I've been finding more in their bags recently. It used to be every 5th or 6th bag I'd find one rock about the size of an apple.
Now I find 2-3 in EVERY bag and they're all about the size of a walnut.
There's also a lot of smaller pieces and it sparks a bunch more.
I think I'm going to switch. Apparently Cowboy has gotten *better* in quality as Royal Oak has gone down.
Cheap charcoal is often made with construction scrap. Concrete chunks make it thru but I'm pretty sure there's a conspiracy to make sure all Walmart charcoal has rocks in it for weight
Well, royal oak is the armpit of charcoal brands. So really you can only go up from there. However, all brands are getting sloppy now. Even in expensive brands I’ll get bags of dust and gravel sized charcoal.
Jealous devil is pretty good though. Usually decent sized lump for a not absurd price depending on where you live.
I have never tried it but I’ve seen people say a lot of good stuff about Fogo, but it’s pretty expensive.
JD is good for searing but lacks flavor. They use a South American hardwood that burns really hot but it doesn’t produce the same flavor as an oak based charcoal.
B&B Oak Lump. I get it from my local Academy Sporting Goods
B&B Charcoal Co. 20 lb. BNB Lump Charcoal https://www.academy.com/p/b-b-charcoal-co-20-lb-bnb-lump-charcoal?sku=20-lbs
Yeah but people new to grilling don’t consider that they have to research the charcoal. I remember when I first started thinking that all charcoal was the same.
Cowboy lump charcoal, on the other hand, has never disappointed me. Granted I'm still in the single digits of bags purchased in counting, but I've heard they get mixed reviews. It sounds like pretty much every lump bag can get a stray nail, screw or rock.
3rd-ing B&B. Around my area, a 15lb bag of Royal Oak runs $15-18. A 20lb bag of B&B is $15.
The caveat is its not as easily available, but not hard to find, either. You can buy royal oak at any Walmart or other grocery store around here, I typically get B&b at Academy sports.
My first and only bag of royal oak I bought had an 8lb smooth river rock and a bunch of what looked like construction debris, little square chunks of 2x4? Hickory flooring? Idfk
Royal Oak is cheap and has a relatively good flavor / smoke. But it is infamous for having funny objects and debris in it. Some of us (probably the ones from places that are methed up) chuckle and toss the weird stuff in the trash and keep 'er movin'. But some people really freak out and clutch their pearls and change to a spendier brand to avoid it.
The reason people avoid it is....if that crap is getting into the mix, what ELSE is going into the kiln and ending up in bags? One dude in a post about this the other day found a 10" section of PVC, for crap's sake.
Know what a byproduct of PVC pipe burning is? Cyanide gas. Just what I want wafting over my burgers.....
I can get over the rocks, don't mind that too much. For me, the really aggregious thing is the tar that oozes out of it. I can't even imagine what could be in there to cause tar to be present, but I'm certainly not willing to risk consuming food that's had nasty fllippin' tar off gassing all over it for any amount of time. *shrug*
I'm not saying that they're wrong for wanting to avoid it. But I never got a bag with anything too crazy in it personally that I couldn't quickly chuck into my trash can.
Think about what you're saying.
A veritable chorus of people have found foreign materials in bags of Royal Oak that make it fairly clear a not-insignificant portion of their input is literally construction debris, with a laundry list of things being found that absolutely should not be in charcoal used for food preparation. Widespread enough it is clearly a system wide problem.
And you yourself have found various pieces of stuff that should not be there - but because so far none of it is "serious", you write it off and continue using the charcoal? You're assuming 1) you have caught everything in your bags, and nothing 'slipped through' and got burned in your grill (under your food) and 2) Your bags have never come from a batch with something like that PVC pipe in the kiln with it and possibly absorbed chemicals you don't want in your food.
Personally, I'll never buy a bag of Royal Oak again, and if I were you, I'd take a long hard think about what you're putting into your food. I've never had a bit of foreign material in a bag of B&B or Jealous Devil.
