As the Memorial Holiday charcoal sales come to an end, most of the forum threads are encouragement is to buy Kingsford Original while it is on sale. I have done EXACTLY the same thing in the past. KBB Twin packs of 18.6 lb bags for $9.88, or 26.6 cents a lb ($9.88/37.2 lb=$.266/lb).
Lowes has Royal Oak Ridge on sale; 15.4 lb bags for $4 each, or 25.97 cents a pound, just slightly cheaper ($4/15.4 lbs = .2597/lb). The sale goes through 6/5/17.
The real issue is performance. I chimney tested both. Using the KBB 2014 formula briquettes, the Royal Oak Ridge outperformed the KBB for temp and time. The current KBB formula performs worse than the 2014 KBB formula. Test link shown below:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...ttes-burn-temperature-time-and-ash-comparison
On the Virtual Weber Bullet website, the new Weber briquettes were tested against all current Kingsford products. The Weber briquettes far outlasted all the Kingsford. I can't post a link to the Virtual Weber Bullet website due to forum rules (which I support), but do a Google search for Kingsford vs Weber Charcoal Test and you can see the comparison pictures. There are a lot of other charcoal links to Kingsford performance that are worth reading.
I have been a dedicated Kingsford user for decades, but they have been making changes over the last several years that have impacted the performance of the charcoal, making it almost unsuitable for my needs, especially in my smoker. One use of the Royal Oak Ridge Briquettes in my smoker was all it took for me to fill my available garage space with a personal new brand. Pick up a $4 bag and see for yourself. Very enlightening.
Lowes has Royal Oak Ridge on sale; 15.4 lb bags for $4 each, or 25.97 cents a pound, just slightly cheaper ($4/15.4 lbs = .2597/lb). The sale goes through 6/5/17.
The real issue is performance. I chimney tested both. Using the KBB 2014 formula briquettes, the Royal Oak Ridge outperformed the KBB for temp and time. The current KBB formula performs worse than the 2014 KBB formula. Test link shown below:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...ttes-burn-temperature-time-and-ash-comparison
On the Virtual Weber Bullet website, the new Weber briquettes were tested against all current Kingsford products. The Weber briquettes far outlasted all the Kingsford. I can't post a link to the Virtual Weber Bullet website due to forum rules (which I support), but do a Google search for Kingsford vs Weber Charcoal Test and you can see the comparison pictures. There are a lot of other charcoal links to Kingsford performance that are worth reading.
I have been a dedicated Kingsford user for decades, but they have been making changes over the last several years that have impacted the performance of the charcoal, making it almost unsuitable for my needs, especially in my smoker. One use of the Royal Oak Ridge Briquettes in my smoker was all it took for me to fill my available garage space with a personal new brand. Pick up a $4 bag and see for yourself. Very enlightening.
