Found a new Lump

[philpom]

I like to take a stroll through a store close to home about once a month. The store is Ollie's, their inventory changes on the regular and there are deals to be had.

A bag of lump I had never seen before caught my eye and I can never resist trying something new so I picked up a bag.

Observations:
Packaging was clean
Bag was full
Pieces are uniform
No trash
No odor
No sparking
Lit very easily

It was cheap, I'm going to grab some more, the pieces are not huge hunks (which I generally don't like) and a modest amount ran my Primo Oval XL at just over 300°f for over 6 hours. I really don't know how long it ran, it got dark and we moved in but it had staying power.

If you run across it I wouldn't be afraid to try it. From this 1 bag I'd say it's excellent.

That's a standard size business card for size reference.

Good day!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Not a fan of the flavor from Acacia wood. It’s a cousin to mesquite, which I really like, but not so much Acacia. Just a personal preference. The wood does hold coal like mesquite though which is really nice.

 

[Fueling Around]

I've seen that brand somewhere, but never tried it.
Thanks for the review

 

[philpom]

I've seen that brand somewhere, but never tried it.
Thanks for the review

I just ran over to Ollie's to grab 4 more bags, they had pallets of the stuff. $6.99 a bag, I'll empty their shelves at that price. Best ever? Nah but at that price for what I found in the bag I bought weeks ago I'm game.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

There's an Ollies in the town up the road.
Might just have to take a look there.
Thanks!

 

[DougE]

Not a fan of the flavor from Acacia wood. It’s a cousin to mesquite, which I really like, but not so much Acacia. Just a personal preference. The wood does hold coal like mesquite though which is really nice.

I might look at my local store. It might be good for getting the initial coalbed going in the stick burner. Maybe won't impart much flavor, if any by the time you get the splits going and temp leveled off.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I might look at my local store. It might be good for getting the initial coalbed going in the stick burner. Maybe won't impart much flavor, if any by the time you get the splits going and temp leveled off.

Don’t get me wrong. Acacia is fine and doesn’t necessarily have an off taste of itself, just not traditional bbq flavor from North American sourced woods. It hold a good coal bed and is cheap. Mesquite is sky high nationally but Acacia burns the same just not the best flavor, to me. It’s big out of Mexico too. Nothing at all wrong with the wood. I just prefer the flavor from just about any other wood.

 

[DougE]

I'm guessing Acacia is closer to black locust than to mesquite. All 3 are in the legume family.

 

[philpom]

Not a fan of the flavor from Acacia wood. It’s a cousin to mesquite, which I really like, but not so much Acacia. Just a personal preference. The wood does hold coal like mesquite though which is really nice.

I might look at my local store. It might be good for getting the initial coalbed going in the stick burner. Maybe won't impart much flavor, if any by the time you get the splits going and temp leveled off.

Don’t get me wrong. Acacia is fine and doesn’t necessarily have an off taste of itself, just not traditional bbq flavor from North American sourced woods. It hold a good coal bed and is cheap. Mesquite is sky high nationally but Acacia burns the same just not the best flavor, to me. It’s big out of Mexico too. Nothing at all wrong with the wood. I just prefer the flavor from just about any other wood.

Interesting takes and don't get me wrong, I wouldn't never take acacia and start tossing logs in my offset. My go to is mesquite, oak, and hickory with a healthy dose of pecan here and there.

But, we're talking lump here. Lump is almost pure carbon, most of the volatiles were burned off during the production. The unique profile of these volatiles comprise the majority of woods unique flavor. A well produced lump is going to be darn near neutral in flavor. Many domestically produced lump products are simply labeled "Hard Wood Lump" and I'm sure they use whatever they get for the week to produce it. I wonder what wood is used to produce the extremely consistent Kingsford charcoal.

Of course I understand everyone has a preference and respect that. As far as lump goes I usually keep Rockwood, B&B, Fogo, and yes, even Cowboy around. Depends on what I can find, they all do pretty good but usually it comes down to how much dust, rocks, and trash I bought in my bag. Cowboy lump is bad about having odd things in it.

My worst lump experience to date has been Kamado Joes Big chunk lump (I think they called it that). I tried it twice and both times it smelled like burning tires after I lit it. YUCK!

 

[bigfurmn]

sounds like a good base to add flavor to.

 

[jcam222]

I'll have to check the Ollies near me. I'm always up to try new kinds. Thanks for the heads-up

 

[Fueling Around]

...
Many domestically produced lump products are simply labeled "Hard Wood Lump" and I'm sure they use whatever they get for the week to produce it.
...