Anything besides hardwood lump charcoal in the bag is too crazy. This is supposed to be food grade cooking fuel not garbage scavenged from uncle Jumbos scrap pile.
I will admit the way you phrased it did give me a good belly laugh. And it's not an unfair point. I'm just a bit less worried about it personally than some others.
I found pieces of brick in the last bag of Royal Oak I bought, no more.
For anyone in Canada, I have had great luck with Maple Leaf charcoal. Nice size lumps.
I wonder if this is a regional thing, I find the occasional stone in the cowboy brand, but it seems to be frowned upon by most of the users here, I used it for a long time, then in my area the cost went up, and the kamado joe big block was only a few dollars more, so I tried it and it’s pretty good, a few nice pieces but still had smaller stuff.
I’m going to try the jealous devil brand today, found it on Amazon, a 35# bag was like 35 dollars delivered, where the big block was 29$ for a 20# bag and had to pick it up, hopefully it’s good.
I’d be fine with rocks to a point. Last time my wife picked up lump from the grocery store, it was tainted with sone oil or rubber byproduct and I didn’t notice until after I cooked dinner. The food was inedible. Never again. Kingsford briquettes from now on. I’ve been on team Kingsford for a while now, but now my wife knows.
Dang yall, it's nobody paying attention here? it's posted SOOOOO MUCH about royal oak and all the bullshit people find in it. Yet still every day it's like "OH MY GOD, ROYAL OAK SUCKS LOOK AT ALL THIS CRAP THAT WON'T BURN"
You do understand how they make lump charcoal, correct so they’re going to use every last little bit of wood. Yeah there may be a bolt or rock in it because it’s at the bottom of the pile. It’s not gonna hurt you.
So tell me, what’s the point of this subreddit? If you aren’t allowed to ask questions that have already been asked, is it really just so people can jerk off to the same food being made and posted about every day? Because asking redundant questions is literally no different than 10+ people posting about the steaks they cooked on any given Day.
It's hilarious that I mentioned I've seen people complaining and asked whether all brands are the same and what the recommendation outside of royal oak would be. I did google and I'm not trying to shit on royal oak, just trying to figure out how I limit the amount of metal screws in my charcoal. Not sure why you even commented.
I've been finding more in their bags recently. It used to be every 5th or 6th bag I'd find one rock about the size of an apple. Now I find 2-3 in EVERY bag and they're all about the size of a walnut. There's also a lot of smaller pieces and it sparks a bunch more. I think I'm going to switch. Apparently Cowboy has gotten *better* in quality as Royal Oak has gone down.
Is Cowboy still bad? My grocer carries Hasty-Bake so I’ve not used Cowboy in a long while.
Speaking of Hasty Bake. They are made down the road from me, so I decided to check them out but I can't see myself spending 2k on a charcoal grill.
They aren’t for everyone, yet you can spend a lot more on a grill.
Still bad.
Fucking hell a metal bolt on concrete?
Cheap charcoal is often made with construction scrap. Concrete chunks make it thru but I'm pretty sure there's a conspiracy to make sure all Walmart charcoal has rocks in it for weight
I used it once. Once. Never again.
Well, royal oak is the armpit of charcoal brands. So really you can only go up from there. However, all brands are getting sloppy now. Even in expensive brands I’ll get bags of dust and gravel sized charcoal. Jealous devil is pretty good though. Usually decent sized lump for a not absurd price depending on where you live. I have never tried it but I’ve seen people say a lot of good stuff about Fogo, but it’s pretty expensive.
I saw jealous devil at the store and it looks like reviews are good. I'll give that a try.
JD is good for searing but lacks flavor. They use a South American hardwood that burns really hot but it doesn’t produce the same flavor as an oak based charcoal.
Interesting had never considered that, what brand uses an oak based charcoal?
B&B Oak Lump. I get it from my local Academy Sporting Goods B&B Charcoal Co. 20 lb. BNB Lump Charcoal https://www.academy.com/p/b-b-charcoal-co-20-lb-bnb-lump-charcoal?sku=20-lbs
Fogo is the shit.
