# Is Kingsford blue still good?



## hawtsauc3 (Nov 13, 2018)

finally getting back into smoking as I inherited a 18” kettle plus bought an 18” wsm and I’m wondering if classic Kingsford is still good. They were decent a few years  ago but a lot of recent reviews seem to say it’s bad now


----------



## gmc2003 (Nov 13, 2018)

KBB isn't as good since they changed the formula, but it's still what I use. I stock up when it goes on sale. 

Chris


----------



## hawtsauc3 (Nov 13, 2018)

That’s what I was afraid of. I see royal oak has briquettes now, I only used to ever see lump, so I might have to test that


----------



## gmc2003 (Nov 13, 2018)

There's a thread somewhere on the forum that does a value comparison. If I find it I'll post it. With that being said: I've never experienced an after taste using KBB and during summer holidays it pretty cheap. 

Chris


----------



## pc farmer (Nov 13, 2018)

The Royal oak briqs is good stuff.  Walmart brand, Embers I think its called it the same stuff.


----------



## pc farmer (Nov 13, 2018)

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...n-temperature-time-and-ash-comparison.262989/


----------



## SmokinLogs (Nov 13, 2018)

I use kbb from time to time if it’s on a good sale. That being said, I prefer royal oak briquettes. They aren’t as commonly found but they are usually fairly cheap too. I think royal oak lasts longer, and doesn’t leave as much ash. I can’t say kbb is junk, but there are definitely better quality products on the market (imho). Hope this helps you out.


----------



## noboundaries (Nov 13, 2018)

As the author of the above study, I can tell you KBB has changed. Lots of folks still use it for smoking and grilling, but I've moved on to Royal Oak Ridge briquettes. RO Ridge will often masquerade as a store brand; Walmart Expert, Home Depot Embers, Winco store brand, and a many others. Check the back of any store brand's bag. If you see "Made in USA by Royal Oak Enterprises," or the trademarked "Ridge Flow Through" logo on the front of the bag, you are looking at Royal Oak Ridge. Same stuff, different bag, cheaper than KBB and outperforms it for heat control.

Word of warning: don't use the same number of hot Ridge briquettes as you did KBB to start your smoker fire. I used to use about 25 hot KBB on top of a cold pile of KBB to start a 225F WSM. Now I use 8 hot Ridge briquettes on top of a cold pile of Ridge.  When I start with 25 hot Ridge bricks, the smoker runs 300-325F.

Low temp smoker performance for jerky and bacon is better too with Ridge. I can put 4 hot Ridge on a cold pile and run 150F all day.

Switch to Ridge. You'll be glad you did.


----------



## hawtsauc3 (Nov 14, 2018)

Thanks everyone, I’ll probablu be switching. I figured this was the case and it’s kind of sad because I grew up with KBB but if they ruined it there’s no sense in using it


----------



## fivetricks (Nov 14, 2018)

noboundaries


So how many "hot coals" would you suggest on top of the pile of colds for a UDS? 

I've been having temp problems with mine running way, way too hot and I'm sure it's because I'm starting with too many hots initially.


----------



## noboundaries (Nov 14, 2018)

fivetricks said:


> So how many "hot coals" would you suggest on top of the pile of colds for a UDS?



I'm not a UDS guy, but the concept is similar to a WSM. I don't care if I'm doing a 3 hour smoke, or a 20 hour smoke, I always start with a full charcoal basket of cold briquettes. Some of those may be used and I knocked off the ash, filling the basket with new.

The heat retention of the Ridge is higher than KBB due to the extra mass. All it took was one smoke where I used the same number of hot Ridge as I did hot KBB to realize I had to significantly reduce the hot Ridge to start my fire. Figuring a 225F target, I remember trying half as much hot Ridge. It still ran hot.  I eventually settled on the 1/4 to 1/3rd as much. I actually had to buy the small chimney because I was using so few coals to start my fire. 

My vent control changed quite a bit too. My lower vent settings with KBB always had a decent opening, like 1/4" or more on a 225F smoke. Running a 225F smoker with Ridge, my bottom vents are usually set at 1/16" open. My DX2, which I only use on overnighters, is purely there for backup with the vent slide on the DX2 only open about 1/8".

You will have to make changes switching to Ridge. Only you can figure out what works best.


----------



## fivetricks (Nov 15, 2018)

Thanks for the help!


----------



## JudithJohnson (Sep 17, 2019)

Pretty interesting introduction I have to say. Sadly I'm not a huge specialist in smoking and grilling so probably marketing service would help someone to find a proper answer. I like to read such posts as this one.


