Bear Mountain pellets

[buzzy]

Don't have a bunch of experience using wood pellets except TSC corn cobb horse bedding for cold smoking bacon. Have always used chunked wood. Looking for 100% hickory wood pellets. Found them at TSC but had to order the hickory pellets. Same price as if picking up in store. They seem to have good reviews but thought I'd ask here what others thought & opinions. I plan on using these in a pellet tube in my gasser.

Thanks in advance

 

[indaswamp]

I picked some hickory pellets up at Cabela's. They are made and packaged by Lumberjack. Good price....I have a Cabela's 5 minutes from my house.

 

[bauchjw]

I've used them with good results. If you're using them in a tube I recommend microwaving them in a bowl for 2 minutes, stir, then another 4 minutes. It helps dry them, you'll see some steam . . . makes the kitchen smell nice too!

 

[sandyut]

Lumberjack is by far the best I have used. There are a few guys who sell them locally through the local classifieds for $10 a bag. Before I found these guys I bought them at dicks and got free shipping.

 

[TNJAKE]

I really enjoy bear mountain

 

[tallbm]

Don't have a bunch of experience using wood pellets except TSC corn cobb horse bedding for cold smoking bacon. Have always used chunked wood. Looking for 100% hickory wood pellets. Found them at TSC but had to order the hickory pellets. Same price as if picking up in store. They seem to have good reviews but thought I'd ask here what others thought & opinions. I plan on using these in a pellet tube in my gasser.

Thanks in advance

Your 100% Hickory pellets will be brands: Lumberjack, CookingPellets (Perfect Pellet), and Kingsford.

I'm sure Bear Mountain pellets will work for you and give you some good flavor but unfortuately Bear Mountain blends their pellets with wood like Oak and Alder. So your Bear Mountain Hickory will not be more than about 35% Hickory and the rest will likely be Oak.

Home Depot can order both CookingPellets 100% Hickory and Kingsford 100% Hickory. Dick's Sporting Goods, Rural King, and Attwoods carries Lumberjack or can get it for you.

 

[JCAP]

If i remember correctly, I think most of Bear Mountain pellets are blends, but they are a really good pellet. Lumberjack is fantastic too.

 

[bigfurmn]

I’ve used Bear Mountain quite a bit. Has good flavor just seems to have a bit more ash than Lumberjack. I prefer Lumberjack but Bear Mountain is my second choice.

 

[Fishonshawn]

Your 100% Hickory pellets will be brands: Lumberjack, CookingPellets (Perfect Pellet), and Kingsford.

I'm sure Bear Mountain pellets will work for you and give you some good flavor but unfortuately Bear Mountain blends their pellets with wood like Oak and Alder. So your Bear Mountain Hickory will not be more than about 35% Hickory and the rest will likely be Oak.

Home Depot can order both CookingPellets 100% Hickory and Kingsford 100% Hickory. Dick's Sporting Goods, Rural King, and Attwoods carries Lumberjack or can get it for you.

I'm curious how you know what their blend % of what woods they use is. They won't even tell you what pellet mix they use in their gourmet blend is. Any rate i use bear mountain all the time and like them.

 

[schlotz]

For me it's either BBQer's Delight or Lumberjack. Tried Bear Mountain and it left more ash than I was willing to deal with. JMTC

 

[tallbm]

So your Bear Mountain Hickory will not be more than about 35% Hickory and the rest will likely be Oak.

I'm curious how you know what their blend % of what woods they use is. They won't even tell you what pellet mix they use in their gourmet blend is. Any rate i use bear mountain all the time and like them.

No problem :)

The "will not be more than about 35% Hickory" comes from looking at what the other brands generally list that they do for blends.
The blend information for pellets isn't always easy to find. Most come in product listings for pellets on Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. websites. For instance I just looked up Lousiana Grills pellet site and they don't list on the site itself but Target and Amazon product listings list the % of the blend within the description.

In my mission to find 100% pellets over the years I've scoured a ton of different brands for the info. It is very very very rare for a pellet brand that blends their pellets, to use more than 35% or so of the wood listed on the label.
Lumberjack does so in many cases (40% for some blends) and states it on their website for each product they offer.

