Kingsford Briquettes vs. Royal Oak Ridge Briquettes: Burn Temperature, Time, and Ash Comparison

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I'm exhausted, but soooooo pleased with ROR. I was spiky on temps on Saturday during my 17.5 hour brisket cook. I'll chalk this up to the inexpeirience with ROR which definitely burns hotter. Sunday's pork butts when miles better. Temperatures were steady during my 9.5 hr cook, I was still tired from the day before, so I foil wrapped the butts instead of cooking unfoiled. Both the brisket and pork was delicious, and I'm glad I bought 10 bags of ROR. Plan on grabbing some more if I can find another sale.

As I explained earlier in this thread, I was a dedicated KBB user for decades, and four years or so in my WSM. I had to relearn how to set my vents and cold/hot load the RO Ridge. For 225F, I'd use 45-60 hot KBB, about 1/4 chimney, in my WSM. Now I use 8 or so RO Ridge. Huge difference.

Now I can dial in anything from 150F to 350+. When I want 150F, 4 hot RO Ridge briquettes.

I still use a full load of cold charcoal regardless of what I'm smoking and just reuse the unburned. Another trick I learned when loading the cold charcoal, is to give the legs on my WSM a few kicks, or just shake the bottom bowl pretty hard. The Ridges kind of settle into each other, cutting down on the airflow through the briquettes, which keeps the temps down for those low temp smokes.

I keep an eye out for sales. You can always pick up Embers at Home Depot. It is RO Ridge.
 
I have been a Kingsford guy for many years. Both starting my stick burner before adding my wood and on my Weber kettles. I was skeptical when I read the original post so I decided to give the RO a try. Boy, have I been missing out. Done several cooks with Royal Oak All Natural Briquettes and there is no comparison. The RO lights faster in my chimney. Burns hotter and last longer. The RO all natural briquettes appears to be an upgrade over the Kingsford Blue Bag but I am convinced the Standard orange bag RO will outshine the Kingsford Blue bag as well. Give it a try. Do your own test like I did. You will change brands like I have.
ROYAL OAK .jpg
 
So, there is two types of royal oak? Royal oak ‘all natural’ and royal oak regular red bag? What is the difference? The briquette shape/size?
Curious if Ray has any thoughts or opinions on this.
 
It's been a few months, but it appears the All Natural isn't available in my neck of the woods. It comes up on Walmart websites back east, but not here on the West Coast.

All natural in California. Isn't that an oxymoron? :emoji_astonished::emoji_laughing: Sorry Ray it's an east coast joke and I couldn't resist.

Chris
 
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Out here we have Au Naturale, but it has nothing to do charcoal.

I suspect there is probably some legal labling "All Natural" must meet or exceed before it can be put on a briquette package.
 
^^^ That's funny right there! ...and so true.

At first glance I assumed that meant LUMP charcoal, but that is in fact a briquette. What was the price of that compared to lump?
 
I realize this is a VERY old thread that won't die but I have to say this helped me a ton with finding Embers last fall which i used in my first smoke. I was shocked i still had so much fuel left at the end of the smoke. When I used kingsford in the past it never lasted. I'm never going back.
 
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I'm never going back.

Yep, a lot of us feel the same way. Glad the thread helped!

BTW, for those who need to stock up for the year, watch for sales the week before Memorial Day Weekend. There are a few sales going on now, then the price drops even more the week before Memorial Day thru that weekend. Calculate the price per pound (total price/total poundage). You want something in the 25-26 cents a pound range or cheaper. For example, Home Depot will have there Embers on sale. $9.88/40 lbs is $.247/lb, or just under 25 cents a pound.
 
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I don’t produce a huge amount, but the current smoke generator in my MES leaves behind big chunks of absolutely perfect lump charcoal (generally apple or pear). 5 or 6 cooks will leave me with a half a 5 gallon bucket full, which is immediately co-opted by my 12 y/o son (the master of the Weber)...
 
great thread.

not sure how the whole point thing works so i am just going to use the who's line is it anyway method.

1000 points for noboundaries and 50 for the rest.

so, i bought a couple bags of Kroger charcoal. Did a brisket in my MB 1050, and i noticed a difference between it and kingsford.

i have a source that tells me it used to be made by hickory specialties which i believe is part of cowboy, that is now duraflame.

anybody know if this is accurate?
 
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Did the Kroger bag of charcoal briquettes look like this:
AE2D183E-BF15-461B-80EF-0CB8D650CD95.png

If so, I want to say it is made by Royal Oak. The “Ridge” feature is only Royal Oak. And made in the USA is also a Royal Oak feature.
 
We don't have Kroger in my area, but that "Ridge" logo is Royal Oak's. Check the bottom on the back side of the bag and see if it says, "Royal Oak Enterprises. Made in USA." Whether one or both exist, it's Royal Oak. They supply A LOT of store brands. The only thing that changes is the bag. If the briquettes are not evenly stamped to weight one ounce each, it is the "seconds" fill of imperfect briqs. Not a problem. They perform just as well.
 
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