Royal Oak Lump Charcoal

[inkjunkie]

I pay $17 for 40 pounds of Mesquite chunk so at the price people pay for it the cost per pound is ALOT higher than what I pay. Not to mention every bag of RO I have ever opened had nothing but smaller pieces in it. And a lot of dust....and then there is the infamous rocks...and in every bag I have opened I found what fiberglass matting.
Just refilled the cans I keep my chunk in...this

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• inkjunkie
• Sep 26, 2015

Was the average size of what was in 3 40 pound bags. Between the 120 pounds I removed enough dust to fill a 5 gallon paint bucket with about 1" of dust...

 

[cman55]

 
When it comes to Lump Charcoal, this site is my favorite:

Unbelievable amount of info.  My new favorite is Rockwood Lump Charcoal made from Missouri hardwoods.  They will ship.
 

Please read our "Terms of Service", no offsite links allowed

This is the only Lump Charcoal I use in my Stumps. Very little ash, great heat, slow burning. 

 

[tcs1]

I just bought some B and B lump at Menards in STL. 6 bucks for an 8 lb bag. It looks good coming out of the bag. Consistent sizes and it all looks to be carbonized. Had the offset pit up to 300 in about a half hour. Choking it back now. So far so good.

 

[tcs1]

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• tcs1
• Sep 27, 2015

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• tcs1
• Sep 27, 2015

These were the pieces at the bottom of the bag. No dust or garbage and the pieces were still fairly decent sized.

 

[brazosbrian]

Smaller pieces?  Fiberglass?  Rocks?  Lots of dust?  I'm fairly new and have used only about 12 bags of the Royal Oak lump charcoal and I've NEVER seen any of these issues.  If anything, a few too many chunks are too big.  NO foreign content like fiberglass or rocks found at all.  But then again ...I am aware that there are about 3 types of Royal Oak lump charcoal ...I insist on the US Made all-hardwood Royal Oak lump charcoal.  It's got the American flag right on the label.  The other 2 versions of RO are made in South America, have substandard woods (harder to light, non-traditional woods etc).  Perhaps the issues observed by some have to do with the stuff made outside the US??  You can also call Green Egg - a company that strives for only the best reputation.  Their brand lump charcoal is re-labeled Royal Oak hardwood lump charcoal, the Made in the USA variety that I use.  Nobody ever complains about their brand of charcoal... and it's the same stuff.

Brian

 

[tcs1]

I get a lot of dust and small pieces in my US made RO, but I don't think that is terribly uncommon. I think it is fairly decent and reasonably priced at WalMart. Just looking for some alternatives.

 

[inkjunkie]

Smaller pieces?  Fiberglass?  Rocks?  Lots of dust?  I'm fairly new and have used only about 12 bags of the Royal Oak lump charcoal and I've NEVER seen any of these issues.  If anything, a few too many chunks are too big.  NO foreign content like fiberglass or rocks found at all.  But then again ...I am aware that there are about 3 types of Royal Oak lump charcoal ...I insist on the US Made all-hardwood Royal Oak lump charcoal.  It's got the American flag right on the label.  The other 2 versions of RO are made in South America, have substandard woods (harder to light, non-traditional woods etc).  Perhaps the issues observed by some have to do with the stuff made outside the US??  You can also call Green Egg - a company that strives for only the best reputation.  Their brand lump charcoal is re-labeled Royal Oak hardwood lump charcoal, the Made in the USA variety that I use.  Nobody ever complains about their brand of charcoal... and it's the same stuff.

Brian

Royal Oak is well known for their rocks...and for me it is a flat out rip off at that price.

 

[geoffchef]

I get a lot of dust and small pieces in my US made RO, but I don't think that is terribly uncommon. I think it is fairly decent and reasonably priced at WalMart. Just looking for some alternatives.

Same here with the fragments and dust.

 

[john 4 21 ribs]

What I have found is if you buy RO (and most others) at the spring the lumps are large as the season moves on the bags get tossed all over the place & the lumps shrink or crushed.

 

[brazosbrian]

I've never seen a single foreign thing in my RO USA, and the mix of sizes have been great, and the dust level low (sometimes dusty at the end of the bag).  I think that 'some' dust is unavoidable ...it IS charcoal after all, not bound with chemistry like some briquettes.  Can't complain.  Of course, another factor could be the location ...I buy all of mine at Home Depot in Wasilla, Alaska ...perhaps ours gets here in a single jump in an airplane instead of miles of open road in a truck?  Dunno ...But I can't complain, whichever plant ours comes from and however it gets here is getting good charcoal to us.  I do always buy the newest bags, often off of a freshly-opened pallet at the store, and I stock up... I buy 6 to 8 bags at once and put them away on a high dry shelf in my heated shop until needed, topping off again before stock runs out towards the second half of summer.  In Alaska, stuff runs out and you don't see it again for several months ...I stock up when I see something that I need.  I have no idea why things are run that way up here (no good reason?), but that's the way it is.

Brian

 

[tcs1]

Stop. They all have foreign items in the bags. Its scrap lumber, not virgin pine.

 

[whiskeyboyz]

We teach, in our BBq101 Classes, the benefits of using "royal Oak" lump in offset smokers. first and foremost it is all natural. Briquets are made with a binding agent to form the briquettes, this can get into your food. Lump burns hotter and produces less ash.

