Pit boss pellets question

[grizzly bear]

That's what I was wondering about purchasing Lumberjack brand pellets. Finding the dealer with the best shipping. I clicked on a link that took me to the Lumberjack site and in detail Lumberjack described the parts of wood that makes up their pellet but they only sell to dealers. I have 100lbs. of Todd's pellets that are great but I just know it's 100% that specie but not knowing if it includes bark or just the heart of the wood etc. Then wonder If I'm missing out on a flavor profile. I wish I had detailed information about Todd's pellets like Lumberjack discloses or if they are Lumberjack. What I like a bout Todd's A-maze-n products is that it's free shipping @ $49.00 and there are 2lb./5lb. sizes to try before getting a 20lb. bag and 40lbrs. online.

I purchased a bag of Lumberjack 100% pecan on Amazon for decent price. Following week, saw it for less money, ordered another bag. When received, it said "pecan blend" but looks identical to the 100% pecan bag. Caught me by surprised as at the time, I thought when the bag says 100% Hardwood, it was 100% pecan. Not the case, if it says hardwood, it is a mix. With the Pecan blend, it is 30% pecan, 70% alder, which explains price difference.

 

[norcal q]

Wait...are you sure the bag of Lumberjack said "Pecan Blend" and it didn't say what the Pecan was blended with? LJ told me that if it's a blend, they tell you exactly what the blend is on the bag. Not true?

 

[Winterrider]

Out Home Of Economy does. They had 100% Pecan ( what I bought) and they had Pecan Blend which had the list of what was in, which I do not recall right now.

 

[grizzly bear]

Wait...are you sure the bag of Lumberjack said "Pecan Blend" and it didn't say what the Pecan was blended with? LJ told me that if it's a blend, they tell you exactly what the blend is on the bag. Not true?

Wish that I still had the bag! I did have same thing happen with the Lumberjack Mesquite. You will see in the photos a stack of 100% Lumberjack Pellets. Already had used the 100% Mesquite. Look what I found in my stack, 2 bags that are like the pecan blend, but Mesquite Blend. Nothing on front or back of bag to indicate what these pellets are blended with. Never noticed the word blend on these Mesquites as well. All were purchased Amazon months ago. Check out the attached photos. Thanks

 

[bregent]

Lumberjack makes 3 types of pellets:
100% flavorwood varieties which contain 100% of the species listed
Mix varieties which state on the bag or in the name what species are included
Blends, which blend the main flavorwood with other woods.

The blends may not say which woods are used on the bag, but the LJ website has all the details:
http://bbqlumberjack.com/our-pellets/

For example, the Mesquite blend is:
Mesquite Blend
Strong, spicy, southwest cooking favorite

(60% Red Oak, 40% Mesquite)

 

[norcal q]

That's right. Now I recall that when I called them, they said 100% Flavor Woods are just that or if they are a combination of Flavor Wood, then is will state on the bag, which flavor woods are used. However if it says Blend on the bag, then it's a blend of Flavor Wood and Oak.

 

[grizzly bear]

Good to know, thanks much

 

[indaswamp]

I agree. Unfortunately that's what they offer. Don't understand the point of all these blends. Sell each wood separately, let people mix they way they like it.

From my recent research....
Lumberjack sells a lot of bark in their pellets claiming this is where the bulk of the flavoring compounds come from. Trick with smoking with bark though is you have got to get the heat right! If your fire is too cool, or oxygen starved, you will get a bunch of nasty compounds produced and your food will taste like an ash tray.

When Lumberjack makes a blend, they use the bark layer from the flavoring wood and and bark free wood from the filler wood (Hickory, or oak mostly).

I do not know if pitboss (or other pellet manufacturers) does the same.

The Blends are made for pellet grills. They need a certain amount of BTU's (around 9,000BTU's per pound) from the pellets in order to function properly. Oak and hickory are both dense woods and produce a lot of BTU's, thus the use of these woods in the blends to kick up the BTU's in flavoring woods....

