Time to get serious about a new smoker.

[Drunk Tank]

Looks outstanding. Do you inject your brisket?

Did four racks of spares today with a big pan of DT beans on the Stumps. Turned out great.

I did not inject. I rubbed with the black ops the night before the cook, wrapped it and let it sit in the fridge over night.

[Green Monstah]

Looks delicious, DT.

It sounds like DDD and JL are kingsford comp-only. Is this because the normal kingsford has chemicals in it, or is it for the additional heat benefits?

Any of you guys tried Royal Oak Hardwood Lump charcoal? It got some decent reviews on Barbecuebrethren and is both a decent price and readily available at WalMart.

[TripletDaddy]

i went with Kingsford Comp because most of the cabinet forums went with that. It does provide some really nice heat without making a mountain of ash and also doesnt impart a strong flavor, so I like that. Not as ubiquitous as blue, but you can still find it pretty easily.

I've never tried lump. Reviews were mixed for gravity feed smokers due to potential bridging issues (lump getting stuck in the middle of the chimney) so I didnt bother. That being said, lump is pretty popular so not sure how serious the bridging issue really is. Royal, Stubbs, Kamado, Frontier, Bayou...loads of brands and yes it tends to be inexpensive. It also tends to have random pieces of nails or rocks in it, so achtung!

[Moliere]

I've used lump in my smoker. It worked just fine, burned hotter than normal K charcoal and left less ash. The temps were a bit harder to stabilize.

I generally use lump when grilling as I find it much better for direct heat than pretty much anything else.

[Drunk Tank]

Kingsford Comp uses a different binder to hold the briquettes together. But like everything else, some people love it, some people hate it. I have used Royal Oak lump and I like it a lot. You do need to sift through the bag though. You'll never know what you'll find. My last bag, as I was dumping the lump into the charcoal chute, I heard a loud metal to metal clanking sound. I found this when I emptied the charcoal chute:



Then, when I was using the Trader Joe's 100% Hardwood, something caught my eye as I was pouring charcoal into the chimney to light it:



100% hardwood charcoal, be it lump or briquettes are made from hardwood scrap lumber, usually sourced from work sites, cabinets builders, etc. For the most consistency, I think Kingsford is probably the best. That being said, I like the flavor that Royal Oak lump imparts on the food compared to Kingsford.

I think my problem with the Trader Joes charcoal is it becomes very brittle after it is heated up as the binder loses its ability to hold the compressed charcoal dust in its shape. I think this was the case in my smoker. When I dumped the burning charcoal down the chute, and then dumped unlit charcoal on top of the burning charcoal, it broke all the lit coals into tiny pieces/dust. This compressed everything at the bottom of the chute and prevented air from circulating and igniting the remaining charcoal.

I am still not averse to using lump, I'll just have to make sure I break the big pieces into smaller pieces to eliminate bridging.

[Drunk Tank]

JL & DDD,

Do you get a lot of moisture/creosote build up on the top door of the charcoal chute?

[old_gregg]

JL & DDD,

Do you get a lot of moisture/creosote build up on the top door of the charcoal chute?

no, they use baby powder

[Joe Public]

I've read that recent gravity-feed smokers have added a slight flare to the chute to reduce the risk of bridging.

[Jeff Lebowski]

JL & DDD,

Do you get a lot of moisture/creosote build up on the top door of the charcoal chute?

Yes. Sorry we should have warned you. You need a layer of foil here.

[TripletDaddy]

Yes. Sorry we should have warned you. You need a layer of foil here.

I've used foil on mine since day 1. My charcoal chute lid is clean as a whistle!

[Donuthole]

I've used foil on mine since day 1. My charcoal chute lid is clean as a whistle!

So it's basically covered in dried saliva. Got it.

[TripletDaddy]

So it's basically covered in dried saliva. Got it.

Saliva contains Antbacterial properties that contain surprisingly fewer germs than one may assume

[Joe Public]

I just saw Kamado Joe cookers at Costco.

[ERCougar]

I just saw Kamado Joe cookers at Costco.

How much?

[Joe Public]

How much?

I didn't get close enough to see. They had three sizes, though. They had some branded lump charcoal, too.