What charcoal do you like, and why?

[Jeff]

I've always wondered why some people prefer different brands than others.
Example, @Troy won't use Kingsford Blue in his kettles...why?

I know lump burns faster and hotter, Coshell burns hotter and longer, Kingsford is the staple for most.

Let's find out what and why!

[MINIgrillin]

Kingsford and royal oak.. Cuz I can't get coShell.

Royal oak for steaks and hot and fast.
Kingsford for everything else

I'm cheap and buy when on special. I haven't ventured out to try other brands. Stubbs will be next I believe. It's Texan.

[iCARRY]

Mostly Kingsford, it reminds me of my grandfather in the yard grilling every time I use it. Also cause it's always available and figured perfect one brand and stick with it.


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[addicted-to-smoke]

Let me preface by saying I'm not hugely experienced with any of it.

I wasn't a big fan of Coshell. Seems to take a "long" time to light, produces more ash than I expected. Good heat. NOT crazy "lump" heat in my experience. Glad it's good environmentally. I still have a bag or two from when Lowe's cleared it out but I haven't reached for it recently. Am I saving it or avoiding it ... ?

Kingsford Blue seems overpriced 99% of the year. There's just too much waste for what they normally charge for it, $10 per bag or whatever. But when it's truly on sale ... I can see why guys load up the truck (and garage) with it. It's consistent and does the job. When lighting it up, I don't want to die and so I go inside to avoid the SuperFund Site stench. Bottom line, I've made my peace with it and could use it year 'round I suppose. But not with joy. Still have 5 bags left but am hoping it or something better goes on sale SOON.

Kingsford Competition doesn't give off as much horrible crap as it lights compared to K Blue. And you can randomly find it on sale sometimes. Nice, consistent, somewhat less ash ... their Hickory version of it is great stuff, provided you want hickory smoke. I won't do their Mesquite, nor anyone else's.

Lump.
Inconsistent, even within some brands ... best heat, quickest to light, sparks might be a concern [insert @1buckie image here] and OH YEAH waaaaay less ash. I've used Whole Foods "365" house brand, Frontier and Royal Oak. All good. I have professional chef friends with Webers and they will NOT put anything besides lump into the machine.

My favorite "compromise" is a thing known as "hardwood briquets," a bit of a misnomer since you can't make a briquet without at least SOME kind of starch binder. BBQ Wood Flavors in Texas is one company that makes this and is the supplier to Weber's restaurants. http://www.bbqwf.com/briquets-2/

They offer an 8.3lb bag --- yes it's small --- and Publix down here sells them for $5 all year long, not too bad actually for what you get, which includes a handy resealable bag, great for traveling/camping. What I like is that they are easy to light, can get quite freakin' hot and don't clog up the machine with lots of ash. And yes it makes less ash than Coshell. I'd be happy running BBQ Wood Flavors Hardwood Briquets all the time. Public also sells a large bag of their lump at like $15 or $20, too rich for me.

BBQ Wood Flavors re-sells hardwood briqs to other companies under different brand names, so it can sometime be difficult to know when you're getting BBQ Wood Flavors stuff (although you probably are.)

[mrbill]

for briquettes, I prefer royal oak or it's various store brand incarnations. for me, it seems to burn hotter and longer than kbb. second to that is the aforementioned kbb. it's pretty much the bench mark everything else is compared to because it is so pervasive. it works and works consistently bag to bag to bag.
I've only just begun to experiment with lump, so I can't really say there(except that a mix of royal oak lump and kbb in my vortex burned hot, fast and long).
for the record, I've never used coshell(didn't go for cheap enough here), but I hear good things.

[Kenny]

Kingsford Blue

I've been using KB in my WSM's for a long time and like performance. I've tried out Royal Oak in my Jumbo Joe but I think I'll stick with KB so I can have standard fuel source that I can change with different wood.

Here's an interesting article from AmazingRibs.com

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/zen_of_charcoal.html

[jcnaz]

Briquettes:
1) Stubb's
2) Royal Oak Chef's Select
3) K Comp
4) KBB
I am going to try some of the new RO natural briquettes soon.

Lump:
I have not tried many brands. I started with Royal Oak, liked it, and stayed with it. The last few bags that I brought home were a bit sketchy, though. I found some rocks and other foreign objects. I think that I am going to try some Cowboy and Frontier to see if I prefer one of them.

[Idahawk]

1) KBB - consistency - consistency -consistency. Same temps same results time in and time out .
2) Real Montana Lump Charcoal ( apple or cherry ) when available .
3) Real Montana Lump Charcoal - great size , long burn times with a  variety of flavors . You won't find a bunch of dust and broken pieces or foreign objects and you know what type of wood the charcoal is made from.