Some competition blends may use 50% or more of one wood (usually the Maple) then splits the difference between Hickory and Cherry. However this isn't a "name of the wood on the bag blend" but is instead a special blend.

So statement about % I make is based off looking at other brands that do blends as their common practice. Heck I think I called or found info a few years ago that Pacific Pellet Mesquite is only like 25% Mesquite and there rest is Alder. So you can see blends can go less than 30% and just depends on the brand and how they want to do it.

Here is info on where Bear Mountain confirms they blend with Oak or Alder:

Yep it seems the Oak and Alder options are 100%.

 

[BurntWeenie]

But as we know there are no standards or QC. So all of this is only based on their word.

 

[buzzy]

No problem :)

The "will not be more than about 35% Hickory" comes from looking at what the other brands generally list that they do for blends.
The blend information for pellets isn't always easy to find. Most come in product listings for pellets on Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. websites. For instance I just looked up Lousiana Grills pellet site and they don't list on the site itself but Target and Amazon product listings list the % of the blend within the description.

In my mission to find 100% pellets over the years I've scoured a ton of different brands for the info. It is very very very rare for a pellet brand that blends their pellets, to use more than 35% or so of the wood listed on the label.
Lumberjack does so in many cases (40% for some blends) and states it on their website for each product they offer.

Some competition blends may use 50% or more of one wood (usually the Maple) then splits the difference between Hickory and Cherry. However this isn't a "name of the wood on the bag blend" but is instead a special blend.

So statement about % I make is based off looking at other brands that do blends as their common practice. Heck I think I called or found info a few years ago that Pacific Pellet Mesquite is only like 25% Mesquite and there rest is Alder. So you can see blends can go less than 30% and just depends on the brand and how they want to do it.

Here is info on where Bear Mountain confirms they blend with Oak or Alder:
View attachment 526918

Yep it seems the Oak and Alder options are 100%.

tallbm
Thanks. I was going with bear mountain for the convenience of getting a better pellet over the less quality ones local. Would have to drive at least a hour to get Lumber Jacks. Was not aware of the Cookin Pellets & Kingsford pellets. I drive past lowes on way to work. I do want a 100% hickory pellet for a few low & slow smokes I do. I’m hoping they make the cook a little simpler. Chunk wood makes a lot of temp swings in a long smoke. Hopefully a tube full of hickory pellets won’t be up & down in temps. Plus I just have to have that smoked with hickory flavor. Appreciate the heads up on the other pellets.

 

[tallbm]

tallbm
Thanks. I was going with bear mountain for the convenience of getting a better pellet over the less quality ones local. Would have to drive at least a hour to get Lumber Jacks. Was not aware of the Cookin Pellets & Kingsford pellets. I drive past lowes on way to work. I do want a 100% hickory pellet for a few low & slow smokes I do. I’m hoping they make the cook a little simpler. Chunk wood makes a lot of temp swings in a long smoke. Hopefully a tube full of hickory pellets won’t be up & down in temps. Plus I just have to have that smoked with hickory flavor. Appreciate the heads up on the other pellets.

If you can order and pick up at Lowes (not sure they are as flexible as Home Depot with this) then you are good to go!

I didn't even bother checking Lowes but I am biasted against them hahaa. It's just a me thing as I personally try to avoid everything Walmart/Sams/Lowes related since I can't stand the parent company after having worked for Walmart in college and seeing first hand how crappy they are to their employees. Again, it's "me" thing though. I don't cast judgement or expect anyone to abide by my experiences or beliefs lol.

Ok back on topic.
Lowes site offers CookinPellets 100% Hickory in 40lb bag. I have and use that and have not even gotten through half of it in 3+ years. It's good to go.

