Whats the difference in charcoal?


 
C

CSmith

New member
Hey guys! I just got two bags (Costco) of kingsford professional competition briquettes. I know alot is out there with using the blue bag just wondering if these will be similar? As well as how have the flavored briquettes (hickory or mesquite) done on a WSM? I'm new to the WSM and hate wasting time, effort and money on things that won't work. Thanks

Chad
 
There's a detailed comparison around here somewhere. The shortened version is the professional/competition is just wood char and binder while the blue bag is coal dust, wood char, and binder. The pro/comp is said to give off less ash. It may also burn a bit hotter so you may need to close down the vents a bit more.

My personal opinion is the flavored briquettes are more gimmick than function. Stay with the regular briqs and add your own smoke wood.
 
OK, this story is somewhat related to the original post and funny enough that it bears retelling...

The setting is a barbeque competition here in Arizona at about 8:00pm on a Friday night. There was a team a few spaces away from mine and they were clearly enjoying a few adult beverages which is not an unusual happening on a Friday night at a barbeque competition. They had fired up their cookers, one of them being a WSM. I was downwind from this team and there was an incredibly powerful smell of lighter fluid coming from their site. I expected it to dissipate but, alas, it did not. After about a half hour of this odoriferous bombardment, I went to their site to see what the hell was going on. I asked one of the guys about the powerful lighter fluid stench and the group roared with laughter. Well, there was one fellow there who wasn't laughing and his comrades urged him to explain what was going on. He did and this was his story...

He was new to the wild world of barbeque and wanted to come the contest with his friends who had been competing for a few years. He asked, they said yes so he asked if he could bring his new smoker and some meat to cook too. Again, they agreed and suggested bringing a pork butt. He arrived with smoker, pork butt, rub and, of course, charcoal. They told him to get his cooker set up and bring it up to temperature. Like me, his buddies were curious about the powerful smell of lighter fluid pouring out of his cooker and just figured that, as a rookie, he had used it to light his charcoal. When the smell didn't go away, they asked him the very same question I had asked: "What the hell is going on?" The rookie told his buddies that all he had done was load the cooker with charcoal and light it claiming that he hadn't used any lighter fluid. When pressed about what kind of charcoal he used, he answered..."Matchlight".

True Story!
 
Save the "flavored" charcoal for the grill. It is designed for faster, hotter cooks.

For the smoker I prefer a "all natural" briquette (lump has too much variation in size.) I prefer Royal Oak as I feel that is has less "chemical" taste than the blue bag and less ash than Kingsford competition/ professional.
 
The Kingsford Professional burns a little hotter, and seems to just be a way to extract a little more money from the customer. Now, the poor guy with the Matchlight,
he is gonna just have to live with that story for a while.
 
I think pro definitely burns cleaner and has a nicer smell at startup and I used to buy it solely. then I got on some of the blue discounts people mentioned on the site and haven't looked back and frankly can't tell the difference in the final product nor in performance. the only noticeable difference is the smell IMO with the pro having a "cleaner" smelling burn.
 
Hi all! I am going to do the Mr. Brown butt recipe tonight. I have plenty of Royal charcoal. Will Royal charcoal work for the minion method lighting? What advice do you have for me since I am used to using Kingsford. Thanks!
 
Andrew Augustine said:
Hi all! I am going to do the Mr. Brown butt recipe tonight. I have plenty of Royal charcoal. Will Royal charcoal work for the minion method lighting? What advice do you have for me since I am used to using Kingsford. Thanks!
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lump or briquettes? people certainly use it with the MM all the time and seem happy.
 
Andrew Augustine said:
Hi all! I am going to do the Mr. Brown butt recipe tonight. I have plenty of Royal charcoal. Will Royal charcoal work for the minion method lighting? What advice do you have for me since I am used to using Kingsford. Thanks!
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The Royal Oak briquettes will work just like the Kingsford. If you're using Royal Oak lump, you might find that you get a little trouble with consistent ignition over the long cook due to the irregular shape of the lump itself. While it isn't always a problem, I have had experiences where the fire has nearly died due to that problem. Again, it doesn't happen often but you should be aware of it and keep a closer watch in the fire and your temps.
 
Vincent Carrocci said:
The Royal Oak briquettes will work just like the Kingsford. If you're using Royal Oak lump, you might find that you get a little trouble with consistent ignition over the long cook due to the irregular shape of the lump itself. While it isn't always a problem, I have had experiences where the fire has nearly died due to that problem. Again, it doesn't happen often but you should be aware of it and keep a closer watch in the fire and your temps.
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It is the lump. If it is easier, I can just use Kingsford briquettes. Let me know what is best. Thanks!
 
Andrew Augustine said:
It is the lump. If it is easier, I can just use Kingsford briquettes. Let me know what is best. Thanks!
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Throw caution to the wind and use a mixture of both. Put down a layer of Kingsford and then top it with a layer of Royal Oak. The bed of Kingsford should give you slow and steady ignition plus you'll get the flavor of lump charcoal too.

It's a crazy world we live in!
 
I ended up just using my Kingsford charcoal. I put the butts on at 7:15 last night and already pulled them off this morning around 7:30! These must have been smaller butts since they reached 190 in just 12 hours. Too bad I really only got 1 round of sop on them. They'll still be good. I didn't even think to snap some pics before wrapping them in foil and putting them in my cooler.

Next question, I don't see myself pulling the butts until 5:00 tonight (9 hours away). Will they be OK to sit in my cooler that long? I know they say the longer the better in the cooler but 9 hours is quite a while. Thanks!
 
Andrew Augustine said:
Next question, I don't see myself pulling the butts until 5:00 tonight (9 hours away). Will they be OK to sit in my cooler that long? I know they say the longer the better in the cooler but 9 hours is quite a while. Thanks!
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My opinion is:
Nine hours is probably pushing it.
Variables are meat temp going into the cooler, size and insulating quality of the cooler, etc.
If you can monitor the meat's internal temp, and it drops to 140, then it's time to pull it and cool it, or put it in a 140-150 degree oven until time to pull.
 
professional/competition gets to temp faster, burns hotter, and you have less ash. I'm a blue bag guy though. Flavors were more popular when the flavor dust was throughout the briquet rather than just on the surface
 
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