Royal Oak Briquettes--Awful

[tominwi]

Royal Oak briquettes were on sale so I bought two bags. They work fine for charcoal grilling but not for smoking. They have trouble burning with a limited air supply. Needless to say I had a very difficult time regulating the temp.

So back to Kingsford briquettes or a lump charcoal.

[thisisside5]

Doh! I have 4 bags of Royal Oak I bought on sale. Gee, their lump has performed OK for general use. Have you tried Royal Oak lump for smoking?
I just ordered the Smokenator, so I haven't had a chance to try it out with anything yet.

Thanks for the heads up!

[thisisside5]

I tried some of the Royal Oak briquettes last night under some steaks. Loading the starter chimney, they felt clammy – almost moist. I pulled out some Kingsford and some lump for a comparison. The Royal Oak did feel moist. I opened another bag and they also felt damp. They looked a little beat up, too. All of these are stored side by side off the ground in the garage (quite dry), so I don't think moisture somehow singled out the Royal Oak briquettes.

The Royal Oak took more than 5 minutes longer to ash over, but they cooked OK otherwise. The steaks were great.

I will say that Royal Oak lump charcoal has worked just fine for me, but I'll steer clear of the Royal Oak briquettes.

[Don Thompson]

I will do a test on the Royal Oak briquettes one of these days. I just have to find some.
Don

[jmalt31]

I still have a bag left I do not like them either. I have been slowly mixing them in with the kingsford charcoal briquettes just to get rid of them. I throw a few in each chimney I start.

[bigsteve]

I can get Royal Oak briqs cheap here. But they don't burn as hot, or last as long as regular Kingsford and they make WAY more ash. Even though I prefer RO a little, it's not worth the extra stuff that goes with it, and even though it's cheaper, no money is really being saved.

[voyager]

Old thread but I was searching and found it. Just recently got a WSM 18.5" (with apologies offered to smokenator fans ) and used some RO (cheapest by half that I could find for a first smoke as I have only grilled in the past--never smoked).

Used half a bag of RO and temps in the smoker (used once so basically unseasoned) maintained at 225o (dome) for 8 hr. About 1/3 of the half bag was still left on the grate. I used a chimney to start them off.

No problem using this briquette brand for low and slow for me.

Just in case someone else found this and was swayed against RO, I wanted to add my 2c.

Len

[BB-Kuhn]

I'm a fan. Never noticed any downsides compared to kingsford and it is usually a bit cheaper. Their lump is quite good as well.