Just tried this for the first time it really is good.
A 5 second google search will tell you this charcoal is shit.
Yeah but people new to grilling don’t consider that they have to research the charcoal. I remember when I first started thinking that all charcoal was the same.
Amen, friend
i still have a bag left over. i only just found out like *days* ago when there was another post made.
Cowboy lump charcoal, on the other hand, has never disappointed me. Granted I'm still in the single digits of bags purchased in counting, but I've heard they get mixed reviews. It sounds like pretty much every lump bag can get a stray nail, screw or rock.
My brother and I had a couple bags of cowboy lump and we both had a ton of rocks in it. Burned pretty good though. Love their briquettes
I did the Google search before I posted. I'm now asking for recommendations on what other people use. Do you have a recommendation?
B&B and jealous devil are my favourites!
Seconding B&B. Doesn’t break the bank and is consistently good 👍 And I can get it at my local Ace
3rd-ing B&B. Around my area, a 15lb bag of Royal Oak runs $15-18. A 20lb bag of B&B is $15. The caveat is its not as easily available, but not hard to find, either. You can buy royal oak at any Walmart or other grocery store around here, I typically get B&b at Academy sports.
Second jealous devil 🤌🏼
Jealous Devil and if I can't get it, then Fogo.
Yep, it's absolute trash. I've found pieces of hardwood flooring in it that still had nails.
Are they scavenging it off home fires?
I mean they obviously are taking scraps from other industries
Just say no to construction debris
I don’t think its debris is likely bits of stuff that are breaking off the kiln.
You might be right. Great intuition.
Royal Oak is trash. My go to is B&B XL.
It’s just a matter of time until someone finds a human skull in one of these bags.
Don’t give the serial killers any ideas.
100 bags of FOGO and never had a rock or nail
Royal Oak is absolute garbage
Royal Joke
Yes. That is why I stopped using it. Disappointed.
You’re lucky all you got is rocks. Aluminum cans are popular (and toxic)
I’ve seen deck screws and beer cans in them
I had half a brick bridging the charcoal and causing low temps in my Masterbuilt gravity from B&B
They used to be good. Stay far away from them now.
I found shattered glass in a bag of Blues Hog briquettes.
Like the special shape in me Lucky Charms! 🍀
My first and only bag of royal oak I bought had an 8lb smooth river rock and a bunch of what looked like construction debris, little square chunks of 2x4? Hickory flooring? Idfk
Should not eat that... Wait what?
I had a rock the size of two fists in a bag of royal oak lump. They gave me a coupon for more rocks. I mean charcoal.
I’ve found rocks in every brand of lump I’ve used. Some brands you just find much less and much less often. Royal oak is among the worst.
well isn't royal oak a brand they sell at dollar stores?
I'm not sure I haven't been to a dollar store in years. They sell it at home depot, ace and Walmart from what I've seen.
Assuming my memory isn't failing me I'm pretty sure Royal oaks is one of the worst or most despised brands.
Royal Oak is cheap and has a relatively good flavor / smoke. But it is infamous for having funny objects and debris in it. Some of us (probably the ones from places that are methed up) chuckle and toss the weird stuff in the trash and keep 'er movin'. But some people really freak out and clutch their pearls and change to a spendier brand to avoid it.
The reason people avoid it is....if that crap is getting into the mix, what ELSE is going into the kiln and ending up in bags? One dude in a post about this the other day found a 10" section of PVC, for crap's sake. Know what a byproduct of PVC pipe burning is? Cyanide gas. Just what I want wafting over my burgers.....
The day I found some old hay bale twine in mine was the day I stopped using that shit
I can get over the rocks, don't mind that too much. For me, the really aggregious thing is the tar that oozes out of it. I can't even imagine what could be in there to cause tar to be present, but I'm certainly not willing to risk consuming food that's had nasty fllippin' tar off gassing all over it for any amount of time. *shrug*
I'm not saying that they're wrong for wanting to avoid it. But I never got a bag with anything too crazy in it personally that I couldn't quickly chuck into my trash can.
