Favorite LUMP charcoal?

[azkitch]

Thanks, man! I'll have to empty out the pickup and get it's registration current, and we can get the twins together...our 2 similar cookers. Your firebox certainly looks more serious than mine. I had a gasket around the door of mine, and it just fell off. Rats. I never put the thing together and cured it with heat.

[PhxCliff]

Here's another vote for Royal Oak from Walmart.  Love that stuff.

[skou]

I think Ono is $20-ish for a 20# bag. The Best of the West from Smart and Final is great, or Diablo from Costco Business Center at 33rd Ave. & Indian School for  $10--pretty much the same stuff. Get one off the top, so it's not as much dust. And Restaurant Depot carries a 40# bag of lump for just under $11 also. Nearly all of the aforementioned stuff is Mesquite, so it'll all burn about the same temperature. The ono brand is Kiawe, which, from all I've read, is Hawaiian for Mesquite...BOTW from S&F had by far the largest pieces. Entire burned trees in that bag! Unsure about the stuff from RD, but I bet it's basically the same as BOTW and Costco's Diablo.

Dave, Kiave is a type of mesquite, but it's a bit different than regular mesquite.  It's a bit milder tasting.  (Also, unlike mesquite honey, kiave honey will not crystallize.  Don't know why.)

Guys, I use some generic (Shamrock Foods) brand of Mexican mesquite chunks.  We get them in at work, in ripped-up bags, cheap.  No, the employees FIGHT over them, the customers NEVER see them.  $7.99/40LBS.

I NEED to try the ONO!  I heard it's ONOlicious!  (If you're not a kamaina, you wouldn't understand.)

steve

[azkitch]

Sounds like what thhey sell--OMG. Can't type 'they'--anyway what is sold at RD. I want to compare the bag printing against one on Naked whiz--tehy _unngh! review a generic bag of charcoal there. I need another bag, anyway..

[force]

I like bbq galores....... works well for me

[chefrob]

just picked up some more ono.....i really like the way it taste, smells and burns.

[skou]

Rob, is it better than regular mesquite?  (I mean, is it a dollar a pound better than $8 for a 40 pounder?)

I need to do a side-by-side comparison.  But, a buck a pound?  I get my meat cheaper than that.  (Steve, your pork butt doesn't ride a boat from Honolulu!)  (Yeah, but my butt rode a DC-10 from there.)

steve

[force]

ONO will burn hot.. but good when you need to pump it up

[Gizzy's Smokin Crew]

As a newbie to the BBQ world I have to ask the question.(actually more than one) Is lump charcol better than the briquettes??? Why would you use one over the other?
Can you mix the 2. Which is best for comp.  So many questions. If it makes a difference I am using a Brinkman Pitmasters smoker but, I will need to add a bullet smoker to my arsenal
Any advise would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[Crash]

We only use Kingsford Blue bag for competitions....except for the brisket on the Traeger.  You are bound to get a bunch of differing opinions on this.

[force]

done both.......... except on the DP... use lump coal and wood

[skou]

As a newbie to the BBQ world I have to ask the question.(actually more than one) Is lump charcol better than the briquettes??? Why would you use one over the other?
Can you mix the 2. Which is best for comp.  So many questions. If it makes a difference I am using a Brinkman Pitmasters smoker but, I will need to add a bullet smoker to my arsenal
Any advise would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

Matt, I use both, depending on what I'm doing.  And, I mix them, too.  Kingsfords Bluebag will supply the heat, but very little flavors.  Chunk mesquite will supply some flavors, especially if you turn down the heat so it smokes.  For me, chunk is cheaper, but I don't always want mesquite smoke flavor, so I use bluebag for heat.  I don't do a lot of chicken, but I don't think I'd use too much mesquite chunk on it.  (Which is intersting, since Hawaiian Huli-Huli chicken is traditionally cooked on kiave chunk.)

steve

[azkitch]

I refuse to use briquettes when I smoke due to the incredibly large volume of ash it produces compared to lump. I don't personally think lump adds any flavor; ie Mesquite. Everything that produces the flavors has burned away. I also don't use briquettes because most of 'em add coal, limestone and other stuff I don't want to eat. But a large percentage of winning cooks uses KBlue, and I am a CBJ, so I apparently eat of it and can't tell the difference!
All that said, I have used Stubbs briquettes, which are supposed to be free of all the weird additives. Since I consider it a heat source more than anything, cheeper=better for me. $10 at Costco Business center, $11 @ Rest. Depot for 40# bags. Works for me!

[Gizzy's Smokin Crew]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the advise

[chefrob]

Rob, is it better than regular mesquite?  (I mean, is it a dollar a pound better than $8 for a 40 pounder?)

I need to do a side-by-side comparison.  But, a buck a pound?  I get my meat cheaper than that.  (Steve, your pork butt doesn't ride a boat from Honolulu!)  (Yeah, but my butt rode a DC-10 from there.)

steve

i started using it in my vertical gasser so i didn't blow through a lot of it. now that i have my SFB it is a little hungry eats up that cowboy stuff like twinkies. one of the things i like about ono is the size of some of the chunks. last bag i pulled out a 6" diameter log.............

btw - what are you using for $8 for a 40# bag?