I personally find using 100% hickory on smokes causes everything to taste more like bacon to me (just a "me" thing) . I like bacon to taste like hickory smoked bacon but not everything else to taste like the bacon, HOWEVER I do like having some hickory on my pork and chicken so I always blend my pellets on those smokes to be no more than 65% Hickory.
This works perfectly for me and I usually blend it with Pit Boss Competition blend (Maple/Cherry/Hickory) so that it's about 65% hickory overall as I believe BPCB is 50% Maple, 25% Cherry, 25% Hickory.
Why Pit Boss Comp Blend??? Because its SUPER INEXPENSIVE and burns well. It's mild alone but when I blend to get 65% Hickory overall, it's good to go for long pork butt smokes or for burning 2 rows at once on a 5hr rib smoke or on faster chicken and turkey smokes.

If you want to pick up any other 100% bags you have some options as well with Kingsford.
Know that 100% Cherry does NOT like to burn on it's own and you will likely have to blend it with another wood that does like to burn well.

I personally have fallen in love with Maple as my middle of the road wood flavor that isn't too strong, tastes fantastic, AND will blend well with other woods. Kingsford has 100% Maple.

Most people lean on Oak as their middle of the road and blending wood because it burns very well and the flavor is middle of the road. I'm soooooo burnt out on Oak though since it's used everywhere around here in TX on BBQ as it's so readily available.
If you buy Bear Mountain Oak then you should get 100% Oak.

I've never used Black Cherry but have regular Cherry. I'd strongly caution buying the 40lb of CookinPellet Black Cherry simply because Cherry doesn't want to burn and stay lit on its own, and I doubt Black Cherry is the exception. If you buy 40lbs of cherry you will have it FOREVER since you must blend it all the time. I would recommend you get the smaller 20lb bag of Kingsford Cherry so you could hopefully reduce the footprint of storing it and you may actually use it up at some point in your lifetime hahaha.

I LOVE all this different wood talk and flavor discussion so please feel free to ask anymore questions you may have. I personally have a ton of 100% woods so I can blend and mix and make my own combos and I loved learning the pros/cons of each wood and it's flavor.
So far I have on hand bags of 100% of the following:

• Mesquite
• Hickory
• Maple
• Apple
• Cherry
• Pecan
• Alder

I have great uses for all of them except the Pecan. To me it very underwhelming and will be a blend only pellet for me.

Keep the discussion going please! :D

 

[pushok2018]

I never used Lumberjack pellets so cannot compare them side by side (I am talking about taste) with Bear Mountain but I used Bear Mountains pellets for last three years with nice result.... Buying them from Chefstore (used to be Cash & Carry) for $10 for #20.... As soon as I like it I am not going to change it. Like old saying says: "the best is the enemy of the good"..... but.... if I will be able to get Lumberjack pellets for decent price - I'll try that too.

 

[buzzy]

If you can order and pick up at Lowes (not sure they are as flexible as Home Depot with this) then you are good to go!

I didn't even bother checking Lowes but I am biasted against them hahaa. It's just a me thing as I personally try to avoid everything Walmart/Sams/Lowes related since I can't stand the parent company after having worked for Walmart in college and seeing first hand how crappy they are to their employees. Again, it's "me" thing though. I don't cast judgement or expect anyone to abide by my experiences or beliefs lol.

Ok back on topic.
Lowes site offers CookinPellets 100% Hickory in 40lb bag. I have and use that and have not even gotten through half of it in 3+ years. It's good to go.

I personally find using 100% hickory on smokes causes everything to taste more like bacon to me (just a "me" thing) . I like bacon to taste like hickory smoked bacon but not everything else to taste like the bacon, HOWEVER I do like having some hickory on my pork and chicken so I always blend my pellets on those smokes to be no more than 65% Hickory.
This works perfectly for me and I usually blend it with Pit Boss Competition blend (Maple/Cherry/Hickory) so that it's about 65% hickory overall as I believe BPCB is 50% Maple, 25% Cherry, 25% Hickory.
Why Pit Boss Comp Blend??? Because its SUPER INEXPENSIVE and burns well. It's mild alone but when I blend to get 65% Hickory overall, it's good to go for long pork butt smokes or for burning 2 rows at once on a 5hr rib smoke or on faster chicken and turkey smokes.

If you want to pick up any other 100% bags you have some options as well with Kingsford.
Know that 100% Cherry does NOT like to burn on it's own and you will likely have to blend it with another wood that does like to burn well.

