Who Makes The Best Lump Charcoal For BBQ?

Рет қаралды 15,607

8 ай бұрын

We recently took a look at four (4) popular brands for charcoal briquettes to see which one stood above the others. You can watch that video here: • Who Makes The Best BBQ...
Today we're comparing eight (8) popular brands of lump charcoal. The main areas of comparison are:
- Cost
- Temperature
- Duration
The competitors are:
- B and B (amzn.to/3SyWVc6)
- Big Green Egg (amzn.to/466njgP)
- Cowboy (amzn.to/3SpOlMS)
- Fogo (amzn.to/470gizh)
- Jealous Devil (amzn.to/46ZxJjm)
- Kamado Joe Big Block XL
- Rockwood (amzn.to/3u345LI)
- Royal Oak (amzn.to/3FNXebp)
* Please consider supporting Backyard SmokeMaster BBQ through the affiliate links for products that may have been mentioned in this video. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, however you will not pay more for products purchased from the links above.
This is probably the longest video that I'll ever make for KZfaq so get your popcorn ready to find out which brands came out on top!
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Пікірлер: 103

@MommyGuideInc 8 ай бұрын

Such a tedious task to do so thank you so much Kenyatta for these comparison checks.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

It’s a labor of love, but I’ll admit that getting this video out had its challenges 😂

@avargs3505 4 ай бұрын

This was super helpful and super informative thank you!!!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

@avargs3505 I’m glad that you found it helpful.

@redstone5149 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting test! Thanks for putting in the time and effort needed to do a test like this👍

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for your support!

@polsok44 8 ай бұрын

Very nice video👍 thanks for taking the time to do a video like this

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@michaelelias1016 8 ай бұрын

When I start my LSG offset I fill the chimney 3/4 of full with B&B briquettes and before pouring the ashed over briquettes into the fire management basket I fill the bottom of the fire management basket with B&B lump, just a thin layer. Seems to be a good way to get my oak splits going really well. Thx for putting this together,

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your process, mine is similar. I fill up the bottom of the basket in my LSG with unlit lit and I also pour about 3/4 chimney of lit lump over the top. I start adding the wood splits after the coals ash over.

@gingebrien2408 8 күн бұрын

Very surprising. Thanks for great info

@ChrisHayesPhoto 4 ай бұрын

I get FOGO for $19.95 regularly in the St. Louis area. That makes it $1.13 per pound. I find the consistency of FOGO to be better than Cowboy in my area. Cowboy tends to have a lot of dust at the bottom which is useless. Royal Oak just makes me angry that I bought it. Great video! I definitely want to try out B&B and Rockwood myself.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for your feedback…. wow, $19.95 for FOGO is a great deal!

@ronscott700 7 ай бұрын

Really informative comparison of these 8 charcoals. Also, I thought your methodology was quite scientific enough for the general backyard cookers. You hinted at mixing the faster lighting smaller lumps with the larger long burning ones and I have been doing this the last couple years with JD and Fogo. Thanks for sharing.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it!

@kennethdrury4993 Ай бұрын

Great video. I’ve always use B&B since I can get it at academy down the road plus they offer several wood specific bags like oak, hickory, pecan and many more.

@lenrobinson1876 8 ай бұрын

Excellent review, Kenyatta! Thank you so much. I have been using Kamado Joe but will be giving B&B a try (B&B is readily available where I live in Minnesota.)

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks, B&B lump is a great choice!

@mikecitizen2125 8 ай бұрын

Kenyatta, thank for your time and efforts. It’s appreciated by your BBQ family. I loved JD for years but have since moved on to FOGO for ease of delivery.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks Mike, the convenience of delivery is a big reason that I have been using Fogo for years too. Although I will probably start using one of the other brands, I will keep the Fogo delivery option as a backup.

@Chilax 5 ай бұрын

Jd is available in most Walmart’s now though so it’s easier to find

@justingonzalez6448 2 ай бұрын

You’re the man! Thank you so much for this comparison. I have been using briquettes in my Weber Kettle but want to start using lump. Seems like smaller pieces are good for general grilling like burgers, but a mix is better for longer cooks.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

Yes, the small pieces are good for a short high temp cook and a mix with the really large chunks are good for long, low & slower cooks. Thanks for watching & commenting.