----------



## Hawging It (Sep 17, 2019)

hawtsauc3 said:


> finally getting back into smoking as I inherited a 18” kettle plus bought an 18” wsm and I’m wondering if classic Kingsford is still good. They were decent a few years  ago but a lot of recent reviews seem to say it’s bad now


Not bad but I changed to Royal Oak a few months ago and like the hotter, longer burn. But if I found the Blue bag on sale I would still stock up!


----------



## smokininidaho (Sep 23, 2019)

I use kingsford if I'm grilling, only lump for bbq.


----------



## davidgreams (Sep 28, 2019)

I mainly use lump, about 80% lump, 20% kingsford. The thing about Kingsford is that you know exactly what you have every time. I use just enough kingsford to bring my smoker up to temp, then I put on a big load of lump charcoal. That will pull it down, once it is back up to temp, I put the meat on.

My experience has been that everything positive about both lump and Kingsford is all true. So I use Kingsford, once grayed all over, for consistency to start my fire, and lump to keep it going. I'll use Kingsford again later in the smoke without apology if I run out of lump. It tastes fine to me.


----------



## texomakid (Sep 28, 2019)

I can get the KBB at Lowe's for just under $17 for 2 x 20 lbs bags. Seems like a decent price from their advertised normal price? Is that a good deal?


----------



## noboundaries (Sep 29, 2019)

$17 for 40 lbs is 42.5 cents a lb. ($17/40). The big sales are over until Thanksgiving when you can pick up KBB or any of the Royal Oak Briquette brands (RO Ridge (Lowes)/Embers (Home Depot)/Expert Grill (Walmart) for 20 to 25 cents a pound.

At this time of year, if no sales are going on, Home Depot has Embers $14.98 for 40 lbs, or 37.5 cents per pound. It is $7.98 for 40 lbs at Thanksgiving, or 20 cents per pound. Thanksgiving is the last time of the year to stock up. Christmas is kind of iffy.


----------



## negolien (Jan 2, 2020)

So new to smokin just purchased a MB Vertical gravity grill and smoker. Saw Kingsford cherry and other Charcoal.. You're saying I should stay away from that and just go standard Royal Oak with some hardwood in the ash area only? Was just gonna grab some hard wood and charcoal from Walmart and maybe a box for some chips...


----------



## noboundaries (Jan 2, 2020)

negolien said:


> So new to smokin just purchased a MB Vertical gravity grill and smoker. Saw Kingsford cherry and other Charcoal.. You're saying I should stay away from that and just go standard Royal Oak with some hardwood in the ash area only? Was just gonna grab some hard wood and charcoal from Walmart and maybe a box for some chips...



I had to look up this new smoker/grill and watch several YouTube videos to get an idea how it worked. FIRST: go to Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, any hardware store and buy a galvanized bucket with a lid for hot ashes. Because the ashes can be changed DURING a long cook, that's a trash fire, or worse, waiting to happen. I once watched a house go up in flames due to the resident putting charcoal ashes he thought were cold in the trashcan.  

Second: It looks like ANY charcoal will work. Kingsford is 25% less dense than any Royal Oak Ridge product (HD Embers, Walmart Expert Grill, Winco charcoal, Safeway charcoal...basically any bag that says "Made by Royal Oak Enterprises" on the back), so Kingsford will ash out faster requiring more refills compared to any of the RO Ridge products. All the product reviews appear to be using Kingsford, and it appears you burn through 1.5 lbs per hour. You'd probably burn through 1 lb per hour with a denser charcoal briquette.   

Third: The ash catcher is where you put the wood "chunks." Don't use chips. Chips have too little mass. At some point the hot ashes dropping on the chips is probably going to set them on fire. And don't think soaking chips will solve that problem. It will only delay it. 

Fourth: I'm guessing this may actually be a smoker where you can use wood infused charcoal. Can't say for sure, but if I owned one of these charcoal gravity feeds, I'd experiment with a bag of wood infused charcoal on something cheap that absorbs a lot of smoke, like skin-on poultry. If the birds tastes ashy, you'll know not to use it.

It is so new it appears there's only one other user here at SMF. Check out this thread. 






						Masterbuilt Gravity Feed
					

Sorry if this has been posted already. This looks like a good idea, and inexpensive way to get into gravity feed if it works as well as advertised.  https://www.masterbuilt.com/collections/smokers/products/gravity-series™-560-digital-charcoal-grill-smoker    Anyone have one already?




					www.smokingmeatforums.com


----------

