I picked up ten bags day before yesterday. I still had 20 bags of RO Ridge in the garage, but at $1.90/bag for the same thing, I couldn't resist.
Embers is definitely RO Ridge charcoal. My first impression is the stuff that goes in the RO Ridge bag is close to a perfect stamp. The Embers briqs, exact same shape, seemed more imperfect, especially around the edges. The bag had more broken briqs in it than a Ridge bag, but I'm basing this all on the one Embers bag I've opened. Might have just got a bad bag that got crushed in shipping or the store. I've used Embers before, but it was a while ago, and I didn't pay any attention to the details.
That said, I fired up
the Kettle last night for some bone-in, skin-on thighs using Embers. I didn't use any wood in my Kettle to see if the Embers would impart any taste. It didn't, just like the Ridge. Same stuff.
The engineer in me wouldn't stop. I picked four random briqs out of a RO Ridge bag, and four random briqs out of the Embers bag. Embers is definitely the less perfect briqs. The four RO briqs weight 1.0 to 1.10 oz each. The Embers briqs weighed 1.10 to 1.20 oz each.
I don't need perfect briqs, but I do think I need ten more bags of Embers!
View attachment 386446