@MarkTrades__ 2 ай бұрын

Man the music, fade-in, & timing of your intros are great for your channel's size.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

Thanks Mark!

@bubblehead7680 Ай бұрын

Really enjoying this series. What would be nice is if you could attach a temp probe hooked up to something to record the temps over time. Then you could really see a curve on the temps.

@nidusaquilae76 2 ай бұрын

Awesome video. Well done.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

Thank you very much!

@muzaaaaak 8 ай бұрын

Been running JD since I bought my WSK. Absolutely love it for burn rate, flavor, size and heat output. It’s mildly sweet and pairs well with any smoke wood. To me, it’s the best natural lump available. Walmart, Home Depot and Amazon all deliver it for free. And that’s just perfect for me. Grill on! And have fun. That’s what bbq is all about. Thanks, Kenyatta!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experience with JD. Great to know that it can be delivered for free. I will be taking advantage of that!

@muzaaaaak 8 ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ and I’m in NorCal. Outside Sacramento area. Walmart just had a JD sale. $0.85# delivered, in 20# bags. So I stocked up on a few bags.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks! I will start paying attention to WM!

@talmadgewilliams8831 4 ай бұрын

Backwoods outdoors also had the same problem with cowboy starting up. Once he lit it the second time it was great too

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

Interesting that he experienced the same issue. Thanks for sharing.

@chipete1 3 ай бұрын

I'm looking forward to more of your videos

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 3 ай бұрын

Thank you

@miketrent1252 Күн бұрын

I've owned my Komodo Joe for 5 days now and have done two cooks. I picked up Good Charcoal lump from Sam's and Rockwood at Ace. Good Charcoal is mostly small pieces. Rockwood had more medium lump but also small pieces. Good Charcoal was $19.99 for 27lbs and Rockwood was $29.95 for 20lb. I've mixed them for both cooks and see because of the size they ash quickly and I wondering on longer cooks If I'm going to need to fill up the basket to make 3hrs. We'll see. Good charcoal sure has the price right.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ Күн бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’ve seen Good Charcoal at Sam’s but I haven’t tried it yet. I was a little wary because I had never heard of it before but I should give it a try at that price.

@Richard-il6wc Күн бұрын

Thank you

@jp4751 4 ай бұрын

Interesting comparison. I like B&B Mesquite lump for steak, carne asada, etc. I like Royal Oak's flavor, but it doesn't run well for me on windy days, but that is my experience. Overall, for Lump I find myself using JD or B&B Mesquite. But, I also think you have to kind of seperate them because JD is South American hardwood, and B&B is more US style, so the flavors are different. One doesn't really replace the other.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

Good point!

@johncauley7371 8 ай бұрын

Great review, however I have found Cowboy has very small lumps in my area and it doesn’t burn as long as your test results show. You have introduced me to a couple of new ones to try B&B and Jealous Devil. I have seen B&B in my area but not Jealous Devil. Again thanks for conducting a tedious task as this to provide valuable information.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experience with Cowboy. Home Depot carries Jealous Devil so you might find it if there’s one nearby.

@summertime24133 7 ай бұрын

Lump size is immaterial

@jolkraeremeark6949 5 ай бұрын

@@summertime24133falling through the grate would be an issue.

@Karamoonsage 2 ай бұрын

This video was done very well and was incredibly informative. However, the one area that needed to be added was a flavor comparison. I would have liked to see how each of the brands cooked the food and what the flavor differences are. That said, filming all of that would have been a much larger undertaking. Nonetheless, it would have been good to have that information. In the end, I chose B&B for the high-ranking and the oak wood. Plus, I chose the Rockwood brand because of the variety of wood in the bag and the different burn rate. I intend to experiment by mixing and matching to determine what gives the best cook vs the best flavor. This will be my first smoke session. Thanks for the great video!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

Thank you…. I wish that I had a crew like the big boys so that I could try more things. A flavor comparison for this cook would indeed be awesome.

