the first time this weekend on a turkey. If it's really smokey I don't want to throw additional smoke wood in the cooker.

 
Yes sir, that's how I roll
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. Did the same with some extruded coconut and loved it. In full disclosure it was recommended by a friend who used it, same friend who recommended the ECC and I did read what the Whiz had to say about it. I'm looking for some advice on how smokey it is for this bird I have soaking in the goodness from my Jack Daniel's maple syrup brine; don't want to over power her with a chunk of cherry wood if this stuff is too smokey.
 
I hope the pieces are larger than in the bag I have,when I filled my chimney with it a lot fell through and as it burnt it also fell through so I only had 1/2 of what I started with.You may have to mod your charcoal grate a little.Just my .02 .
 
Let us know how you like it. Frontier started showing up around here awhile ago but I've been hesitant to try it. Frontier sounded too much like Cowboy so my guard went up.
 
Larry,

I guess I didn't pay attention to the country of origin, but I used the stuff in the 40 lb bags from Sam's last summer quite a bit. Large pieces and a bit of popping at the start, but overall very nice lump. I didn't find it any more overpowering than Rancher or Stubbs briqs. Plus, the price was fantastic ($14.99). This year they are carrying Best of the West Mesquite. I think I'll pass on that stuff based on other reviews I've read. I would buy the Frontier all summer if I could get it.
 
Well after about a 6 hour Turkey and some grilled veggies cook I've got to say I like the stuff! I only used about 4 lbs, pieces were what I would call medium, once it got going the burn was pretty clean. For the price (I paid about $9.50 including tax per 20# bag) I'd say I'm pleased.

Will check how much I have left after shutting her down in the morning and ash and report back.
 
I'm glad you like it.
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Personally, I don't. I used a bag earlier this year. The pieces are either little pebbles or giant meteorites, with little in between. It also light up and showers sparks like a 4th of July ground display. It also didn't burn very well on my grill.
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My lump of choice is Royal Oak.
 
I also had bad luck with Frontier on both occasions I bought it. I have not used it in a year, so perhaps it is of better quality now.
 
Tried my first bag today and already decided it is junk destined to be either tossed or used for short cooks in tthe smokey joe. Too much inconsistency with size, everything from fireplace logs to pebbles.
 
In the immortal words of Joe Dirt, "dang!" I either got very lucky or everyone else is buying the Mexico Frontier.

I checked my cooker, still had some of the 4 lbs left over, very little ash too so first try pretty good. Comparable to the Royal Oak I get I'd say. After some of the comments about small pieces (and the one about fireplace logs) I opened a second back just to see if maybe I got lucky on my first bag and pieces were about the same.

Since I bought 300 lbs of the stuff I guess I can say in this case it's better to be lucky than good.
 
I just tried it too. I didn't like it because it popped so violently that it sent ash up to the food grate.

It was fine when the air was choked off, but when I opened the vents too much or when I had the lid off to wrap my tri tips it was ash city.
 
I wonder what makes some lump pop and spark a lot more than others. Is it the type of wood used? The burning process used to turn them into charcoal? Under/over burned?

Any ideas?
 
Thought I'd post an update. I'm wishing I would have bought more of this stuff, I love it! I'm still on my first 20 lb bag and I've done the following individual cooks:
Turkey - 6 hours
Spares - 7 hours
2 Butts - 20 hours
Tri-tip - 2 hours
Baby Backs - 6 hours

Like I said I'm still on my first bag, in-fact I'd guess I'm only about 2/3 of the way through it if that! Crazy burn times on this stuff, similar ash to Royal Oak. If you can get your hands on the American product I recommend it.
 
OK, I'm still on the my first 20 lb bag of this stuff. It's almost as if I can't get through it. I'd guess I have 2 lbs left, maybe less. In addition to the above cooks I've done the following:
Butts and Chicken - Just finished this 24 hour cook
Two seperate steak cooks
Pizza
Cedar planked salmon
Two seperate chicken cooks about 30 pieces each

I know others have commented about the size (read this on the Whiz's site) and I would agree, not the biggest pieces. However, I've found a great benefit of not having the huge pieces of lump, I don't have to pack it in tightly by hand. Simply pour and it settles in quite nicely. Here's a picture of the load I started with last night, as stated above the cook went a total of 24.5 hours. I shut her down and will take a picture of how much fuel I have left.

Click on picture to enlarge.
 
WOW Larry that is pretty impressive to say the least...I'am have to try some of it soon. Larry where did you buy it at?
 
James, not sure where we picked it up. A friend of mine picked-up something like 40 bags and I bought 15 of them off her. I'd be happy to ask her. I believe it may have been somewhere on the central coast. Nice reason to get out of the valley heat
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I also want to point out these cooks have been in my ceramic not my WSM. However, based on my experience I'm thinking the burn times in my WSM would be impressive too.
 
So this is what was left over after 23 hours at 225 and 1 hour at 250. Hard to tell from the picture but I'd guess there's just under half left over (wish I would have weighed it prior to loading). I'm guessing I easily had another 30+ hours in her as much of the burn early on is spent warming-up the ceramic.

Click on picture to enlarge.
 
I think Frontier is made by Cowboy (not a fan), but someone else will have to confirm.
However, if the price is right, why not? It burns, right?
 
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