My favorite in no particular order; 1) blue hog 2) jealous devil 3) B&B oak 4) FOGO 5) KJBB
Whatever I’m in the mood for when I’m at my local hardware store.
ndskurfer
I love jealous devil for consistency and value. Good size and reliable burn and value from Walmart. Below is a Copy paste on my thoughts from another thread that I replied to. One of their concerns was debris/junk in each bag:
“I get rocks in many bags regardless of branded bag they come in. Some are worse than others. My experiences:
BGE has actually been one of the better ones, not immune from debris, but you had a bad one..
Cowboy is the absolute worst in my experience, guaranteed “filler” and scraps. Also, tends to spark a ton when lighting, need to wear a shield when lighting with a weed torch.
I rely on the xl Fogo and jealous devil as my 2 favorites, seems to be more consistent size with less “filler”.
Royal oak has been decent for me but almost always has a small rock or 2. Great value bag with great results.
KJ XL lump is decent, but the XL sizing of the lump is misleading as it comes with lots of broken down charcoal and dust and not consistent for size, usually has a small rock or two, but nothing that I would consider serious.
I have read many great things about B&B, but I don’t like it. I use a torch to light my charcoal and it seems to always snap crackle back pretty fierce towards me (like cowboy). About average filler with a couple of rocks in there.
I may be missing some other brands I have experience with, but those are the ones I can think of.”
maniacal_monk
Jealous devil has the most consistently good sized charcoal in my experience. But that said, every brand has bad bags of garbage JD included, just not as often as Big Block
agentoutlier
I like the Fogo black bag.
While I like JD and Fogo XL and the various other dinosaur size lump brands most of my cooks a I want smaller uniform pieces.
In my area FOGO black bag and JD are the same price at Home Depot so I usually grab a bag of each.
drummerboy2749
Meat Head
Competitive-Spend-89
Jealous Devil is my go-to. Similar pricing though… u get a 9kg bag from Mitre 10 or BCF for 55 bucks
iyered
Thanks team! This is super helpful 👌🏽👌🏽
Upstairs_Beyond3175
FogoXL is my strong preference with JD right behind. I will never let KJ lump anywhere near my grill again as I find it to produce a horribly acrid smell. I have tried two large bags of KJ Lump thinking there may have been something unusual about my first bag. Both times it ruined a cook and I ended up throwing both bags out. Fogo has been extremely reliable as has JD. I simply prefer FOGO XL as I have had good luck with price on large bags.
invisible-eskmos
Jealous Devil
Ironside3281
Here in the U.K. we can’t even get JD or FOGO, which sucks because I’d love to try them. Heard good things about them both. I’ve used a lot of KJ Big Block and out of about 20+ bags over time, only one of those hasn’t had big lumps throughout and had some little scraps in the bottom. A 9kg (20lb) bag will set me back about £26 ($33 USD)
Can’t get B&B, either.
Tried Big K and that was crap. Had loads of plastic “string”, rocks and even nails in the bag. Along with a load of pure dust and shite in the bottom.
I’ve tried Ranch-T and that was bloody awful. It was tainted with something nasty and pumped out horrid black smoke part way into a cook. Looking into the rest of the bag, loads of the charcoal seemed to have some kind of viscous residue oozing out of the lumps. Kinda made me think of creosote, not just by look but smell too. So I’ll never buy a bag of that again because it ruined a £70 piece of prime beef I was cooking.
There are some niche charcoal suppliers here that sell what I feel is overpriced for what you get. Big “sustainability” claims and so on. Then there are brands like Marienburg, etc. Also overpriced for the quantity.
This may sound weird to many people out there, but if I can’t get hold of some KJ Big Block for whatever reason, I’ll turn to these blue bagged “restaurant grade” charcoals that are readily available in many places. They’ve never done me wrong, burn well time and heat wise, and 90% of the time there’s decent sized lumps in them, for how cheap they are. A 12kg (26lb) bag will only cost me about £18 ($22/$23 USD).
We’re shit for proper BBQ stuff here, unless you want to spend daft amounts of money. It’s about time the U.K. properly embraces what I truly feel is the greatest way to cook that man has ever had. Pure, unadulterated FIRE!
George_Sorewellz
I don’t know what I don’t know.
All I do know is that I really like Royal Oak. I get good bang for my buck and I have become consistent using it. I don’t wanna tarnish my mojo. Have only been barbecuing seriously for a couple of years and I would say having gotten close to a hundred bags I have found minimal debris. I think I recall finding a rock once.
Advanced_Show9555
I have used Kamodo Joe lump charcoal in my ceramic grill for 7 years now. Recently the price on it has gone way up! I just picked up 40 lbs of jealous devil, it burns quicker and gives great flavor to my meats for a good price at Home Depot
weownthesky69
In aus that heat beads lump charcoal is good, price has gone up though
MindGames7777
KJBB has been pretty consistent for me. I’m just sticking to it at this point.
SpecializedMok
Don’t know if it’s the best but I use this. I also use Costco lump but it’s small and goes fast
GoneKrogering
I like Jealous Devil.
Also, if given the option, grab your bags from the center of the pallet. More likely to have larger more consistent chunks.
yerperderper
FOGO xl is the only one I use. Tried a few when I started out 2 years ago and fogo is the only brand my family likes. I use mild peacan, post oak or apple chunks and fogo is the only charcoal that ive found neutral enough flavor that doesn’t over power those chunks.
