I use Royal Oak lump. I have searched in several usually reliable local Walmarts and Home Depots in Reno. I was able to find just 2 bags of RO lump to add to a few bags in my garage. I am told it has been out of stock for some time. I did see lump from Mexico, but it is usually mesquite heavy which I do not care for.
I bought Embers briquettes at Home Depot, 40 lbs. for $15 to supplement my supply of lump. It is made by RO. I am happy with it. It lights quick, burns hot and does not have any off odors. Loaded up on 120 lbs for blending with lump.
Interesting as I’ve been unable to find Royal Oak recently as well. I had to buy another brand at Home Depot and am trying it out right now for the first time.
It’s funny you ask, Glenn, as I also use Royal Oak as my standard go-to lump charcoal for grilling due to its nice clean flavor, low cost and availability at my local Home Depot. Last week I had to head over to Home Depot for a few items and figured I’d grab a bag or two of Royal Oak while there and they were 100% sold out. While I’d never seen them completely sold out before, I didn’t think anything of it until seeing your thread here and now I’m wondering the same and will be paying attention to this thread to see what others are seeing. Hopefully this is just a temporary issue.
We’ve got Royal Oak all over the place in the Seattle area.
That said… I picked up two bags and they were complete crap. I’ve used Royal Oak quite a bit over the last 10 years as it’s pretty cheap and the lump size is decent, with a large amount of baseball-sized chunks. Last two bags were golf ball sized, on a big day.
Consider buying off of Amazon - Jealous Devil goes on sale semi-frequently, as does the Kamado Joe stuff.
I also love the Jealous Devil brand, but the last time I checked it was quite the opposite of on sale. We often make our own - need to stope being lazy and do a few batches
Big Green Egg brand is just Royal Oak, supposedly a slightly higher grade/sorted chunks. I can no longer finds BGE lump anywhere. I am told I need to wait until the distributor can get more from the manufacturer. I haven’t looked for Royal Oak but it makes sense it is out of stock in certain locations too. I used to buy Rockwood and loved it. The source I bought it from offered free shipping on orders of more than $100. They then excluded lump. I knew it was too good to last. My son went to the place I buy BGE from for BGE and upon being told there was none, came back with three bags of Cowboy brand. Almost total crap. Huge variation from chips to massive logs and it does not light easily. I also detect a weird aftertaste on the food. I told him Cowboy had a terrible reputation but decided to do some cooks with it rather than return it. Awful stuff. My all-time favorite is still Cherry Hill. You can only get it at Mason-Dixon and from the nearby producer, in the middle of PA close to New Castle.
My grocery store had a bit of bge brand for cheap and I got a couple bags of rockwood from amazon; may try something else after I use up a bit of this.
I do not like Cowboy either. It contains a lot of Mesquite, with lots of sparks and popping. I mixed the Embers briquettes which are actually Royal Oak, about one-third with the lump as a trial burn and I was pleased. If you need fuel I would recommend the Embers briquettes from Home Depot.
Count me in the camp that doesn’t like the Cowboy brand. I didn’t think much about HD being out of Royal Oak on Independence Day weekend but a quick stock check on their all tells me they are out locally. Interesting.
Might have to hit the speciality stores as I just used my last bit this weekend.
Agree Cowboy is garbage. I’ve won plywood, nails and metal wire in bags before.
Have not tried Rockwood.
Went out and got a blue bag today, as it’s always consistent… I just hate cleaning all the filler out of my kamado.
All time favorite was Wicked Good Weekend Warrior, but I haven’t seen it out here in several years Fogo restaurant is good, as well, but I’ve only seen it on sale once and it’s pretty pricey at MSRP.
I think Rockwood is also very good. Same for Wicked Good WW, but haven’t used it in more than 5 years and I’ve heard it is no longer as good.
Royal Oak is ok, but not on the “A” list. Cowboy is not good. There was some brand of mesquite charcoal sold at Sam’s years ago that was downright nasty.
I’ve heard the rumors of a shortage, but I haven’t searched for anything other than the KJ at Costco and I usually stock up with a couple hundred pounds and that lasts me for close to 2 years, I think.
KJ @Costco - You can still order it and they will deliver it when available. It was that way when I ordered in mid-June and was delivered in early July.
I get this from Amazon https://www.fogocharcoal.com/ . I started using this when, sometime last year, I couldn’t find Royal Oak. Very pleased. Not a huge fan of Cowboy, either. Though I did use it years ago.
Thanks John - I just looked up the Fogo products and ordered a couple of bags to try out (their Quebracho Argentinian lump and the Brazilian Eucalyptus lump). Appreciate the recommendation, as it seems my old standby Royal Oak may be MIA for a while. Looking forward to trying something new and the free shipping on orders over $30 made it easy to pull the trigger.
Fogo restaurant is good, as well, but I’ve only seen it on sale once and it’s pretty pricey at MSRP.