Royal Oak Charcoal

[cansmoke]

I've had issues most of the summer getting hot enough fire. Last night, I bailed after 45 minutes and went in to pan fry. As it was turkey, I was not going to mess with undercooked meat. I bought Kingsford and cooked steak. Done in 15 minutes after grill hot. AFTER supper, the coals were still hot enough that I could have cooked something else.

Anyone else had issue with this. I did post a message on their facebook page so we'll see.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Watch for the “shake” the itty bitty bits, you need lump so wit RO you have to classify it and eliminate the little shake bits.

 

[whistlepig]

I have tried Royal Oak and Kingsford. I prefer B & B. B & B costs a little more and can be harder to find.

 

[bauchjw]

I’ve never had much luck with Royal Oak. I stick with lump and Kingsford mix or just kingsford. .

 

[Fueling Around]

I used Royal Oak (and the Walmart, Lowes rebranded) briquettes for years and was satisfied with performance UNTIL this year.
This year, I noticed the low heat and fast burn out as you experienced in your cooks.
I also found it slow to start in the chimney and massive amounts of ash.

Not a Kingsford fan as they use soft woods along with hard woods to make the charcoal base.
Recently found B&B, but passed. (read on)
RO lump is a joke. It is about 25% kiln dried lumber scraps.

Friend of mine gave me a bag of Frontier lump as he went to a pellet pooper.
Da wow! Fast to start, hot on the grill, long lasting, and minimal ash.
I am now hooked on (quality) lump. Got a club sized bag at Sam's for a reasonable price.

Now that I'm a lump zealot, I'm going to modify my chimneys (Weber little and big) and my Weber kettle grate to hold the slivers and shards of the coals.
Lucky me, I have a wire feed welder at work to use for personal projects.
Mods will be a future post in charcoal thread.

 

[noboundaries]

Sounds like RO has bumped up the amount of sand in their mix due to pandemic lack of lumber cutting. That would explain the lack of heat. There's a Lowes right next to the grocery where I shop. Will pick up one of the RO orange bag briqs. I'll try and test it this week.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Probably will be testing RO Lump on Monday, 15lbs for just shy of $10. This would be from Walmart. I dont know what other brands might be available locally. 1.5 hours from Lowes or Home Depot...JJ

 

[Chasdev]

I re-use all my Kingsford pro/comp briqettes as part of my "next" grilling session and compared to R/O (which is pretty much un-usable for a second cook due to crumbling), the pro/comp Kingsford half burned briquettes are still intact and can be handled roughly without turning to dust, plus they provide good heat the second time around.
Third time might be possible but the briquettes get pretty small so they tend to pack together and resist being re-lit in the chimney and/or want to fall through the fire grate in my Weber.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

The generic Royal Oak (It says on the bag RO in small print) we bought at Walmart has the air holes in it and burns super fast and produces a dirty smoke. Just use it for pre-heating the smoker and getting the steam tray a steamin',

All the Walmart off brand name charcoals seem to be super cheap and useless with a nasty smoke.

We use Kingsford long burn for smoking. Smaller coal works excellent in the smaller fire boxes. Clean burning compliments the sweet wood underneath.

Have to buy it from Amazon by the pallet because it's hard to find and often not available for months at a time.

Ya get what ya pay for with charcoal.

 

[TNJAKE]

Found a piece of metal in my last bag of RO lump lol

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Found a piece of metal in my last bag of RO lump lolView attachment 509809

Jig saw blade?

 

[cansmoke]

I've had issues most of the summer getting hot enough fire. Last night, I bailed after 45 minutes and went in to pan fry. As it was turkey, I was not going to mess with undercooked meat. I bought Kingsford and cooked steak. Done in 15 minutes after grill hot. AFTER supper, the coals were still hot enough that I could have cooked something else.

Anyone else had issue with this. I did post a message on their facebook page so we'll see.

I use briquettes BTW. Glad to hear that I am not alone in experiencing issues.

 

[TNJAKE]

Jig saw blade?

Doesn't have teeth. Was thinking a metal tie down band

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Doesn't have teeth. Was thinking a metal tie down band

Good take but it looks like my jig saw blades after the kids put it back on the tool shelf. At least they put it back in the case and on the shelf.

 

[cansmoke]

I did receive a reply from Royal Oak. THey wanted what store and the lot # and were talking of sending me a coupon for their product.
At least they replied.

 

[cansmoke]

Nothing yet.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

The best Royal Oak charcoal briquettes IMO / IME are Royal Oak Chef's Select
I used to be able to purchase these from DoItBest.com for around $22 for a 40 lb. bag, but not any more. Royal Oak lists these food service companies now.

https://royal-oaksupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360030779172-Foodservice-Distributors

They're also available from Spreetail for $32 for the 40 lb. bag, either through the Spreetail website or through other websites including Walmart.com, Target.com, and Amazon supplied through Spreetail.


On Memorial Day weekend I found the Members Mark charcoal briquettes which to me are the same briquettes as Royal Oak Chef's Select in Members Mark bags. The price is better than Royal Oak Chef's Select through Spreetail, almost half. The Members Mark charcoal briquettes are sold as two pack 20 lb. bags, individual 20 lb. bags aren't available for purchase but that's OK with me.

BBQ Fuels & Grill Charcoal - Sam's Club

Shop Sam’s Club for liquid propane for grilling and grill charcoal.

www.samsclub.com

For lump charcoal I agree the Frontier lump made in Mexico is a best buy value, especially at Sam's Club in the 30 lb. bags. The only non-charoal objects I've ever found in bags of Frontier lump from 2008 forward were small rocks, golf ball size to pebble size, occasionally.

Another charcoal briquette I've used recently that I really like are Master Grill charcoal briquettes made in Paraguay. These are equivalent to the old Rancher charcoal briquettes that were made in Paraguay and Uruguay years ago. I just had 8 bags, 88 lbs., of the Master Grill brand charcoal briquettes delivered yesterday that I ordered Saturday last week on Walmart. com. Since that order was over $35, shipping was free - a Walmart+ membership also qualifies for free shipping.

Robot or human?

As always, YMMV.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

FYI Royal Oak, who purchased Frontier from PSC in 2016, has updated the Frontier charcoal website to reflect the current products with the Frontier label under Royal Oak ownership. Two varieties of lump charcoal - one from Mexicoand one from Argentina, one variety of hardwood charcoal briquettes from Paraguay, and Tumbleweeds fire starters.

Frontier – Premium charcoal from around the world

Frontier brings 100% natural, sustainably sourced, premium charcoal from around the world to your backyard.

www.frontiercharcoal.com

 

[Fueling Around]

Didn't realize Frontier is owned by Royal Oak.
Hopefully they keep up the quality of the Frontier. I prefer buying USA made products, but not when it is inferior grade.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Yep, look on the back of that 30 lb bag of Frontier lump you picked up at Sam's Club and take a look.

It appears the current Royal Oak overall strategy is for all imported charcoals to be under the Frontier name. But even before RO purchased Frontier the Frontier lump charcoal had gone to Made in Mexico lump in the last several years when Frontier was owned by PSC. My guess is RO is probably using the same facility in Mexico that PSC used from around 2012 - 2012 forward.

Despite all this The Naked Whiz has never performed an evaluation of Frontier Made in Mexico lump, nor the new Frontier Extra Large lump Made in Argentina.