# Pit Boss Pellets, A Good Deal?



## SonnyE

My local Lowe's has 40 pound bags of Pit Boss Competition Blend Pellet fuel for $16.88.
I'm rather new to using pellets, was always a 'purist' buying straight runs like Hickory for my smoking.
But this sounds too good to pass up.
What do you more experienced smokers think?
40 pounds would probably last me a vastly long time in my AMNPS.


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## BandCollector

Haven't used Pit Boss yet but at that price for 40# seems like it is worth a try. . . . Thanks for the heads up!

John


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## BandCollector

SonnyE said:


> 40 pounds would probably last me a vastly long time in my AMNPS.



40# would last you a lifetime in an AMNPS!  LOL!

Have fun,

John


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## ross77

That’s the new standard price for Pit Boss now and it’s a good price. 

The hickory ratio is pretty low in that blend so likely won’t get as much flavor as a pure hickory pellet.


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## SonnyE

BandCollector said:


> 40# would last you a lifetime in an AMNPS!  LOL!
> 
> Have fun,
> 
> John



At my age John, Lifetime supply + AMNPS = A Certainty. LOL!
My backup plan is if they are terrible, give them to the Daughter and SIL for their Traeger. :p



ross77 said:


> That’s the new standard price for Pit Boss now and it’s a good price.
> 
> The hickory ratio is pretty low in that blend so likely won’t get as much flavor as a pure hickory pellet.



That's good to know about the price.
As far as I could tell, looks like Maple, Hickory, Cherry blend. But ratio's?

My mainstays are Smoking Salmon, Cheeses, and Baby Back Ribs. So I was looking at this as Pellets for those.
I've long been a Hickory fan. But tried some Alder on some Salmon and really liked it!
Mostly looking what's readily available around me. I'm not real happy with the amazonian trend the stores are taking. I prefer cash and carry. ;)


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## ross77

50% Maple/25%Hickory/25%Cherry


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## SonnyE

ross77 said:


> 50% Maple/25%Hickory/25%Cherry



Thank You for the %'s.
I think I will pull the trigger on a bag. Maple and Hickory I like.
So I'd bet I would like the result.

Trouble is most around me are not smoked fans. So I just please myself.

Thanks for your help! :)


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## DrewJ

Picked up a bag at Menards last summer for about the same price. The smokes I have used on have been good in my AMNPS. I was skeptical when I bought it since it was so cheap but I thought it was worth the gamble and it was.


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## SonnyE

DrewJ said:


> Picked up a bag at Menards last summer for about the same price. The smokes I have used on have been good in my AMNPS. I was skeptical when I bought it since it was so cheap but I thought it was worth the gamble and it was.



Thank You Drew!
Yep, I informed the book keeper I'm going to spend some money.
She noted it.
(I usually just surprise her...)


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## RobisCluless

This thread is about 3 months old, but I'm wondering how you liked them SonnyE?


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## SonnyE

They're fine. But I think I like straight run pellets better. 
But in a Pellet burner, a lot of the pellet goes up as heat.
Hickory, or Alder, are two woods I like the flavor/smell of. (I shamelessly admit I'm a smoke sniffer.)

But I believe that you can't believe anything about pellets (nor the pucks Bradley sells). Solid wood is quite obvious.
All we have to go on is claims of the pellet provider.
My Son-In-Law has 5 acres in Washington, and collects Alder straight from his own woods, but also has Maple and Oak.
Or if you make your own like I did with oak from my Jointer.

Our Daughter and SIL here have a Treager, and they always buy Treager pellets for it.
I'm not Brand Loyal.


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## zwiller

I realize you're asking Sonny but I grabbed these and much prefer Todd's.  PM is much more milder but that could work for you for but not me.  These same pellets are also the only time my AMNPS tray went so fast it caused a fire in my MES.  PP I made with them was awesome but Todd's was even better.  They are working really well as kindling for the fire pit but I can see some guys using them as fuel on a pellet grill.  Long story short: doable but there are better choices.


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## RobisCluless

Thank you both, I think I'll try Lumberjack that I think a few people here use.


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## SonnyE

RobisCluless said:


> Thank you both, I think I'll try Lumberjack that I think a few people here use.



Any are fine. For me, the nearest Lumberjack dealer is an hour away, without traffic.
So I tend to find what I can get locally. ;)


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## norcal q

Just now ran into this thread and just discovered Pit Boss Pellets.  From what I understand, the blends of flavor woods used don't include the filler wood used.  For instance, the Competition Blend says maple, hickory, cherry, but those only make up 30% of the total wood used.  The other 70% or filler wood, is either Alder or Oak, depending on where they are sourcing the filler at the time.  So actually, you're getting 30% flavor wood and 70% filler.  I assume it's the same with, for instance, the Hickory pellets...they are 30% hickory and 70% filler wood.  When they say 100% Hickory, they're just saying that there is no other flavor wood being used, but they're not telling you that there's 70% filler wood in the pellets.  This was info I got from calling Pit Boss.


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## ross77

Correct. The bags don’t actually say 100% hickory though. Just says hickory. They are serviceable pellets. I finally got through an entire bag of hickory and I just wasn’t impressed with the flavor. Very light smoke flavor imported into th food.


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## norcal q

Not saying they're bad, in fact, I just did a pork belly cook with the Hickory and got plenty of smoke flavor, at least as much as the LJ pellets I usually use.


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