That would be my experience with Royal Oak Lump. Filled with a lot of kiln dried wood.
I found a piece of pallet banding in a bag once.

...
I wonder what wood is used to produce the extremely consistent Kingsford charcoal.
...

If you're talking briquettes, they use a blend of soft and hard woods, plus a lot of limestone filler. After switching to lump my ash can doesn't fill in a summer. With briquette I had to dump it 2 or 3 times.

...
Of course I understand everyone has a preference and respect that. As far as lump goes I usually keep Rockwood, B&B, Fogo, and yes, even Cowboy around. Depends on what I can find, they all do pretty good but usually it comes down to how much dust, rocks, and trash I bought in my bag. Cowboy lump is bad about having odd things in it.
...

I really like Cowboy. Never had a problem with "odd things" in a bag. My only complaint would be the size of alot of the pieces. I have to break them up to fit the charcoal chimney.
Recently learned my wife does not care for the flavor off Cowboy.
So I picked up a bag of Blues Hog Lump, but haven't tried it, yet.

 

[Cattoon]

I bought a 20 lb bag of lump from Gordon Wholesale foods a little while ago and have used about 1/3 of it. I have been very pleased with the size of the pieces and thus far haven’t found anything but charcoal in the bag. I have sworn off Royal Oak due to the size of the pieces and finding several items that weren’t charcoal and several pieces of definitely not hardwood.

 

[912smoker]

That would be my experience with Royal Oak Lump. Filled with a lot of kiln dried wood.
I found a piece of pallet banding in a bag once.


If you're talking briquettes, they use a blend of soft and hard woods, plus a lot of limestone filler. After switching to lump my ash can doesn't fill in a summer. With briquette I had to dump it 2 or 3 times.


I really like Cowboy. Never had a problem with "odd things" in a bag. My only complaint would be the size of alot of the pieces. I have to break them up to fit the charcoal chimney.
Recently learned my wife does not care for the flavor off Cowboy.
So I picked up a bag of Blues Hog Lump, but haven't tried it, yet.

I really like the Blues Hog lump and their Char Logs. B&B lump and Logs are easier to consistently pick up around here.

Keith

 

[JckDanls 07]

It only took me one time of using lump to decide I didn't like it... Opened a bag and dumped some in my charcoal chimney just to watch it all falling out the bottom as I puored it in... I said to myself... Well, If I got that much small stuff at the top of the bag, I'd hate to see what's in the bottom of the bag...

 

[Fueling Around]

I really like the Blues Hog lump and their Char Logs. B&B lump and Logs are easier to consistently pick up around here.

Keith

Tried the Blues Hog lump today and not liking it. It burned down faster than my cooks with Cowboy or my old favorite Frontier.

It only took me one time of using lump to decide I didn't like it... Opened a bag and dumped some in my charcoal chimney just to watch it all falling out the bottom as I puored it in... I said to myself... Well, If I got that much small stuff at the top of the bag, I'd hate to see what's in the bottom of the bag...

I modified my chimneys to close up the grate to hold the smaller pieces from the lump bag. Worked wonders.

Adjusting to lump

I dumped briquette this year for Frontier lump. I love the lump, but noticed equipment failures contributing to loss of coals. Smaller pieces of the lump drop out of the chimney grates and through the kettle grate. Here is my first round of mods to retain more coals. This the original...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

It looks interesting but have not seen it around here. I am also happy with Cowboy. I started with Royal Oak but the quality went to trash and have been using Cowboy since. I store 2 15 Lb bags in an unused mini fridge to keep it dry.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

There's an Ollies in the town up the road.
Might just have to take a look there.
Thanks!

I picked up 2 bags.
The lump quality is impressive in terms of size and foreign matter.

I'm testing some in an empty 18" WSM as I type.
So far everything looks good.

 

[philpom]

I picked up 2 bags.
The lump quality is impressive in terms of size and foreign matter.

I'm testing some in an empty 18" WSM as I type.
So far everything looks good.

Curious your thoughts when your experiment is over. I found it low smoke, neutral in flavor, spark free, low dust, consistent in size with no giant chunks. Still have .oat of the first bag so that could change but at $6.99 for a 15lb bag I went ahead and bought 4 more bags.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

I put the old Party Q fan unit on the WSM and set it for 235.
It's been humming right along for 3 hours with minor, minor adjustments.
Most of these were in the first hour or so.
It windy as hell today so that's giving me some fits.

I plan on picking up 5 or 6 more bags tomorrow, and do a real cook with a whole chicken.