Your charcoal is lying to you


 
Jason in CA

Jason in CA

TVWBB All-Star
Do you know what kind of charcoal you're really using?

I'm not sure if anyone has come across this yet and posted or not. I read this and thought wow! How are they even getting away with this. Apparently some of them aren't.

studyfinds.org

Rampant Mislabeling In American Charcoal Market Uncovered

A scientific study reveals that every tested lump charcoal brand misrepresented its contents—some labeled "oak" contained no oak, and "Made in USA" bags had tropical woods not found in the U.S. Here's what you need to know before your next barbecue.
studyfinds.org studyfinds.org
 
whatever

snippets from the study: https://fpj.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/fpro/75/2/article-p164.xml

I highlighted a couple of items in bold red text


Material and Methods
Charcoal acquisition
Fifteen lump charcoal brands were selected for this study, representing the major companies operating in the North American charcoal market. Bags were purchased online between February and November 2019. As noted in more detail below, individual manufacturers are not named in this work, but manufacturer names were provided to the editors for review.

and like any research study it would be remiss if the recommendation did not include more studies be done. am I right ?

Conclusion
Our analysis reveals discrepancies between the claimed taxa, origin, and weight of lump charcoal sold in the US market and the actual composition of these products, which corroborates previous findings of misrepresentation in the US forest products supply chain and the EU charcoal trade. While this investigation provides a first snapshot-in-time for lump charcoal in the US market, further research would be valuable to assess if currently available lump charcoal still evinces such misrepresentations. Such research should ideally include expanding the scope of analysis to other charcoal products, especially charcoal briquettes, and investigating more deeply the complex issues surrounding charcoal production, consumption, and trans-national supply chains.
 
Mike - LA said:
Figures 😕👎🏻
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Bob Bass said:
What figures?
Mike... How did your charcoal do ?
Mine... Not sure. NO DATA LISTED...
How do I trust their findings ?
Question I will.
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Figures that Ole Miss would throw that out to the world with something like “anonymous” sources or unable to state the brands and varieties to protect the offenders. But…could be true too based on the odd looking stuff I’ve seen in premium lump I’ve used and I really have no idea what’s in the pressed charcoal or a way to scientifically verify. Always wonder about the pellets too, was it a horse glue holding them together or all the sweet gum trees cut around here squeezed in there with the Osage orange bodock thorn tree. Just wondering
 
Without names/brands, the studyfinds.org report isn't particularly useful, as it points a rather vague accusation at the entire US lump charcoal industry without supporting documentation.
So I don't know if the brands that I usually buy are being honest about the types of woods they use or not.
That makes the article pretty much not actionable on a personal level.

Like DanHoo, I often turn to the Naked Whiz's lump charcoal database for recommendations, however, that site is run by a gentleman who merely looks at physical characteristics and burn characteristics of the charcoals he evaluates.
Though I put faith in that database, I'm fairly certain the Whiz doesn't have the capabilities to determine the exact species of wood(s) and/or where they come from that are used to make the charcoal.

Without further real information, I consider this issue one akin to trying to boil the ocean, and I have far more solvable problems to consider.
 
That article popped up on my news feed and the first thing that jumped out at me was the study was conducted nine years ago. What good is their data today? But it does go to show that marketers are just as crooked as politicians!

Edited spelling.
 
From the article
Another bag marketed as “100% mesquite charcoal” was about 97% mesquite, but included small amounts of other species such as Juglans (walnut) and Pistacia. While the dominant wood matched the claim, it wasn’t a pure product.

It's a natural product. I'm sure the company didn't purposely add 3% of another wood to deceive the consumer.
 
I'm with @Bob Bass. Performanve is what counts.

I use Cowboy and B&B briquettes and Royal Oak lump. All three work well for me so I really don't care if there's something in the bags that isn't listed on the label.

@timothy also has a valid point.

As with any agricultural produce, there's bound to be cross mixing here and there. Pretty sure you'd see worse results if you checked a bunch of food products for purity.
 
Bob Bailey said:
Royal Oak lump
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Royal Oak is high on my list of do not use. Several years ago, I was getting a lot of non-burnables in Royal Oak lump, including better than a half lb. chunk of what I suspect was clinker (kiln lining.) I sent in a message to Royal Oak, and the reply I got back was more or less "too bad, so sad." Tl;dr: I got tired of paying for something that didn't burn.

I generally use B+B in my grill and Cowboy in my smoker. Cowboy tends to spark, and that just does not matter in my smoker. B+B doesn't spark, but for the last couple of years, seems to take a bit more incentives to start up in a chimney starter. Rockwood is also awfully good, but at $35/20 lb bag, is sort of out of my price range.
 
JKalchik said:
Royal Oak is high on my list of do not use. Several years ago, I was getting a lot of non-burnables in Royal Oak lump, including better than a half lb. chunk of what I suspect was clinker (kiln lining.) I sent in a message to Royal Oak, and the reply I got back was more or less "too bad, so sad." Tl;dr: I got tired of paying for something that didn't burn.

I generally use B+B in my grill and Cowboy in my smoker. Cowboy tends to spark, and that just does not matter in my smoker. B+B doesn't spark, but for the last couple of years, seems to take a bit more incentives to start up in a chimney starter. Rockwood is also awfully good, but at $35/20 lb bag, is sort of out of my price range.
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I tried Royal Oak lump several times.

Lots of gravel, literally wood flooring scraps with tongue and groove ends. I quit using it.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Going to take massive earthquakes to move me off JD chunk. It just works well and consistently and offers up a great flavor.

We all eventually die. I want to go happy and satisfied.
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I’ve read your cooks and posts and you love it.

So I decided to try the JD chunk and I swear it smelled like the most horrid tire fire ever.

Weber Performer with gas assist.

Family did not like the imparted taste nor did I. After using 2/3 of the bag I dumped it into the trash and returned the other unopened bag.

I know it’s a different wood from South America but it can stay there as far as I’m concerned.
 
Wilmer Cogburn said:
I’ve read your cooks and posts and you love it.

So I decided to try the JD chunk and I swear it smelled like the most horrid tire fire ever.

Weber Performer with gas assist.

Family did not like the imparted taste nor did I. After using 2/3 of the bag I dumped it into the trash and returned the other unopened bag.

I know it’s a different wood from South America but it can stay there as far as I’m concerned.
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Briqs or lump?

I’ve never experienced what you listed above.
 
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