Where to find better Charcoal?

[thedish]

I have no Idea where to find better charcoal, I don't want to use the Kingsford briquettes and the only all natural lump charcoal I can find is bags of the "CowBoy" brand and the "best of the west 100% natural lump charcoal". Seems like at best I can only get about a chimney and a half out of a bag, the rest seems to be fine dust. Any suggestions? (I live in Michigan, so I've been to Meijer, Home Depot/Lowe's, and Kroger, where else should I be looking?)

 

[nhbuck]

Was thinking the same. I typically use Kingsford because Lowes around memorial day and the 4th have the two 20lb bags for $12 this year. I am doing a brisket and tried a bag of Stubbs Natural lump, I found at lowes. I wasn't impressed. I have tried the cheap wal-mart brand and ddin't like that either. When I do a brisket I am looking at 12 to 16 hrs of burn time keeping it between 2 and 225. On this brisket I have used a large bag of kingsford and a 12 lb bag of stubbs for a total of about 30lbs of charcoal. Having a tough time with holding temp due to humidity and wind overnight. I keep threatening to do my own build and after this smoke either some mods need to be made or it's time to build.

 

[mossymo]

Your local Lowe's should be able to stock Stubb's charcoal if they all ready don't. Kind of late in the season, but ask the store manager if they can order a pallet.
 

 

[cliffcarter]

Get Stubbs briquettes at Lowes if you can, it is my preffered briquette. Royal Oak briquettes are a better choice than most, at KMart up here, Royal Oak lump charcoal at WalMart(the bag says "natural hardwood Charcoal) is the lump most readily available. Royal Oak also makes a large number of "house brand" charcoals and branded lump charcoals, Kroger's brand is one of them, according to what I read on the forums.

 

[lght]

Not sure I read your post correctly, but you don't want to use Kingsford because you can only get a chimney and a half out of a full bag? 

What size bag and what type of smoker are you using?  I can usually get say 3-4 chimney's out of a 15lb bag and after doing a 6 hour smoke yesterday I only used a little over 1 chimney and a few small pieces of wood so that one bag would essentially last me around 20-24 hours of cook time at around 220

 

[mdboatbum]

Not sure I read your post correctly, but you don't want to use Kingsford because you can only get a chimney and a half out of a full bag? 

What size bag and what type of smoker are you using?  I can usually get say 3-4 chimney's out of a 15lb bag and after doing a 6 hour smoke yesterday I only used a little over 1 chimney and a few small pieces of wood so that one bag would essentially last me around 20-24 hours of cook time at around

He was referring to the Cowboy.

"the only all natural lump charcoal I can find is bags of the "CowBoy" brand and the "best of the west 100% natural lump charcoal". Seems like at best I can only get about a chimney and a half out of a bag, the rest seems to be fine dust."

I agree, Cowboy is terrible stuff. Yet it's available everywhere. Marketing at it's finest I guess.

Trader Joe's, Fresh Market and Whole foods all have decent store brands of Natural briquettes which provide great heat and burn long. Stubbs is my favorite briquette hands down, should be at Lowe's as mentioned previously.

 

[thedish]

I've been weary to use a briquette over a lump charcoal, but it seems a lot of people have been recommending Stubb's or some other "natural" briquette, Whats the noticable difference between a lump and a briquette, I know briquettes will ash up more, but my only experience with briquettes are nasty gas tasting on my meats from Kingsford junk. Should I get a different briquette a chance, or just keep with the Lumps and switch over to Royal Oak? 

 

[piaconis]

Royal Oak is a favorite of mine.  Just make sure it's the U.S. version (says on the bottom of the bag).

Here's the link to nakedwhiz review:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag11.htm

Here's the link to the item on SMF:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/lists/display/view_item/id/34487

Here's Walmart's link

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Royal-Oak-All-Natural-Hardwood-Lump-Charcoal/19546016

 

[piaconis]

For the record, hardwood lump doesn't burn as long as the briquettes, basically because the briquettes are pretty much a sawdust and binder mix pressed into a form.  The advantage is that you will do less charcoal loads with briquettes.  The disadvantage is that (in my opinion) the aroma and flavor that the briquette imparts is like burnt sawdust.  I prefer the aroma and flavor of lump.  However, I've been able to overcome this a bit by piling briquettes on the bottom of my charcoal basket, then adding lump on top, then starting a chimney of enough briquettes to line the bottom of the cylinder and the rest filled with lump and wood chunks.  I think this marries the two well for a long burn.

Hope it helps.  BTW - another advantage of lump is its quick ignition, which is very helpful in the event of a sudden drop in smoker temp.

 

[alelover]

I get Royal Oak lump at the Wal-Mart here.