Does anyone else hate kingsford?

[djjubbajubba]

when I started, I had some real heat management problems. I thought it was just a really steep learning curve. I was using kingsford charcoal because I always thought of it as the good stuff. I got some lump, and loved that. Then I switched to the royal oak briquettes and started getting better with my heat management. I didn't think anything of the charcoal. Until yesterday. I was out of charcoal, so I went to the store and got some good old kingsford (I got the stuff with hickory in it so I didn't have to use as much wood). I ended up with the heat management problem again. When I looked at my coals, I had a whole bunch of coals in the box that were only barely lit. I chimneyed these coals for a good long time. I was sure they were lit. I pulled coals out that were barely even smoldering. I never had that problem with, what I see as, the cheap stuff.

That being said, anyone have any recommendations on good briquettes, and at the same time, nice lump.

 

[noboundaries]

I've jumped off the Kingsford bandwagon after being a loyal consumer for decades. They are pretty much useless now, barely usable in the Kettle. They are less dense, burn up faster, don't hold heat as long, and give off a huge plume of acrid blue smoke when first firing up. I have 40 lbs left of the previous formula that I am burning up in the Kettle. I won't buy Kingsford ever again for either the Kettle or the WSM.

You've obviously read my Royal Oak Ridge briquettes comparison here in SMF. I now use them exclusively. Here are a few lessons I learned after switching to RO Ridge.
1. They take longer to ash over, about 25% to 50% longer than KBB.
2. After loading my WSM with Ridge and wood chunks, I fire up only about half as many briquettes in the chimney as I did with the KBB. When I add them to my cold charcoal/wood, my top vent is open, my bottom vents are set at half the level I used to use with KBB. If I'm going to a low temp, bottom vents are completely closed. The smoker comes up to temp more slowly (60-90 mins), but once where I want it, it will stay there for hours and hours.
3. My BBQ Guru used to work constantly when I used KBB. My BBQ Guru has basically become useless since switching to RO Ridge. I now set it 20-25F below my target temp just in case the temp drops. It hasn't yet and I've been using RO Ridge since Memorial Day.

Bottom line, you want a dense briquette, one without a lot of chemicals. Limestone and sand is okay. It helps keep temps steady and holds temps longer. In Ridge that's 10-15% of the weight of the 1 oz briquette (KBB weighs eight tenths of an ounce per briquette).

Some folks say they don't want to pay for limestone in a briquette. I understand completely. I can pick up RO Ridge/Embers/Winco/Kroger (all of them are RO Ridge) for 26-32 cents a pound. Great briquettes like Weber/Trader Joes without the limestone are more in the 60 cents to $1 per pound range. Since I use 400-500 lbs a year, I can't justify the cost difference. Off season, Home Depot Embers (store brand RO Ridge) is the best price available at $4.97 for a 15.4 lb bag, or 32.3 cents a pound.

When you buy lump, buy just one bag, then see what's inside. If you see square pieces that were obviously milled, it is furniture scraps. Avoid those. I only use mesquite lump because no one is making furniture out of mesquite, and thankfully it is easily available here in CA.

I only use lump for poultry. It burns hotter and faster, but RO Ridge holds high temps too. I did two chickens a couple weeks ago and the smoker breezed along at 340-345F without me touching it.

Finding what works for you for taste, cost, and ease of use is a lot of the fun of smoking. I'll use RO Ridge until they start futzing with the formula. Hopefully, they'll avoid the stupidity trail that Kingsford is blazing.

 

[djjubbajubba]

Thank you, Shipmate,
I had not read your RO comparison, but that's some good information right there. I was super disappointed when I came out to my box today expecting a bunch of unspent coals, and found that (clearly from what you mentioned about them being less dense) even though they burned super cold, they burned all the way. Why would you need 4 hours of sub par heat? I'd rather have to refil than wonder why I have a box full of coals running at 200 degrees.

 

[SmokinAl]

I use KBB all the time in my WSM for long smokes. It packs in tight & mixed with wood chunks, the WSM will hold 225 for well over 20 hours without refilling wood or charcoal. TBS the whole time. That being said I use RO lump to get a coal bed going in my Lang, then switch to splits.

