Anyone using Weber charcoal briquettes?

A couple of years ago, I bought mass quantities of it from Target. It was on clearence for maybe 4 bucks per 20lb bag or whatever. It was regular 20 dollars or so and it was obvious no one would spend that much money on charcoal briquettes.

Anyway, at 4 bucks a bag it's fine but nothing at all special. It does however have a cleaner taste than say kingsford blue. But at 20 bucks per bag? Nope, not even close.

If however you want a high quality briquette, try to find coconut charcoal. It's super clean and mild enough to really let the flavor of the wood come through.

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LINK

B & B makes a good hardwood charcoal briquette (Oak). So does Cowboy (All Natural Carcoal Briquettes) , and surprisingly Trader Joes makes a good hardood briquette (it is made by Rancher Charcoal and rebranded).

Royal Oak makes an all natural charcoal briquette, but they burn up way too fast, probably 50% the density of the three listed above.

Never tried Weber, too pricey at $20 and currently $12 a bag. Ridiculous.

I got a bunch of Royal Oak at Lowes..The bags were ripped open and I got them for $2.00 each..They burned too fast..
Does anyone use Kingsford anymore? I always get it if it is on sale..

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I got a bunch of Royal Oak at Lowes..The bags were ripped open and I got them for $2.00 each..They burned too fast.. Does anyone use Kingsford anymore? I always get it if it is on sale..

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A lot of folks must still use Kingsford because it is sold in just about every retail outlet that sells charcoal briquettes. I'm just personally not a fan of borax and anthacite coal in my charcoal. Plus it takes a while to burn all that stuff off in a chimney starter.

As for Royal Oak, they sell several different types of charcoal---"Ridge", "Chef's Select", and "All Natural Briquettes". I have only ever cooked with the Ridge and "All Natural Briquettes". I light the Ridge in a chimney starter and let it ash over and use it for hot and fast grilling. The "All Natural" is about 50% of the density of the "Ridge" and burns hotter and cleaner, but it also burns up really quickly. I've never used the "Chef's Select" as it's only available through Do-It-Best and Restaurant Supply stores, but people on the BBQ forums swear by it and it is supposedly used in many restaurants that grill with charcoal.

Also, I believe Royal Oak is the largest charcoal manufacturer in the USA based upon the fact that they sell their charcoal re-branded under many different private labels. They own a patent and a copyright on the Ridge design, so any Ridge charcoal you see is made by Royal Oak.

For low & slow applications, I prefer B&B, Cowboy (formerly Stubbs), or Trader Joes briquettes. All of these are 100% hardwood, they burn longer if using the snake or minion method than charcoal full of fillers, and they produce a clean smoke upon ignition.

To each their own though.

Weber is by far my favorite briquette and when I could get it for $11 at Lowe’s i used it. It is the best low and slow briquette. I won’t pay $20 though.