18 Comments
https://nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag
My favorite in no particular order;
1) blue hog
2) jealous devil
3) B&B oak
4) FOGO
5) KJBB
Whatever I’m in the mood for when I’m at my local hardware store.
I love jealous devil for consistency and value. Good size and reliable burn and value from Walmart. Below is a Copy paste on my thoughts from another thread that I replied to. One of their concerns was debris/junk in each bag:
“I get rocks in many bags regardless of branded bag they come in. Some are worse than others. My experiences:
BGE has actually been one of the better ones, not immune from debris, but you had a bad one..
Cowboy is the absolute worst in my experience, guaranteed “filler” and scraps. Also, tends to spark a ton when lighting, need to wear a shield when lighting with a weed torch.
I rely on the xl Fogo and jealous devil as my 2 favorites, seems to be more consistent size with less “filler”.
Royal oak has been decent for me but almost always has a small rock or 2. Great value bag with great results.
KJ XL lump is decent, but the XL sizing of the lump is misleading as it comes with lots of broken down charcoal and dust and not consistent for size, usually has a small rock or two, but nothing that I would consider serious.
I have read many great things about B&B, but I don’t like it. I use a torch to light my charcoal and it seems to always snap crackle back pretty fierce towards me (like cowboy). About average filler with a couple of rocks in there.
I may be missing some other brands I have experience with, but those are the ones I can think of.”
Jealous devil has the most consistently good sized charcoal in my experience. But that said, every brand has bad bags of garbage JD included, just not as often as Big Block
I like the Fogo black bag.
While I like JD and Fogo XL and the various other dinosaur size lump brands most of my cooks a I want smaller uniform pieces.
In my area FOGO black bag and JD are the same price at Home Depot so I usually grab a bag of each.
Meat Head
Jealous Devil is my go-to. Similar pricing though… u get a 9kg bag from Mitre 10 or BCF for 55 bucks
Thanks team! This is super helpful 👌🏽👌🏽
FogoXL is my strong preference with JD right behind. I will never let KJ lump anywhere near my grill again as I find it to produce a horribly acrid smell. I have tried two large bags of KJ Lump thinking there may have been something unusual about my first bag. Both times it ruined a cook and I ended up throwing both bags out. Fogo has been extremely reliable as has JD. I simply prefer FOGO XL as I have had good luck with price on large bags.
Jealous Devil
Here in the U.K. we can’t even get JD or FOGO, which sucks because I’d love to try them. Heard good things about them both. I’ve used a lot of KJ Big Block and out of about 20+ bags over time, only one of those hasn’t had big lumps throughout and had some little scraps in the bottom. A 9kg (20lb) bag will set me back about £26 ($33 USD)
Can’t get B&B, either.
Tried Big K and that was crap. Had loads of plastic “string”, rocks and even nails in the bag. Along with a load of pure dust and shite in the bottom.
I’ve tried Ranch-T and that was bloody awful. It was tainted with something nasty and pumped out horrid black smoke part way into a cook. Looking into the rest of the bag, loads of the charcoal seemed to have some kind of viscous residue oozing out of the lumps. Kinda made me think of creosote, not just by look but smell too. So I’ll never buy a bag of that again because it ruined a £70 piece of prime beef I was cooking.
There are some niche charcoal suppliers here that sell what I feel is overpriced for what you get. Big “sustainability” claims and so on. Then there are brands like Marienburg, etc. Also overpriced for the quantity.
This may sound weird to many people out there, but if I can’t get hold of some KJ Big Block for whatever reason, I’ll turn to these blue bagged “restaurant grade” charcoals that are readily available in many places. They’ve never done me wrong, burn well time and heat wise, and 90% of the time there’s decent sized lumps in them, for how cheap they are. A 12kg (26lb) bag will only cost me about £18 ($22/$23 USD).
We’re shit for proper BBQ stuff here, unless you want to spend daft amounts of money. It’s about time the U.K. properly embraces what I truly feel is the greatest way to cook that man has ever had. Pure, unadulterated FIRE!
I don’t know what I don’t know.
All I do know is that I really like Royal Oak. I get good bang for my buck and I have become consistent using it. I don’t wanna tarnish my mojo. Have only been barbecuing seriously for a couple of years and I would say having gotten close to a hundred bags I have found minimal debris. I think I recall finding a rock once.
I have used Kamodo Joe lump charcoal in my ceramic grill for 7 years now. Recently the price on it has gone way up! I just picked up 40 lbs of jealous devil, it burns quicker and gives great flavor to my meats for a good price at Home Depot
In aus that heat beads lump charcoal is good, price has gone up though
KJBB has been pretty consistent for me. I’m just sticking to it at this point.
Don’t know if it’s the best but I use this. I also use Costco lump but it’s small and goes fast
I like Jealous Devil.
Also, if given the option, grab your bags from the center of the pallet. More likely to have larger more consistent chunks.
FOGO xl is the only one I use. Tried a few when I started out 2 years ago and fogo is the only brand my family likes. I use mild peacan, post oak or apple chunks and fogo is the only charcoal that ive found neutral enough flavor that doesn’t over power those chunks.
KJ BB baby