Using Lumberjack pellets to make Dave's Pellet dust...

[indaswamp]

So, I was out of apple pellets since I now use wood chunks in my set up for warm and hot smoking. Looking around, I found out that Cabela's sells rebranded Lumberjack pellets. They carry 100% Apple so off to the store which is 5 minutes from my house.

From watching one of the videos on Benton's Bacon, the owner claims they use 80/20 Hickory and apple...so that is what I am going to mix up.

Reading Lumberjack's website, they plainly state that they use bark in their pellets.

Why is Lumber Jack so popular?
Simple! The flavor of any tree is in the Metabolites or cambium layer of the growing tree. This means that all BBQ pellets made from residual sawdust as a by-product are generally comprised of the core kiln dried wood. For example, the sawdust from a hickory furniture or hammer handle factory is void of flavor or has only a very weak carryover from the growth in the cambium layer. When the old timers smoked meat and fish they did not take the bark off the wood they gathered for this very same reason. We are a round log plant which means we harvest actual trees and chip them up as green chips, with full flavor to make our BBQ pellets.

You can see how dark the pellets are...

I used the flash...the color at the top of the picture is closer to what they look like. This is a bowl of damp pellets I spread out on cookie sheets to make dust.

My question is-bark or no bark? Which do you prefer and why? I know the old timers I spoke with used split wood with the bark to get the fire going, then switched over to whole round logs for more bark...bark smoke makes more flavoring compounds so says the science....

 

[mike243]

I prefer the bark in the mix,I have used shag bark in my grills for the last 30 years when grilling and been known to do some smoking with it also,If I go squirrel hunting I may not get any but I almost always find a shagbark tree and yank some bark off

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks for posting. I'll keep that in mind when I am in the woods. I am usually looking for mushrooms-not bark. LOL!

 

[mike243]

Its time for morel's now lol

 

[indaswamp]

Its time for morel's now lol

My brother found some yesterday just south of you in Northern Mississippi...He is about 2 hours north of Jackson, MS at the deer camp turkey hunting.

 

[mike243]

Turkey season starts next weekend and I see a few reports of them being found then,Had rocky mountain fever due to a tic bite and I don't get out in the woods much when they are thick, ,more deer seems to have increased the numbers over the last 15 years. reckon they are called tic toaters for a reason lol