Cowboy lump charcoal review

[bhambrewer]

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.

 

[Motorboat40]

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.

 

[bhambrewer]

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...

 

[Motorboat40]

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.

 

[bhambrewer]

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.

 

[Chasdev]

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.

 

[bhambrewer]

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.

 

[Berettaclayshooter]

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.

 

[JWFokker]

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.

 

[markbbq99]

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

 

[bhambrewer]

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.

 

[outside andy]

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.

 

[hondabbq]

I live in Canada and took a road trip down to the States.
Costco has 34 lbs of cowboy for $25 usd. This is for the USA lump not the Mexican imported one. Good reviews on Naked Whiz. Its Cheap by my standards for what I pay normally.

 

[DougE]

I've prolly burnt more Cowboy lump than any other charcoal. Sparky, yes, it is. It's decent for starting a coal bed on an offset that will run splits once it gets going. Also, no problem grilling over it once the sparks settle down.

 

[fxsales1959]

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.

Thanks. Iwas wondering. Wally world has it for a out $10/ bag. Iveall but given upon B&B. Benn happy with King blue. M8ght have to buy bag or two tomorrow. crap looking for briquettes

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

I have been using Cowboy lump for a while now. Ever since Royal Oak started getting smaller and smaller pieces in every bag. I still get a random rock from time to time. No big deal but it's funny when cleaning up the ashes.

 

[Fueling Around]

My Frontier bag is down to large chunks that don't fit in the kettle. Need to chop them up for my size. Gave up Sam's membership where I purchased Frontier so needed a new supplier.
Got the big bag of cowboy at Costco and just started using it.
Sparks or not I still prefer lump over briquettes.
I can see a problem with people using snake or minion methods with lump instead of briquettes. I only hot grill so no worry.
Royal Oak lump is a joke with so much kiln dried lumber chunks.
Never had any rocks in any lump bag.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Sparks or not I still prefer lump over briquettes.

Yep, me too...

I can see a problem with people using snake or minion methods with lump instead of briquettes. I only hot grill so no worry.

Same here. Actually never tried the snake method...

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

If you invest in a Walmart+ account, your shipping is free with no minimum.
The account pays for itself pretty quickly.

I buy a lot of my charcoal this way.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

If you invest in a Walmart+ account, your shipping is free with no minimum.
The account pays for itself pretty quickly.

I buy a lot of my charcoal this way.

Apparently I'm the only one here with a Walmart+ account.
It's your loss, guys.