@razmigmnknjian3522 2 ай бұрын

When I first started out I was using royal oak now I'm in love with fogo charcoal the black bag is my go to it's very good

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

I believe the black bag is great for high temp cooking. Do you mostly use it for grilling?

@razmigmnknjian3522 Ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQyes mostly for grilling but I also use it for smoking pork ribs I've also done vortex ribs with the black bag and got over 500 that was the fastest ribs ever just in 30 minutes wow fast

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ Ай бұрын

Wow! 😮

@MommyGuideInc 8 ай бұрын

So not all charcoal briquettes are the same. Thanks for doing these awesome test for everyone.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

No, there can be quite a few differences. Thanks for commenting LaLa!

@jasonbackus1863 Ай бұрын

100% agreement based on those I’ve used - Kamado Joe, has the most big pieces and the most coal dust, so firmly the middle. My Sams just started carrying The Good Charcoal. Not a lot of dust, but pieces are all smaller similar in size to charcoal bricks with no large pieces. Royal Oak, I’ve literally found nails in. It’s awful! My new go to these days is Cowboy found at Walmart. Super bang for your buck and great burn. Best quality and price. Hard to beat.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ Ай бұрын

Thanks for weighing in. I’ve seen The Good Charcoal at Sam’s but I’ve been hesitant to try it because I don’t recall seeing it anywhere else.

@jasonbackus1863 Ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ .72 a lb is hard to beat which is what Good Charcoal comes out to. Acacia Hardwood, but I prefer Cowboy unless I’m there and cooking soon. My favorite is actually from a Chipotle type burrito place called Mesquites that uses charcoal to cook all their meat. Prices differ based on store, but they’ll sell their bags of charcoal, and it is Mesquite wood, Huge pieces. Really good if you have one around.

@kentwindholz4634 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for all the hard work and research! 20lb bags of BnB are $15 at Walmart for online only purchase right now. I've been using fogo but I think for the price and after your video I'm gonna have to stock up on this deal!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for tip on B&B!

@kentwindholz4634 4 ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ Im up in Denver and I have trouble getting up to even lower smoking temps around 250, I’m hoping B&B burning hotter helps me out. Otherwise I have to start blaming my inexperience instead of the altitude lol

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

That’s an interesting variable. I’d love to hear if you think B&B burns hotter there.

@kentwindholz4634 4 ай бұрын

I'll have to give you an update once I get to try it out. B&B briquettes are also on sale through walmart online right now I noticed. They list a 17.6lb bag for $28.95 but if you click it, it shows a 2 pack of the 17.6 for $19.95 total. I saw your briquette video you ranked it 3rd but it looked like for the heat output and duration I might have to stock up on it as well for that price. My girlfriends gonna make me quit watching your videos if I keep buying charcoal after each one haha😂

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

@@kentwindholz4634 B&B is a great charcoal, definitely stock up when the price is right!

@Joker-bx4rk 3 ай бұрын

Great little comparison im in the U.K and as good as your top 3 go I can get my hands on it but it's very expensive So I find [ Big K ] and [ Kamado joe big block ] the best two which I use both all year round

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experience in the U.K. In my opinion, availability& price are the two biggest factors. All of the brands will get the job done.

@bassmedic 2 ай бұрын

Some good info on the various brands. I have one thought to add about the size of the pieces. is that im sure the packaging and moving can effect the size. saying that there could be some pieces broken up from the processor to the store or shipped to your home. i have tried a few different brands from royal oak, cowboy, and jealous devil. seems like another brand but cant remember the name. for the price, size of chunks and availability for my location cowboy is what i buy if i can find it. i will say the worst one i have used was the royal oak. it seemed to burn up faster and leave the most unburnt pieces.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experience with lump brands.

@gregorydrake5656 3 ай бұрын

This was a very difficult comparison (so many variables). Very enjoyable. I wonder how the comparison would fare months later.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 3 ай бұрын

Right, these were just my results for one day. I wish that I could do the testing with the exact same conditions for each brand.

@67ShepDogg 2 ай бұрын

I'm posting a video of me using the B&B in June.

