Thoughts on Charcoal

[LloydQ]

Happy Super Sunday everyone!
Just a small bit of musing on briquettes lately. I cooked most of the summer and fall on Kingsford Professional from Costco, and I really liked it. At $17 (with coupon) for 36 pounds, it hit all the high notes with me: affordable, fast lighting, clean burning, reasonably long lasting.
Unfortunately, I ran out at Thanksgiving. Tried to order more online from Costco, and it was not listed. Checked other sites and Holy Cow! The price skyrocketed! An alternative was definitely required.
I saw, on this site, that Academy had B&B briquettes on sale. $8 for a 17.6 pound bag was in my wheelhouse price-wise, so I picked up 8 bags. After my 1st cook , I regretted my choice. This is got to be the hardest coal to light I have ever used! Takes forever, and stinks like a skunk pooting Fritos! Burns okay once it it is through acting up but leaves a ton of ash. The juice ain't worth the squeeze.
Which brings us to the present. I saw that Tractor Supply had Cowboy briquettes $9 for a 14 pound bag. A little above the 50 cent per pound threshold, but what the hey? And guess what? I liked it! Lights easily and burns clean and hot. Not the longest lasting, but certainly acceptable. I resigned myself to having to pay a little more for decent charcoal.
But wait! Perusing the aisles of my local Wally World, what do my wandering eyes see??? Cowboy Charcoal Briquettes, two 20 pound bags for $18!!!! 45 cents per pound!
Needless to say, I am going to load the wagon.

 

[TC Smoke & Que]

I have not had any "stink" problems from B&B Briquets, and yes they are a little harder to light, but I find they burn more evenly and longer.
Cowboy is a good Charcoal also, and depending on the smoker you use will always depend on burn.
Ash Happens, some more, some less, just part of the game.

 

[SeenRed]

I have not had any "stink" problems from B&B Briquets, and yes they are a little harder to light, but I find they burn more evenly and longer.
Cowboy is a good Charcoal also, and depending on the smoker you use will always depend on burn.
Ash Happens, some more, some less, just part of the game.

^^
Agreed. I use B&B briqs all the time and get pretty good results.

Red

 

[Get’n Smokey]

B&B and Blue Hog

B&B logs are pretty cool

 

[Fooball]

Wondering if you got a bad batch of B+B?

I bought at that same Academy sale and haven't smelled anything foul. I use 2 tumble weeds to light a chimney with no problem.

Maybe my store here in Fl. got a different manufactured batch. IDK....the Cowboy at Walmart sounds like a good deal if it's good coal so sounds like you got it worked out.

I'll try that when I run out of my stock pile that I've been collecting from various sales.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

In my opinion, B&B has gone downhill lately and around here it's way overpriced.

Since I tried the Cowboy briqs I'm happy again. Quality and affordable. :thumb:

Blues Hogs briqs are good too.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I use Kingsford original blue bag and haven’t had any problems other that one bad bag a while ago. It’s $21 for two 20 Lb. bags right now at Lowe’s.

I stock up when it goes on sale during the summer holiday weekends.

 

[food4thot]

Switched to lump many years ago. Still have a bag of Stubb's. Best briqs I ever tried. Been keeping the bag for an emergency, like if I ran out of lump.

Wonder what I could get for it on ebay?

 

[jzadski]

Switched to lump many years ago. Still have a bag of Stubb's. Best briqs I ever tried. Been keeping the bag for an emergency, like if I ran out of lump.

Wonder what I could get for it on ebay?

Same here with lump and I have a bag or two of Weber left. I like the ebay idea

 

[JRDINCC]

I haven't seen a summer holiday charcoal sale around here since pre China flu.
Less than .50 cents/# seems a thing of the past.

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

I have used B&B before and like it okay, but my wife said the same thing about how bad it stunk. She even asked why am I using that and she hopes it doesn't mess the food up. I spotted Cowboy briq at wal mart too and will pick some up soon.

 

[jrbab]

Like the Cowboy a lot - burns hot and long. Found it at my Tractor Supply. Not the cheapest but best I can find around here. Done with buying anything else unless something really different and good shows up locally. Very happy with it.

 

[seattlepitboss]

I buy 50 lb bags of mesquite charcoal for about $12.

I do sift out about 10 pounds of powder which reduces the value, plus there are usually one or two presto log sized lumps that have to be broken down, but then I have natural lump charcoal which works great.

 

[Robert]

In my opinion, B&B has gone downhill lately and around here it's way overpriced.

Since I tried the Cowboy briqs I'm happy again. Quality and affordable. :thumb:

Blues Hogs briqs are good too.

B&B was bought out by Duraflame in 2021. Duraflame is owned by Clorox. Clorox owns Kingsford. And I just purchased 24 bags. :doh: :crazy:



I liked their Charlogs and hoped the briquets might be along the same quality. Time will tell. I have used Kingsford and Royal Oak for years along with Stubbs and most recently Weber. Tried Jealous Devil last year and liked it a lot.



Thought this sale was too good to pass up and stocked up. Buyers remorse?:icon_blush: Maybe. Might give it a run tomorrow and see how bad it smells. Couldn't be worse than some of the others or could it?

 

[1MoreFord]

Since Stubbs has been brought up again it looks like it's time to remind everyone that the current Cowboy Briqs is the same as the old Stubbs.

This has been discussed several times including on here.

 

[rocky2298]

Sorry for the Bump. Was searching the charcoal threads for any new leads on Charcoals to try. Was very disappointed when I found out last year that B&B was sold to Duraflame. I was wondering why the Quality of the Lump charcoal wasn't up to snuff and was finding a lot more **** and rocks in it. Loved the B&B Briqs and hope the quality of those haven't when down the toilet also (wishful hoping) I was excited to try the Cowboy but I see Duraflame has their mits on that brand to - so far it sounds like most here are happy with the performance of, Cowboy, I'll check back with some thoughts after I use it.

 

[Vader1959]

Cowboy briquettes for the win!

 

[Get’n Smokey]

Been trying cowboy briquettes and they are good

B&B
Blue Hog
Cowboy

All pretty good stuff

 

[Top2Not2]

I just bought a two bag pack of Cowboy briquettes from Walmart for $18.

 

[Vader1959]

I have purchased (5) twin pack of Cowboy from WM over the past 4-6 weeks. I still have 12-15 bags of Stubbs left from 4-5 years ago. I wonder if WM will discount Cowboy during the summer grilling holidays....