 



  " Esto Perpertua "

[LightningBoldtz]

The charcoal that I like the most is the one that is on sale.

Seriously, I am more into prepping the meat than the full that I use. 

I know that I like the consistency of Kingsford, Ash is high but that is OK.  I like lump, Coshell is nice.  I like Stubbs but am too cheap to make it one of my go to's.

I really don't like Trader Joe's (which some do) and Royal Oak Briquettes, and anything with fuel added.

[austin87]

I really like Kingsford Comp (I did get it on sale at Costco). Lights quick, gets hot, pretty low ash. I'll use KBB if I have it but will generally try to avoid buying it. I would like to get my hands on some Chef Select from RO.

I can't get behind the Coshell train. It takes forever to light, even with 2 Weber FireStarter cubes, I haven't found it to burn all that hot, and it produces an unbelievable amount of ash that is thick and heavy. I still have a couple bags and will definitely use it up, but I'm not sure what a lot of people see in it.

For lump I like Lazzari Mesquite lump. It burns really hot. I have some Fogo lump that is a little tough to use. It has chunks as big as my head and takes a while to light up. I haven't tried Royal Oak lump.

[ClubChapin]

For lump I like Lazzari Mesquite lump. It burns really hot. I have some Fogo lump that is a little tough to use. It has chunks as big as my head and takes a while to light up. I haven't tried Royal Oak lump.

I have really liked Fogo in the past, but don't use it often as it is so expensive.  On the other hand, I use Lazzari all the time.  It is really cheap in the Seattle area at Cash & Carry, $14 for a 40Lb bag.  Even after tossing the bits of cement and too small dust, it is cheaper than almost all other coal.


I do tend to also use a lot of KBB or other when I see it on sale.

[Troy]

As Jeff pointed out, and as I've said time and time again.
I don't use kingsford in my grills. It produces so much ash that I have to empty things out after every other cook.
The smell is produces when igniting is like burning trash. The white smoke is gross and annoying.

I DO use KBB almost exclusively in my smoker (a kettle with cajun bandit conversion).
It's super consistent and cheap. I stock up when its on sale. I currently have about 500 pounds in the garage.
However I NEVER add fresh unlit to my smoker mid-cook. I'll add coshell or lump instead.

For grilling, and even smoking in a kettle, i use coshell. It burns hotter than any lump i've tried. It burns long and clean and doesn't produce assloads of ash (relative to heat and cooktime)
A single chimney of coshell can be used multiple cooks. The stuff is so hot, efficient, and re-usable that I start with a HALF MINI chimney when cooking in my 26" with cast iron grates. Dome temp of 500 without a problem.

[SixZeroFour]

I really don't like Trader Joe's (which some do) and Royal Oak Briquettes, and anything with fuel added.

Very interesting LB - What didn't you like about the Trader Joe's? I recently switched over to it after polishing off my KBB stockpile and really like it so far... WAY less ash than KBB, no teargas smoke when lighting and the regular price of $7 per 18lb bag means I don't need to stockpile it (as much )

For lump I like Lazzari Mesquite lump.

A friend of mine is the GM of a very upscale steakhouse here in Vancouver. It's the only one that I am aware of that uses charcoal, and all they use is the Lazzari Mesquite. He recently gifted me a bag that I have yet to test out - this may be the kick in the ass I needed

[Troy]

I'm wondering if some of you are getting bad bags of coshell or something.
It does take a little longer to light, but you don't have to wait for it to be 100% ashed over like kingsford....
I dump my chimney when the top coals are just starting to ignite and the flames coming from the top are white hot.

I haven't tried igniting with the starter cubes though, maybe they don't burn long enough?
I use homemade starters :\

[CharliefromLI]

Based on my research when i was getting started i always stayed away from KBB and went with Royal Oak Lump and Trader Joe's Natural Briq's. I was recently given 6 bags of free KBB so ive been using that and feel like i have a good comparison of all of them:

If im doing grilling on the performer: steak burgers chicken, the KBB is Fine. Let it burn off the junk before putting the food on and cook away.

Im my WSM the KBB produced so much ash that the fire was being choked out at the 8 hour mark.

I still have 3-4 bags of KBB and a full bag of TJ so i'm set for a while but once i go through that i want to try Stubbs as i hear great things about that.

I like the royal Oak lump too, the only issue is inconsistancy.

i think im moving towards lump for direct and all natural briq for long cooks.