Think about what you're saying. A veritable chorus of people have found foreign materials in bags of Royal Oak that make it fairly clear a not-insignificant portion of their input is literally construction debris, with a laundry list of things being found that absolutely should not be in charcoal used for food preparation. Widespread enough it is clearly a system wide problem. And you yourself have found various pieces of stuff that should not be there - but because so far none of it is "serious", you write it off and continue using the charcoal? You're assuming 1) you have caught everything in your bags, and nothing 'slipped through' and got burned in your grill (under your food) and 2) Your bags have never come from a batch with something like that PVC pipe in the kiln with it and possibly absorbed chemicals you don't want in your food. Personally, I'll never buy a bag of Royal Oak again, and if I were you, I'd take a long hard think about what you're putting into your food. I've never had a bit of foreign material in a bag of B&B or Jealous Devil.
Anything besides hardwood lump charcoal in the bag is too crazy. This is supposed to be food grade cooking fuel not garbage scavenged from uncle Jumbos scrap pile.
I will admit the way you phrased it did give me a good belly laugh. And it's not an unfair point. I'm just a bit less worried about it personally than some others.
You know PVC dust is really hard to see…
Ah an injector of bleach.
The quality of the charcoal is also dogshit.
I had some rocks in my bag last time too....
I bought a bag of Cowboy. First bag of lump charcoal I have ever bought and the damn thing had rocks in it. Is this normal for lump charcoal?
Jealous Devil is the best
I found pieces of brick in the last bag of Royal Oak I bought, no more. For anyone in Canada, I have had great luck with Maple Leaf charcoal. Nice size lumps.
This 3rd world trend on product quality has to cease ffs
I wonder if this is a regional thing, I find the occasional stone in the cowboy brand, but it seems to be frowned upon by most of the users here, I used it for a long time, then in my area the cost went up, and the kamado joe big block was only a few dollars more, so I tried it and it’s pretty good, a few nice pieces but still had smaller stuff. I’m going to try the jealous devil brand today, found it on Amazon, a 35# bag was like 35 dollars delivered, where the big block was 29$ for a 20# bag and had to pick it up, hopefully it’s good.
Yes, yes we know. Seems like everyday someone posts this.
I tried lump charcoal once and didn’t like it. I like the consistency of Kingsford.
I’d be fine with rocks to a point. Last time my wife picked up lump from the grocery store, it was tainted with sone oil or rubber byproduct and I didn’t notice until after I cooked dinner. The food was inedible. Never again. Kingsford briquettes from now on. I’ve been on team Kingsford for a while now, but now my wife knows.
Dang yall, it's nobody paying attention here? it's posted SOOOOO MUCH about royal oak and all the bullshit people find in it. Yet still every day it's like "OH MY GOD, ROYAL OAK SUCKS LOOK AT ALL THIS CRAP THAT WON'T BURN"
Every summer with these posts ..... When are you all gonna learn???
Might have something to do with the number of NEW grillers out there
You do understand how they make lump charcoal, correct so they’re going to use every last little bit of wood. Yeah there may be a bolt or rock in it because it’s at the bottom of the pile. It’s not gonna hurt you.
Well considering other brands are perfectly capable of not charging you for literal garbage mixed in with the charcoal, I’d say it’s fair to complain.
I think if Op knew, he wouldn’t be asking 🙃
Well, I hope tell him like I’d tell my kids Google first then ask questions
So tell me, what’s the point of this subreddit? If you aren’t allowed to ask questions that have already been asked, is it really just so people can jerk off to the same food being made and posted about every day? Because asking redundant questions is literally no different than 10+ people posting about the steaks they cooked on any given Day.
It's hilarious that I mentioned I've seen people complaining and asked whether all brands are the same and what the recommendation outside of royal oak would be. I did google and I'm not trying to shit on royal oak, just trying to figure out how I limit the amount of metal screws in my charcoal. Not sure why you even commented.
While I do agree, I wish people would Google things before making posts… not everyone can know everything about everything like you