Kingsford original getting bad reviews


 
Brian Quintal

Brian Quintal

TVWBB Member
I just recently went to the Kingsford home page and saw that it was beginning to receive bad reviews something about a change in product. Anybody see a recent change in the product and is it for the worse?
 
to me its always been bad since they changed long ago. no idea about now as i stopped using it when they did that first change.
 
It is what it is. I'm not a fan of all of the ingredients and I'm guessing the new K has some chemical or petroleum enhancement.
 
Meh...KB is great. It's the best charcoal to smoke with IMO and is great for grilling for most people. Advanced enthusiasts like ourselves might find the taste a little off. Sometimes I get a iron or mineral taste on food. So now I use K comp or better charcoal for the grill. However, for a wsm, KB is best IMO in terms of price, performance, and availability. Most of the famous TV BBQ Pitmasters seem to use it and agree.

3 cheers for KB!
 
I'm still happy with KB, gets the job done for me (grilling or smoking). Too cheap vs alternative and happy enough with the product to not want to change.
 
They also went up in price in the last week at the local HD an Lowes store to 19.97 for 40lbs. I have always used KBB but that was a interesting read on the old vs new..
 
Well, I'm a Kingsford fan. I buy locally in quantity when the product is on sale. I don't get off flavors and it is consistent burning for me. I get great results on both my grills as well as my new WSM.

FWIW
Dale53
 
I use it for long smokes and as a backup when I run out of RO or Wegman's lump. I definitely notice a smell when lighting, but when it gets going, it seems fine. I usually only buy on the big sale days though (Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day). Not worth it at the higher prices, IMHO. I really like lump. I can get 10lbs of Wegmans (made by RO) for $5.99, but can sometimes get three short cooks out of a single chimney of lump. Some of the K can be re-used, but much of it turns to dust after one cook. Still haven't tried the Comp though. I'll have to add that to my "to-do" list.
 
People are misguided when judging lump on a cost / lb basis. We all measure it out by volume (a chimney/charcoal ring etc) yes? Lump is actually very cost competitive with Kingsford on a per usage basis. I get maybe 3 cooks using a full chimney out of a bag of Kingsford. I lose track of how many cooks I get out of a bag of lump. These are both with using the leftovers for the next cook.

Factor in that much more leftover lump is reusable after a cook and it makes it a no-brainer for me. Plus, I'm not inhaling borax fumes, paying for corn starch binder (read ash), and flavoring my food with pinewood and it's turpentine. A final benefit is that I know my money is going to small main street american companies by purchasing my lump, where $ spent on KB is going right to that big corporate Bleach company and it's investors. Kingsford will keep raising prices and reducing quality because they'll need to make their margins and keep their investors happy.

Me, off soap box now....
 
Robert McGee said:
Well, I'm a Kingsford fan. I buy locally in quantity when the product is on sale. I don't get off flavors and it is consistent burning for me. I get great results on both my grills as well as my new WSM.

FWIW
Dale53
Click to expand...

Same here...never had a problem.
 
A final benefit is that I know my money is going to small main street american companies by purchasing my lump, where $ spent on KB is going right to that big corporate Bleach company and it's investors. Kingsford will keep raising prices and reducing quality because they'll need to make their margins and keep their investors happy.
Click to expand...

While they may have investors, and maybe part of a larger conglomerate, they still employ numerous American workers who probably make a decent living. They probably pay more in taxes, contribute to ,401k's and pensions etc., and probably invests in their community. This whole notion that supporting a smaller company is somehow more noble than supporting a larger company tires me. I have no problem with any charcoal company, and anyone can support whomever they wish but to vilify a company just because it is successful seems wrong to me. Honestly with how things are in the world economy, we should all be supporting American companies, large and small regardless.

Me off my soapbox now as well.

I do use KB for smoking as I find it entirely predicatable which is what I look for smoking. I use lump for grilling because I appreciate the high heat.
 
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I use Royal Oak, but I must confess, in the first bag I ever bought I found some foreign substance which turned out to be some small amount of fiberglass.
I guessed maybe some of the wood came from demo'ed construction, and a little insulation got dragged in. Just a guess.
It hasn't stopped me from using it, I prefer it to Kingsford because of minimal ash.
 
Nothing wrong with KBB, the complainers have to blame something for there lack of cooking skills.
 
Brian Quintal said:
I just recently went to the Kingsford home page and saw that it was beginning to receive bad reviews something about a change in product. Anybody see a recent change in the product and is it for the worse?
Click to expand...

People have been bad mouthing Kingsford for years, it's nothing new. The average review on their site for KB is 4.2 out of 5, that's pretty good.
 
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