I purchased a Traeger last Spring and have learned to appreciate pellet cooking. Have tried several brands of flavored pellets. Have had excellent results with any bag of Pit Boss pellets. The size of the pellets are smaller than some brands which makes feeding flawless. Low ash and consistent burns. Great flavors. Have used the Comp & BBQ blends, excellent and only actual advertised woods with no oak-alder. Purchased a bag of Apple and bag of Hickory. According to Pit Boss, they have either maple or alder to keep costs down. Depending on which plant made them and nothing on bag to indicate. Rule of thumb, if made East of Mississippi River, Oak is the filler, West of would be Alder. Usually 30% flavor with 70% filler. I am on West Coast and since Alder is mild, I never notice any difference when compared to 100% full real wood. For example 100% Applewood. If the bag says "100% Hardwood" it has the alder filler of 70%, or it might say "blend" like Lumberjack does. I purchased a bag of Lumberjack 100% pecan as indicated on bag. Bought 2nd bag online and did not notice the 100% HARDWOOD, not 100% Pecan. Once received, outside of bag says "Pecan Blend". You can always tell by price as well. Typically, I use the spendy 100% pure wood for the low smoking session, typically under 200 degrees. They burn slow and provide excellent smoke rings. Once smoked to 120 degree meat temp, I swap out pellets for the lower cost mix pellets and crank up the heat for final remainder of cook. This makes it more cost effective and the spendy 100% no alder filler wood last longer per bag. Our local grocery store sells Lil Devil BBQ Pellets for $4.99 2lb bag. They are a mix of Alder, Apple, Hickory, Maple, Mesquite according to the label and company. They are also very low ash, really surprised me. So I use the Lil Devil $4.99 20LB pellets when raising temp to 300 and above. Or when smoking Brisket or Pork Butt, after 5hr low temp smoke and I wrap in butcher paper, return to cooking rack. No reason to use expensive 100% only apple wood when the meat is covered. I use the cheaper brand for heating purposes. The first few bags of Traeger pellets I purchased last year were on sale $8.99 20lb bag. It was after I brought home 3 bags of all 6 flavors when I found out that 100% Hardwood means FILLER (alder in my area). My opinion is that like food, they should be required to print ingredients on bags label with percentages of each wood. Otherwise, 100% Hardwood is a form of false advertising to people who are new to pellet smokers, etc.