I personally have fallen in love with Maple as my middle of the road wood flavor that isn't too strong, tastes fantastic, AND will blend well with other woods. Kingsford has 100% Maple.

Most people lean on Oak as their middle of the road and blending wood because it burns very well and the flavor is middle of the road. I'm soooooo burnt out on Oak though since it's used everywhere around here in TX on BBQ as it's so readily available.
If you buy Bear Mountain Oak then you should get 100% Oak.

I've never used Black Cherry but have regular Cherry. I'd strongly caution buying the 40lb of CookinPellet Black Cherry simply because Cherry doesn't want to burn and stay lit on its own, and I doubt Black Cherry is the exception. If you buy 40lbs of cherry you will have it FOREVER since you must blend it all the time. I would recommend you get the smaller 20lb bag of Kingsford Cherry so you could hopefully reduce the footprint of storing it and you may actually use it up at some point in your lifetime hahaha.

I LOVE all this different wood talk and flavor discussion so please feel free to ask anymore questions you may have. I personally have a ton of 100% woods so I can blend and mix and make my own combos and I loved learning the pros/cons of each wood and it's flavor.
So far I have on hand bags of 100% of the following:

• Mesquite
• Hickory
• Maple
• Apple
• Cherry
• Pecan
• Alder

I have great uses for all of them except the Pecan. To me it very underwhelming and will be a blend only pellet for me.

Keep the discussion going please! :D

Sorry for response delay but have been working. At work (run a book binder) now but waiting on press. This paper shortage is starting to hit us hard. Suppose to be that way until June but with things being the way they are today might last a lot longer.

Now back to topic. Just checked at HD & they will deliver free to my home a 20# bag of hickory. Can’t beat that. As far as all these different pellets I’m not planning on not using chunk wood anymore. I’m just looking to make long smokes a little less hands on. I have plenty of cherry growing in the fence rows (most of it is black cherry) & a mess of hickory growing at the cabin. These are my go to smoking woods. I’m looking for sweet smoke or strong smoke. Most of the time I can’t even taste the smoke until next day. Always asking the wife her opinion on the taste of the smoke. She’s a super taster that can pick out ingredients in a meal to a point. Have mature maples around the house that need trimmed up from time to time because of storm damage but never gave much thought on using it for smoking. Might have to keep that in mind next time. Maybe after using pellets from time to time I’ll get to appreciate the convenience of them & use them more often. Probably be a slow transformation though.

 

[tallbm]

Sorry for response delay but have been working. At work (run a book binder) now but waiting on press. This paper shortage is starting to hit us hard. Suppose to be that way until June but with things being the way they are today might last a lot longer.

Now back to topic. Just checked at HD & they will deliver free to my home a 20# bag of hickory. Can’t beat that. As far as all these different pellets I’m not planning on not using chunk wood anymore. I’m just looking to make long smokes a little less hands on. I have plenty of cherry growing in the fence rows (most of it is black cherry) & a mess of hickory growing at the cabin. These are my go to smoking woods. I’m looking for sweet smoke or strong smoke. Most of the time I can’t even taste the smoke until next day. Always asking the wife her opinion on the taste of the smoke. She’s a super taster that can pick out ingredients in a meal to a point. Have mature maples around the house that need trimmed up from time to time because of storm damage but never gave much thought on using it for smoking. Might have to keep that in mind next time. Maybe after using pellets from time to time I’ll get to appreciate the convenience of them & use them more often. Probably be a slow transformation though.

It sounds like you have some access to some good wood options!
Using the AMNPS trays for 12 hrs of smoke is amazing. I have a true set and forget setup, unless a strong wind kicks up and causes the pellets to flame up haha.
Doing pork butts and briskets overnight with almost no babysitting and with wood smoke for 12 hours is awesome!
I always ensure the first 1-3 hrs are going well when I start it in the evening and then go to bed. The alarms wake me up when I need to do something so I understand your desire to make things easier. If I didn't have such a good set and forget situation I would rarely be eating smoked food and that would be a shame as I make great smoked food like so many here :)