Al

 

[lancep]

Yeah I'm a Royal Oak convert (thanks Ray.) I stopped using KBB years ago because I didn't like what I was tasting. I've used kingsford comp for the last few years but after Ray posted his findings and Costco up the price for 15 to 20 bucks for a two pack I made the switch. My academy has it for four bucks a bag everyday so it's a no brainer at the moment.

 

[SmokinRuss]

I've jumped off the Kingsford bandwagon after being a loyal consumer for decades. They are pretty much useless now, barely usable in the Kettle. They are less dense, burn up faster, don't hold heat as long, and give off a huge plume of acrid blue smoke when first firing up. I have 40 lbs left of the previous formula that I am burning up in the Kettle. I won't buy Kingsford ever again for either the Kettle or the WSM.

You've obviously read my Royal Oak Ridge briquettes comparison here in SMF. I now use them exclusively. Here are a few lessons I learned after switching to RO Ridge.
1. They take longer to ash over, about 25% to 50% longer than KBB.
2. After loading my WSM with Ridge and wood chunks, I fire up only about half as many briquettes in the chimney as I did with the KBB. When I add them to my cold charcoal/wood, my top vent is open, my bottom vents are set at half the level I used to use with KBB. If I'm going to a low temp, bottom vents are completely closed. The smoker comes up to temp more slowly (60-90 mins), but once where I want it, it will stay there for hours and hours.
3. My BBQ Guru used to work constantly when I used KBB. My BBQ Guru has basically become useless since switching to RO Ridge. I now set it 20-25F below my target temp just in case the temp drops. It hasn't yet and I've been using RO Ridge since Memorial Day.

Bottom line, you want a dense briquette, one without a lot of chemicals. Limestone and sand is okay. It helps keep temps steady and holds temps longer. In Ridge that's 10-15% of the weight of the 1 oz briquette (KBB weighs eight tenths of an ounce per briquette).

Some folks say they don't want to pay for limestone in a briquette. I understand completely. I can pick up RO Ridge/Embers/Winco/Kroger (all of them are RO Ridge) for 26-32 cents a pound. Great briquettes like Weber/Trader Joes without the limestone are more in the 60 cents to $1 per pound range. Since I use 400-500 lbs a year, I can't justify the cost difference. Off season, Home Depot Embers (store brand RO Ridge) is the best price available at $4.97 for a 15.4 lb bag, or 32.3 cents a pound.

When you buy lump, buy just one bag, then see what's inside. If you see square pieces that were obviously milled, it is furniture scraps. Avoid those. I only use mesquite lump because no one is making furniture out of mesquite, and thankfully it is easily available here in CA.

I only use lump for poultry. It burns hotter and faster, but RO Ridge holds high temps too. I did two chickens a couple weeks ago and the smoker breezed along at 340-345F without me touching it.

Finding what works for you for taste, cost, and ease of use is a lot of the fun of smoking. I'll use RO Ridge until they start futzing with the formula. Hopefully, they'll avoid the stupidity trail that Kingsford is blazing.

when I started, I had some real heat management problems. I thought it was just a really steep learning curve. I was using kingsford charcoal because I always thought of it as the good stuff. I got some lump, and loved that. Then I switched to the royal oak briquettes and started getting better with my heat management. I didn't think anything of the charcoal. Until yesterday. I was out of charcoal, so I went to the store and got some good old kingsford (I got the stuff with hickory in it so I didn't have to use as much wood). I ended up with the heat management problem again. When I looked at my coals, I had a whole bunch of coals in the box that were only barely lit. I chimneyed these coals for a good long time. I was sure they were lit. I pulled coals out that were barely even smoldering. I never had that problem with, what I see as, the cheap stuff.

That being said, anyone have any recommendations on good briquettes, and at the same time, nice lump.

I use kingsford too and now that you mention it I too have found partially used briquettes when cleaning out my firebox. Sure they light quicker but lately have been finding that some dont burn the whole way some sre still black on some sides and these are the professional brand as to what the pitmasters use on the bags . I'm going to try this Royal Oak brand and yes I have seen this brand too where I get the kingsford. I like using briquettes rather than lump does RO have briquettes too?

 

[noboundaries]

The Royal Oak Ridge I refer to above is a briquette. Royal Oak Ridge, or Embers at Home Depot (it is the Royal Oak Ridge. Bottom of back of Embers bag says Made by Royal Oak Enterprises). Folks who have made the switch are happy with the results.

