Is charcoal in short supply?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
21

KJ is my go to. I buy 6-8 bags at a time

22

I like Fogo but B & B is my current favorite.

23

B&B is great, you can sometimes find at Walmart or Academy sports.

Sam’s club has a brand called best of the west masters selection. As long as the bags aren’t trampled it is a good choice as well

Walmart used to have a great cheapie brand western, 10 bucks for 30 lbs but I haven’t seen it this summer

Any of the 3 are leaps and bounds above royal oak

24

That kJ charcoal shipped from Costco

25

Any experience with Frontier Lump? It’s showed up in the local market where I normally buy Royal Oak. $13 for a 17lb bag. All reviews online at 5-7 years old.

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FYI- I went to Home Depot (Orange County, CA) over the weekend and they have a few pallets of Royal Oak in stock.

27

I am not familiar with this brand. If I take a chance on a lump I make sure it is made in the US. The Mexican stuff tends to contain a lot of Mesquite that I do not like.

28

I use a lot of Westchester Sandy from the oak tree that hit my house and I recently got a smaller stack of Hispanic Cut Oak that destroyed my back yard fence. The only thing I got at Home Depot was a long handle sledge hammer and two wedges. The wood if very inexpensive. I want to call me friend to see if she has any more Elmsford Sandy Cherry.

29

I got a bag of B & B at Ace Hardware and this bag has been better than Royal Oak. More consistent sizes and overall bigger chunks.

30

I should’ve bought more of that kamado joe charcoal; it’s great.

31

Almost too good. Some of the chunks were so big that I had to break them down using the side of my charcoal chimney, resulting in a dented chimney :slight_smile:

Bag #3 reinforces my previous statement - Royal Oak has gone from the best QPR charcoal deal to absolute crap. Last bag had easily 3 lbs of small, river rock size charcoal (on a good day) and I’m done with it.

32

This Frontier Charcoal states on the bag it was manufactured in Mexico and distributed by Royal Oak. So, a new (or, revived) Royal Oak brand?

I’ll give it a try for at least one cook and see how it does.

33

Love it too.
I bought 14 bags by accident this year… newhere

34

Wish I’d bought 14, only bought 8

35

Shortly after covid lockdown…
I ordered the 4 bag deal from Costco for $79…but got no confirmation.
Went back to the site and saw it was still in my cart.
So decided, oh why not, just order two 4 packs.
Again no confirmation.
And thought, maybe this whole covid thing has messed everything up with Costco online.

Went to Amazon, and saw KJ for $25/bag…ok, not bad, ordered two.
Next day, got the confirmation email from Costco…for both orders… [wow.gif] [help.gif] pileon

But said F it…keep it all…it’s not like yogurt…it won’t go bad… champagne.gif

36

Yogurt goes bad? Uh oh…

37

Agree; Royal Oak this summer has included lots of small pieces that fall through the grates before and during cooking. Still the best option at the stores around me. I’ll have to look into ordering some other lump charcoal recommendations online.