@gregkerchner3175 6 ай бұрын

I love the B&B Mesquite wood bag and I cook on a lang smoker and I have a weber 22 with a gabbys grill Santa Maria I love both! Just subscribed to your channel you are giving me new ideas for cooking thanks $

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 6 ай бұрын

Greg, thanks for your feedback & for subscribing! Much appreciated!

@RedPede 4 ай бұрын

I've been using Cowboy, blues Hog and Royal Oak. Cowboy has great flavor.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 4 ай бұрын

Blues Hog is another great one.

@bassmedic 2 ай бұрын

ive seen that this year at my local walmart. almost bought it the other day to try but they had the good cowboy lump so i bought it. btw there is a lump charcoal form cowboy that has hardly any bigger pieces in the bag. its the one that says 100% oak and hickory. if it says 100% hardwood thats the one with a good mix of small and large pieces in the bag.

@kdotis68 8 ай бұрын

Kenyatta, It would have been nice if you had weighed the amount of coals in each of the burns to keep it even. Love your videos!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 8 ай бұрын

I’ll be the first to admit that my experiment is not scientific. I started to go down the road of weighing the charcoal but the huge variance in sizes made it impractical. Weighing briquettes is easier than lump because briquettes are uniform in size.

@67ShepDogg 2 ай бұрын

I saw B&B @ CostCo and liked it every since then. I'm about to spit-roast a hog and wanted to see if a better choice was out there. I liked the outcome. The added bonus of some great alteratives, thanks.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 2 ай бұрын

Good to know that B&B is now at Costco

@CKID-dv8tq 3 ай бұрын

I’ve used fogo and B&B those tend to be my favorites cuz of the pieces and they tend to get hot 🥵

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experience with Fogo & B&B. I'm becoming a big fan of B&B.

@CKID-dv8tq 3 ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ same

@tombauer7330 5 ай бұрын

Costco had Cowboy lump on sale last summer, so bought a bag. It burned like coal, meaning smelly. Also, it had a fair amount of dimension lumber in it. Not my idea of all natural... Jealous Devil is good but I found that it doesn't last very long. Another thought, I think there is a big variation in quality within a brand. For example, I may have gotten a bad run from Cowboy. thanks for doing this one!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for your feedback. Unlike briquettes, lump charcoal is kind of snowflakes, each one is going to be different so I'm not trying to claim the outcome of my tests are going to turn out exactly the same if I were to run it again. Different day, different weather, and other factors can make a difference. One of the factors that helped Cowboy score high was it's low price.

@tombauer7330 5 ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ I'm going to try the Cowboy Lump next time I find it on sale, probably Costco. I dissed it from the last try. Looking forward to trying it again. Today I found B&B on sale at WalMart for $14.97 for a 20# bag. I ordered a couple! thanks for the tip on B&B. I might have passed it up otherwise.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 5 ай бұрын

@tombauer7330 Thank you for the heads up about B&B at Walmart!

@bbq-redneck7150 3 ай бұрын

After a few tests I ended up with B&B and I almost exclusively buy B&B, even if they are not that easy to get in Germany!

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 3 ай бұрын

B&B is becoming my go to for lump as well as briquettes.

@dondiesel1100 8 ай бұрын

Look like b and b is #1❤

@jasoncormier9588 2 ай бұрын

I am so jealous of Americans with the options in Canada Kamado Joe is $34.99 for 20 pounds. JD is $42.99 for 20 pounds. We don't have cheap options here

@graystonegardens1642 6 ай бұрын

I use lump charcoal to make Bio-Char for my garden. Royal Oak 100% natural Zero additives

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 6 ай бұрын

@graystonegardens1642 What are the benefits of using lump for your garden?

@graystonegardens1642 6 ай бұрын

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gr2XZMmem7nXYYE.htmlsi=j_jcoIctjmsWPgcx@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ

@yayinternets 6 ай бұрын

@@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQBasically you are supposed to soak the char in a concentrated brew of minerals, organic matter, etc.. the charcoal will then release it into the soil and also help keep it a little bit less packed.

@BackyardSmokeMasterBBQ 6 ай бұрын

@@yayinternets Thank you!