# Cowboy lump charcoal review



## bhambrewer (Aug 25, 2020)

Well, Costco had a 34lb bag for $21. So I bought some.

Lighting up the charcoal: easy. Same method I used to light briquettes. Ready to pour in around 10 minutes, faster than the Kingsford briquettes I usually use.

Sparks: some. Maybe a little more than the Kingsford, but not excessive.

Smoke: almost none. The little smoke I got was not very strong.

Duration of heat: I used about a half chimney of charcoal. With briquettes I'd expect about an hour to 90 minutes of grilling heat. I got about an hour, maybe a little less? But then the heat dropped quite abruptly from 450s to 250s.

General: I didn't empty out the bag, I just pulled charcoal from the top of the bag. It seemed to be mainly small pieces with a couple of longer bits. I didn't see any large chunks, but I didn't dig down. 

I may revisit after smoking the 3 chunks of pork cushion meat.


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## Motorboat40 (Aug 25, 2020)

I have bag i got from lowes I like it just fine. Although it cost a little more than my normal royal oak lump i use i didn't notice any difference between the two other than the price.


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## bhambrewer (Aug 25, 2020)

Motorboat40 said:


> I have bag i got from lowes I like it just fine. Although it cost a little more than my normal royal oak lump i use i didn't notice any difference between the two other than the price.



thanks for the feedback. I was trying to buy some Royal Oak but, shockingly, Walmart was utterly incompetent at stocking the stuff on the shelves...


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## Motorboat40 (Aug 25, 2020)

bhambrewer said:


> thanks for the feedback. I was trying to buy some Royal Oak but, shockingly, Walmart was utterly incompetent at stocking the stuff on the shelves...


I feel your pain my Walmartbis horrible they barely have any grills. I've been wanting to check out the masterbuilt gravity series grill walmart carries it. But not mine i have to go across the mountain to bigger Walmart to look at it.


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## bhambrewer (Aug 25, 2020)

Motorboat40 said:


> I feel your pain my Walmartbis horrible they barely have any grills. I've been wanting to check out the masterbuilt gravity series grill walmart carries it. But not mine i have to go across the mountain to bigger Walmart to look at it.



I generally avoid shopping at Walmart where possible. For meat I have Restaurant Depot, Aldi, and Costco, who also cover my general grocery shopping needs. I bulk buy spices from the local Asian supermarket or Restaurant Depot. For hardware I'll go to Lowes or Home Depot, so I rarely have any need to go to Walmart.


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## Chasdev (Aug 26, 2020)

My first and last experience with C/boy lump is that is smelled funny (not in a good way) when it burned, so I never went back.
The best ones I found are FOGO and KJ jumbo lump.
Both burn super clean with no smoke or bad odor.
Walmart has a good selection of choice grade packer briskets in Austin Tx.,  FWIW.


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## bhambrewer (Aug 26, 2020)

Chasdev said:


> My first and last experience with C/boy lump is that is smelled funny (not in a good way) when it burned, so I never went back.
> The best ones I found are FOGO and KJ jumbo lump.
> Both burn super clean with no smoke or bad odor.
> Walmart has a good selection of choice grade packer briskets in Austin Tx.,  FWIW.



I wonder if different retailers get different batches of Cowboy charcoal, or (worse) if Cowboy is incredibly inconsistent batch to batch?

I will be buying a packer brisket from my local restaurant depot. $2.88/lb.


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## Berettaclayshooter (Sep 5, 2020)

I have used frontier (BJ's), cowboy and royal oak.  I actually favor the cowboy it's kind of middle of the road from the other two.  I doesn't seem to spark too much, the frontier sparks a lot.  Royal oak is very easy to light, but has been processed too much and doesn't seem to last very long compared to the others.


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## JWFokker (Sep 20, 2020)

I've had no issues with the Cowboy Southern Style that Home Depot carries locally, except for the 4lb rock in the one bag. Don't know what makes it different from regular Cowboy lump because all they say is that it's made with Southern hardwoods, not which ones. Royal Oak lump has been fine too. I can't justify spending 4x as much on some super premium lump when cheap lump is as at least as good as any briquette. Burns cleaner, makes less ash.


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## markbbq99 (Sep 20, 2020)

Chasdev said:


> My first and last experience with C/boy lump is that is smelled funny (not in a good way) when it burned, so I never went back.



Same thing happen to me, never went back after that LoL


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## bhambrewer (Sep 20, 2020)

markbbq99 said:


> Same thing happen to me, never went back after that LoL



I didn't have that experience with the bag I have, so I'll buy Cowboy again.


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## outside andy (Sep 22, 2020)

As a loyal Royal Oak red bag user, I purchased the 34lb bag from Costco. It had a good blend of large to small pieces and burned consistent.  
This cook has found that the US Hardwood Cowboy product is far superior to their imported stuff. 
I would buy again if my local home center runs out of R/O.


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