 

[norcal q]

Well, in all my experience and the experience of other pellet cooks, LJ 100% Flavorwood pellets work just as they should and produce the most smoke flavor, consistently. Other blend pellets that I have used have not produced that kind of flavor. Now, if you're talking about temps above 500*, then I can't attest to that.
Allthat said, since your experience tells you differently, then we all have to do what works for for us.

 

[indaswamp]

Well, in all my experience and the experience of other pellet cooks, LJ 100% Flavorwood pellets work just as they should and produce the most smoke flavor, consistently. Other blend pellets that I have used have not produced that kind of flavor. Now, if you're talking about temps above 500*, then I can't attest to that.
Allthat said, since your experience tells you differently, then we all have to do what works for for us.

I'm just answering Atomic's question as to why the manufacturer's make blends. They have concluded based on their engineering of pellet smokers, that 9,000BTU/ lb. pellets run the units at the optimum level. And to achieve that level they have found that blending dense, hot burning woods like oak and hickory achieve that goal.
Lumberjack-to it's credit- is the only manufacturer that I have seen that enhances the flavoring wood by using only the bark layers, and eliminating the bark layers of the filler wood.

 

[norcal q]

Got it. Thanks. More info is always better than less.

 

[dr k]

From my recent research....
Lumberjack sells a lot of bark in their pellets claiming this is where the bulk of the flavoring compounds come from. Trick with smoking with bark though is you have got to get the heat right! If your fire is too cool, or oxygen starved, you will get a bunch of nasty compounds produced and your food will taste like an ash tray.

When Lumberjack makes a blend, they use the bark layer from the flavoring wood and and bark free wood from the filler wood (Hickory, or oak mostly).

I do not know if pitboss (or other pellet manufacturers) does the same.

The Blends are made for pellet grills. They need a certain amount of BTU's (around 9,000BTU's per pound) from the pellets in order to function properly. Oak and hickory are both dense woods and produce a lot of BTU's, thus the use of these woods in the blends to kick up the BTU's in flavoring woods....

I read this as well and searched smoking wood with bark on or off. Seems confusing. Some say if the bark comes off splits and chunks to remove it others say not to. Idk. I have cherry small splits with bark and just figuring out to remove or not.

 

[indaswamp]

I read this as well and searched smoking wood with bark on or off. Seems confusing. Some say if the bark comes off splits and chunks to remove it others say not to. Idk. I have cherry small splits with bark and just figuring out to remove or not.

If you smoke without bark, your fire will be more forgiving as far as creating acrid creosote. But you will not have the depth of flavor if you used bark. If you use bark, you need a fire in the perfect 650-750*F range in order to burn the substances in the bark down to the 'good' flavor molecules. This means you must have good air flow and not a starved for oxygen fire....red embers are what you want....

Think of a candle as an example: If the wick on the candle is long, you get an incomplete burn and create soot (and creosote)...there's plenty of fuel, but the fire is starved for oxygen. Just like an offset if you cram too much wood in the firebox. It's hot, plenty of fuel, not enough oxygen..
The opposite is a short wick, not enough fuel, plenty of oxygen, and the fire is prone to go out...not enough heat...
Those are the two extremes to avoid. The happy medium is a proper length wick where you get complete burn, enough heat, and enough oxygen.

Now, if you burn hot, get plenty of oxygen and kick the fire on turbo charge, you get a fire that burns too completely...this is why pellet grills lack in flavor and smoke @ high temperatures (450~500*).....very complete burn of the pellets....

 

[catavalon21]

In a short time as a pellet grill owner, have used the LJ all-flavor. I agree with others - grills (at least not all of them) do not necessarily need any particular wood to feed or burn correctly. I am a big fan of all pecan, and it works just fine in my RT700. That said, in my pre-pellet days, I smoked plenty of meat with locally cut oak (red oak, coastal Georgia), and by itself, that's close to magic - great flavor profile. Many oak varieties are themselves very tasty. Not sure what specific oak is blended into pellets, but many are just fine. Like all of you, I just want to know what I'm getting.

 

[smokinq13]

Not bringing a old thread to life again but has anyone went out and bought a pellet mill to have their own pellets? that way you can have 100% (insert whatever wood you want) pellets

How I came across this was looking up why my pellet grill doesn't produce that smoke flavor that most people look for in good BBQ.