So I finally put my big boy pants on and splurged for a Green Egg… any experts have suggestions on lump charcoal? Is there a huge difference among brands?
My buddy swears by Rockwood and others’ say Royal Oak… any suggestions are appreciated. I’d prefer shipping to my house if possible
If you have any beginner Green Egg/smoking websites, would love to check them out
Thanks
You’ll get answers all over the place.
When I bought my egg almost 10 years ago the dealer recommended Wicked Good Weekend Warrior.
I never looked back.
Answering two of your questions with one link : Big Lump - Weekend Warrior — Big Green Egg - EGGhead Forum - The Ultimate Cooking Experience...
Good luck with the new egg!
What to use hinges on what you want to cook and how direct/indirect/beef/chicken/pork/pizza
Availability of lump charcoal varies based on the State you reside in.
Here is the most comprehensive list of lump charcoal ratings on the Internet The Lump Charcoal Database Rankings-- Naked Whiz Charcoal Ceramic Cooking
Did not see it on Brian’s link, but we are big fans of B&B Oak Lump Hardwood here in these parts for both direct grilling and long smoking topped with wood chunks.
#35 in the list
Ah. iPhone and sick do not a good combo make
It does make a difference.
I have three recommendations at three price levels.
Best bargain-Royal Oak from Home Depot. The Big Green Egg lump is re-badged Royal Oak.
Best mid-range price-Rockwood. A bit difficult/slow to get burning but it burns forever.
Best-period-Clay Hill. Artisinally produced in tiny batches in a small berg in middle-PA, near Greencastle.
Good luck finding any. I drive six hours each way to load up on all I can, 30-40 bags, each spring.
Just looked for Clay Hill and it is not available currently.
I am using Rockwood Lump now.
Humphrey’s Charcoal is also very good
Rockwood or Kamado Joe charcoal.
I only use homemade lump charcoal…
This, in spades, at least until I moved overseas and I had tried a ton of options; I will be going back to it when I get my grills back in a month. Note that it’s usually carried by pool/hot tub places, so check online and see if they have a coupon before you go (I always saved 10%-20% doing this). If you don’t have a local distributor, they’ll ship direct, but I believe you have to buy half a palette. Royal Oak was a pretty solid second, if only because of cost and ease of availability.
Other thought - I had quite a long, Manhattan-fueled debate at 1 AM over lump vs. briquette with somebody that has forgotten more about grilling/smoking than most of us will ever learn. His contention was that the consistency and predictability gained with briquettes was exponentially more important than any perceived benefits from using lump. I’m going to start experimenting with briquettes as a base with a couple of chunks of wood on top as soon as I pick my grills back up and will let you know what I think 
I use Royal Oak. Just be sure to break up the really large pieces. Home Depot carries it.
Other thought - I had quite a long, Manhattan-fueled debate at 1 AM over lump vs. briquette with somebody that has forgotten more about grilling/smoking than most of us will ever learn. His contention was that the consistency and predictability gained with briquettes was exponentially more important than any perceived benefits from using lump. I’m going to start experimenting with briquettes as a base with a couple of chunks of wood on top as soon as I pick my grills back up and will let you know what I think >
I am 100% in favor of Manhattan-fueled debates on any subject, but I don’t think that briquettes and the BGE are a good idea. Would it work in emergency? Sure. Are briquettes more uniform than lump? Without a doubt. But the BGE is designed to work with lump. Lump is less corrosive and the bottom plate is subject to corrosion. But mostly, lump burns hotter and stacked loosely in a pile it will burn slower and put out more uniform heat. This is admittedly mostly pulled out of my arse rather than tested by trial and error but I have a ton of experience cooking with both charcoal briquettes (on Webers, under a spit, and with a La Caja China) and with lump (on a BGE and a vertical insulated cabinet-a 270 Standard). Please consider this; briquettes are like processed food-they are a conglomerate of charcoal, wax, and filler. Lump is in theory and in the case of the better examples, in practice, pure organic carbonized wood. Here is a good discussion The Science of Charcoal: How Charcoal is Made and How Charcoal Works
Not sure I buy the corrosion part of your argument, but see the potential for blocking airflow due to increased ash amounts from briquette and smaller holes at the bottom of the egg, relative to a Weber. That said, Meathead concludes with “I only use briquettes,” mostly because of consistency… and then wood to add flavor.
Good god I want my grills back. Am in an apartment for the next month, but I’ll be back, damnit!!!
I really liked Carbon del Sur, restaurant depot used to carry it but my local stopped. Some stores still do. Kamado joe makes a great high end lump with huge heavy pieces. Walmart just started carrying a 30lb bag of lump from Western for 9.99 a bag that is way better then royal oak in my opinion.
Royal Oak. Periodically check Walmart and Home Depot - I’ve seen the mega bags for around 8- 9.00 (usually in the 14-15$ range) Anytime I see the sale I stock up on 10 bags.
Thank you for all the feedback/recs… should be an exciting week - now just to decide to cook 
Set your first fire and cook nothing, just because I said so. Don’t have time to explain but the first time you use it, you need to burn off whatever is in there than makes the food taste bad.
Invite a hurricane to you back yard and then get yourself a sledge hammer and wedges to cut your own fresh wood.
While at Home Depot getting the sledge and wedges, pick up a Weber Chimney to start the fire. Do not use synthetic stuff. One sheet of newspaper, one match and a chimney is all you need.
If you put lighter fluid in your BGE, wait until the fire dies down, disassemble it, put it back in the box, bring it back to the store where you bought it, and return it with the message “I’m too stupid to own this piece of cooking equipment.” There’s a great joke with that punch line and a computer.
Seriously - I buy Royal Oak about 100 pounds at a time and mix in fresh oak that I chop from what was left in my back yard after a hurricane and after we took down an oak tree. I occasionally use cherry from a tree than fell in a friend’s yard. I will add hickory chips sometimes for flavor. Mesquite can be bitter so use it sparingly.
A great trick - take hickory chips. put in the vacuum container that comes with a food saver machine, cover with wine, and suck out all the air. the air in the chips will bubble out (you can see it happen) and the air is replaced by the wine. Let sit for 10 minutes then run the vacuum again, holding down the button for extended vacuuming. Continue until you see no more bubbles and the wood is infused. Then use the wood to flavor a slow smoke!
NO!
From discussing the issue with the fanatics who designed the BGE:
The correct way to fill your BGE is to take a bag of charcoal, dump it out onto newspaper on a table (outside or your SO will kill you) and sort by size of piece. Starting with an empty fire box, take the large pieces and arrange them as best as you can to cover the bottom, flat side down. Then take the medium size pieces and fill in the holes between the large pieces, then take the tiny pieces and fill in the holes between the medium pieces. Once you have a full layer, start again with the big pieces, etc. This increases the density of charcoal and creates a better slow burn for a real smoke.
Kamado joe charcoal is amazing. When it’s on sale at Costco I load up like crazy.