 

[noboundaries]

Here's my history with KBB, and why I've made the switch to Royal Oak Ridge.

Once upon a time, the Kingsford two packs were 2x24 lb packages. Before I started smoking, I grilled exclusively. I'd load my Kettle with a chimney or two of KBB, then get 3-4 grilling sessions out of that load. I'd close off the vents after each session, then reuse the leftover briquettes, adding just a few new ones to keep the used ones from falling out of the chimney bottom. I could buy four 2-packs, or 192 lbs, and have enough for the year.

One year for Christmas my wife bought me a gas grill. I used it for 6-8-10 years, I don't remember how long it was exactly, before deciding to put my Kettle back in the game by learning to smoke with it. I still had a 2-pack of the old KBB, plus I picked up a 2-pack of the new Kingsford Competition briquettes at Costco, not knowing if the old KBB was still any good. Turns out it was still as good as new.

I noticed very quickly smoking in my Kettle that the Kingsford Competition burned up in half the time as the old KBB. Used it up and never bought it again.

My wife then bought me a WSM because she got tired of me babysitting the Kettle all weekend while smoking. I stocked up on KBB. The 2-packs had been reduced 2x20 lbs with a new formula. I picked up 400 lbs or so and was actually pretty happy with it. I could get 18-20 hours out of a load, only needing to add another half chimney or so of hot KBB to finish a smoke.

Then KBB changed their formula again, and dropped the 2-packs to 2x18.6 lbs. I picked up a year's load and noticed right away that by the 12-14 hour mark on a smoke I was needing to add more hot KBB. Additionally, the ash did not hold heat. Once I hit 14-16 hours, my Guru was on constantly. 18 hours was the max I could go on a load.

Time for a change. In the garage I still had three 2-packs of the 2x20 lb KBB. It was on the bottom of my newer KBB and I forgot it was there. I picked up the RO Ridge because it was inexpensive. I did a test comparing the 20 lb KBB formula to the RO Ridge. Once I tested the 20 lb KBB against the RO Ridge briquette, I haven't looked back. The RO Ridge reminds me of the old 2x24 pack KBB, but with less chemicals.

Edit: Turns out the search feature is working. Here's the link to my test.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/in...n-temperature-time-and-ash-comparison.262989/

 

[troutman]

Yeah I'm a Royal Oak convert (thanks Ray.) I stopped using KBB years ago because I didn't like what I was tasting. I've used kingsford comp for the last few years but after Ray posted his findings and Costco up the price for 15 to 20 bucks for a two pack I made the switch. My academy has it for four bucks a bag everyday so it's a no brainer at the moment.

Yup, $3.99 all day long at area Academy's. KBB is twice that for same amount.

 

[djjubbajubba]

I use kingsford too and now that you mention it I too have found partially used briquettes when cleaning out my firebox. Sure they light quicker but lately have been finding that some dont burn the whole way some sre still black on some sides and these are the professional brand as to what the pitmasters use on the bags . I'm going to try this Royal Oak brand and yes I have seen this brand too where I get the kingsford. I like using briquettes rather than lump does RO have briquettes too?

You normally find the RO briquettes. I guess it's just a matter of taste. I rather use lump, but to each their own. The briquettes were the only thing I've ever used from RO (lowes gave military a free bag for Labor Day. Couldn't pass that up).

 

[djjubbajubba]

My academy has it for four bucks a bag everyday so it's a no brainer at the moment.

Ugh! I keep hearing people talk about academy. I only imagine they have a great smoker section. I used to live in Jacksonville, FL where they had them, but never went in. Now, I don't live near one.

 

[djjubbajubba]

I use KBB all the time in my WSM for long smokes. It packs in tight & mixed with wood chunks, the WSM will hold 225 for well over 20 hours without refilling wood or charcoal. TBS the whole time. That being said I use RO lump to get a coal bed going in my Lang, then switch to splits.

Al

Let this be my new (to the forum) ignorance. What is WSM, and TBS?

 

[noboundaries]

WSM = Weber Smokey Mountain smoker.
TBS = Thin Blue Smoke, the kind you want, not that whitish-grayish-ashy kind.

 

[djjubbajubba]

Thank you!

 

[motocrash]

Hated/have not used it for many,many moons.