Whats your opinion on Charcoal Lump or Briquetts


 
GeraldCurry

GeraldCurry

TVWBB Fan
I have a few kettles and a Smoker, i use on smoker Royal Oak Lump, but would like to use the Charcoal Briquettes eighter wicked Charcoal Briquettes or Competition Kingsford , anyone have suggestions. Lump has so many small chip peices and usually clogs and lose air flow. Pain in but and i clean my afte each cook
jerry:mad::mad::wsm:
 
I've only had once bag of Kingsford Competition and it's GREAT............to me it's what Kingsford Blue bag should be. I have no hands on experience with Wicked Good briquettes, but if it's anything like their lump it should be good (at least). But good lump by a company doesn't necessarily translate into good briquettes.
 
With everything considered, it is really hard to justify the extra expense for the moderate gains of not using Kingsford Blue. JMO.
 
Try both briquets and see which one you prefer. Sometimes I will mix briquets and lump together, but hardly ever
burn just lump alone anymore. Don't get mad at it , have fun with it.
 
The other thing you can do is buy a second charcoal grate and turn it 90 degrees to the other. This will stop the smaller pieces from falling through. I use R/O lump and it is not as dense in my view as some other brands but it's cheaper and more readily available around here so I make do with it.
 
I tried Kingsford Competition, and I don't like it. I felt that it burned too fast, and did not last long enough. I use lump for direct grilling primarily. I'm finished experimenting, and I'm going back to Kingsford Blue. I believe that, in spite of its drawbacks (amount of ash), it's reliable, it's generally priced right, and it's always available in my locale. I haven't tried other brands of briquettes. As for lump, I tried Cowboy and Royal Oak, and I think that Royal Oak is better.
 
I'll second the motion on Stubbs Briquettes, excellent product, long burning, little ash. Also, if you have a Do It Best Hardware store near you, check out their Chef's Select briquettes, 40lb bag for around $20. You have to order them on line with free shipping to the store, another great product.
 
Living in the uk we don't have the wide range of briquettes you guys do, so I almost exclusively cook with restaurant grade lump charcoal as it's the best and most cost efficient fuel. The main issue as you say is the small bits of lump, I combat this by using a piece of mesh cut to the size of the charcoal grate, this allows the tiny bits to fall through but holds the bigger chunks better than the standard grate. My wsm has always performed very well and I've achieved some long cooks with no issues.

I'd like to use briquettes more often, but high quality ones (e.g. Heat beads) are expensive over here, around $17 for a 15lb bag.
 
Thanks guys i have used the extra grate and made a mesh one like John Setzler made way back when lol. works good but on the smoker still with lump i have clogs. Im wondering if its a sin to use briquettes in a smoker lol.. I called wicked good and they dont sell briquettes aNYMORE But maybe new contact at end of the year it may again start. In mean time
 
I use Kingsford comp as I find it performs like lump, but has the size consistency of briquettes. I've used Kingsford blue, but I don't like paying for all the fillers and dealing with the ash. I also have Stubbs briquettes available in my area and I'm going to try that next time I buy charcoal.
 
I buy whatever is on sale, which usually ends up being KBB during the holidays. I care about one thing only. Heat. And nothing delivers consistent, long as cheaply as KBB does. Yes I've used lots of different lumps and a few different briquettes trying to make the "switch" but I cant find a justification to. The Webers (kettles and WSMs) were built with HUGE ash capacities so I don't care about ash production. I've never had ash snuff out a fire inside of 20 hours in the smoker or kettle. So you could argue the purity of lump or hardwood charcoal, but in the end I think the difference is extremely insignificant. At < $0.25 per lb over the holidays its a no brainer for me.
 
I use KBB on my grill and in my WSM. My offset is a few hog so its exclusively lump because of the ash. Eventually I'll stick burn in the thing. My experience with most lump is that it varies drastically in size and amount of un charred wood. Forget about the Cowboy brand stuff. That almost lit my house on fire it sparked so much. I haven't tried the royal oak lump. I'm sure its fine. I use a brand called "full circle" that's ok. The Cowboy brand had pieces of plastic in it, I swear.
 
Briquettes: Kingsford Blue (great price and consistant) or Frontier (natural and I actually prefer it over K blue)

Lump: Royal Oak or Cowboy.
 
I like Kingsford Hickory and or Mesquite but I often just use Kingsford Blue because it's cost affective. I stay with Kingford because it's pretty dang consistent. I've never used the competition, because the blue is perfect and it's my fallback
 
The only time I am picky is when I use my WSM or mini WSM. In those I use only fresh from the bag Stubbs or KBB. Kingsford Competition is really good also but I am too cheap to pay for it given the cost of the others. I have tried lump in the smokers and I just don't like its inconsistencies. In spite of the ash issues, I like*that it*generally performs the same way time after time. When it comes to the kettle grills I always start with whatever partially burned coals I have and then add to it with either lump or briquettes depending on how high of temp I need for that particular meal. I use two crossed grates in all of them to make using lump easier.
 
Last edited:
Made the switch from KBB to Stubbs in the last few months.

I really like the Stubbs stuff and it's not terribly expensive at Amazon or Wally World.

But, what I found was the best advise to me over the years, find one you like and stick with it.
 
I am a 100 % lump user.

Nothing wrong with charcoal, but I like the clean burn of lump.

I use Picnic, B&b, wicked good, royal oak among others.
 
I prefer lump for the burn and ash and KBB for the price and bag to bag consistency. Stubbs seems to be a good compromise but it takes a trip to BLowes to get it.
 
Briquets - KBB for the most part...when Stubb's is on sale for $5.00 a bag I'll get some but my go-to is KBB on sale.

Livin' the frugal life in AZ (for now)...:cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top