 

[brazosbrian]

Stop. They all have foreign items in the bags. Its scrap lumber, not virgin pine.

Pine!  Yecch!  

 

[torp3t3d0]

thanks for the insight...it helped me in deciding on what to use 

 

[HalfSmoked]

Sure makes enjoy my 40" master built propane and apple wood chips a lot better than some of the stuff I just read. I do have a Webber 22" kettle that I use Kingsford in. But you all are talking about Kingsford Blue? what is it my Kingsford comes in  a blue and white bag is this it?

 

[wudman]

I'd check Wikipedia for the ingredients of Kingsford char;coal...when you do, you'll never use it again.  Go lump...

 

[brazosbrian]

...That's what gives it its unique flavor!  BTW, Is the wikipedia list accurate?  Borax and nitrates are the foreign ingredients ...but a book that I have says that charcoal briquettes have "asphalt type" chemicals in it ...which to me, means tar and petroleum products.  I don't see that in the list at the wikipedia site.

Brian

 

[wudman]

Well, I'll be. About a year ago, I checked on Wiki--which is only as accurate and honest as the people who submit "data" and one of the ingredients listed was "ground coal".  Just checked and the entry has changed.  So, I'll retract my comment but still yer better off using "pure" charcoal.  Thanks for correcting me...

 

[brazosbrian]

Oh wait ...I see "Mineral Char" and "Mineral Carbon" listed.  Can't find mineral char on the web (burnt minerals?) but the Wiki on Carbon says "Coal is the largest commercial source of mineral carbon, accounting for 4,000 gigatonnes or 80% of fossil carbon fuel.[sup][51][/sup] It is also rich in carbon – for example, anthracite contains 92–98%"  So yeah ...I guess someone edited the Wiki to lose the 'ground coal' term and replaced it with "Mineral Char" and "Mineral Carbon" instead, and NOW the book that I have that says "asphalt-like chemicals' in charcoal briquettes makes a lot more sense... Love that smell of burning coal cooking my ribeye!

Actually, I do like the smell and flavor from the traditional blue bag Kingsford briquettes - we choose to use lump charcoal (baked hardwood) to help reduce our exposure to carcinogenic chemicals in our lives.  BBQ all by itself adds carcinogens to food ...so we choose not to exacerbate the issue.  Anyone notice that we have gotten a lot better at 2 things in our modern lives?  Cancer treatment and growth of new cancer!  If you go back in time to when there were fewer chemicals used (fragrances, colorants, preservatives, etc etc etc), you find that cancer occurred at a far far lower rate than it does now.  Cancer is a manufactured disease ...think it has anything to do with the humongous onslaught of chemistry in our world?  Stick with lump charcoal... and grow your own veggies and chickens, and be a stinky hippy instead of a pretty-smelling metro-freak.  Eat all organic and natural foods... hairy girls are pretty :)

Brian

 

[daricksta]

 
Oh wait ...I see "Mineral Char" and "Mineral Carbon" listed.  Can't find mineral char on the web (burnt minerals?) but the Wiki on Carbon says "Coal is the largest commercial source of mineral carbon, accounting for 4,000 gigatonnes or 80% of fossil carbon fuel.[sup][51][/sup] It is also rich in carbon – for example, anthracite contains 92–98%"  So yeah ...I guess someone edited the Wiki to lose the 'ground coal' term and replaced it with "Mineral Char" and "Mineral Carbon" instead, and NOW the book that I have that says "asphalt-like chemicals' in charcoal briquettes makes a lot more sense... Love that smell of burning coal cooking my ribeye!

Actually, I do like the smell and flavor from the traditional blue bag Kingsford briquettes - we choose to use lump charcoal (baked hardwood) to help reduce our exposure to carcinogenic chemicals in our lives.  BBQ all by itself adds carcinogens to food ...so we choose not to exacerbate the issue.  Anyone notice that we have gotten a lot better at 2 things in our modern lives?  Cancer treatment and growth of new cancer!  If you go back in time to when there were fewer chemicals used (fragrances, colorants, preservatives, etc etc etc), you find that cancer occurred at a far far lower rate than it does now.  Cancer is a manufactured disease ...think it has anything to do with the humongous onslaught of chemistry in our world?  Stick with lump charcoal... and grow your own veggies and chickens, and be a stinky hippy instead of a pretty-smelling metro-freak.  Eat all organic and natural foods... hairy girls are pretty :)

Brian

My mom ate healthy, had given up smoking in her 40s, and still developed leukemia in her early 60s. In fact, most of her siblings died of various forms of cancers. Because of all that, I'll take my chances with the carcinogens produced by grilling or even just by broiling beef. A bunch of things are carcinogenic; it all depends on how your body reacts to them. If the carcinogens inherent in grilled meat that was touched by grease flames are cumulative over a lifetime, how much do you have to accumulate in your system over what period of time for cancer to develop? No one can say. Until then I'll continue to enjoy the smells wafting up from my favorite Kingsford Competition Charcoal or my equally favorite Stubbs Charcoal along with my favorite Frontier Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal underneath whatever meat (or pizza) I'm grilling above them.