# Lump convert question



## Diva Q (Mar 19, 2007)

I think it depends on the quality of lump. 

I only use Basques Lump. http://www.basquescharcoal.com I find it is better than the others and gives a very economical cook due to the fact it is maple from hard sugar maple. 

I recently did 50 lbs of pork in my wsm and I used only 2 chimneys and one layer in the grate and I still had some leftover.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 19, 2007)

You might want to try a few diffrent types of lump too. I am still in the process of experimentation of the diffrent types of lump. One thing I did find about the Royal oak lump is it does seem to burn out faster than most and sometimes you will get a bad piece that makes an awfull smell. I didn't notice much diffrence in my meat when I burned a bad one during a cook once, and had another bad one pop up when I was starting a chiminey. I also got a couple of free bags of BGE lump at a contest once that I have tried and it was consistant no bad pieces, but only lasted a little longer than the Royal oak. I'm trying out Cowboy right now because I can just pick that up locally.


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## Cliff H. (Mar 19, 2007)

Rockin Rooster said:
			
		

> I'm trying out Cowboy right now because I can just pick that up locally.



Let us know how you like Cowboy lump.  I have heard a lot of negative comments about it but it is readily available for me also.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 19, 2007)

ZBQ said:
			
		

> FWIW
> 
> I have also heard alot of negative comments about Cowboy.
> 
> One I have heard it that you can see left over boards from construction in the charcoal. I've never used it myself but that is what I heard over on another board.


Well I'll be contacting the company as well as my local distributer if I construction material in my lump since that stuff is typically yellow pine.


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## wittdog (Mar 19, 2007)

I like the Hump Lump and I use it to smoke and direct grill with...I like it for smoking cuz I like the flavor it imparts as opposed to briquets...the hump is a hickory charcoal.....


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 19, 2007)

wittdog said:
			
		

> I like the Hump Lump and I use it to smoke and direct grill with...I like it for smoking cuz I like the flavor it imparts as opposed to briquets...the hump is a hickory charcoal.....


Where do you get it?


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## Diva Q (Mar 19, 2007)

ZBQ

I was talking to Jean Claude from Basques and he says they do not have a distributor in Ohio as of yet however they do have distributors in Boston, RI, Connecticut, Baltimore and other areas.


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## wittdog (Mar 19, 2007)

Rockin Rooster said:
			
		

> wittdog said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I get the Hump from a restraunt supply store or from work....it's made is PA....


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## 1MoreFord (Mar 19, 2007)

ZBQ said:
			
		

> Ok, you use lump in your smoker but briquettes for indirect?
> 
> I must be reading it wrong, sorry.   I thought smoking was indirect. I know I must be reading it wrong.
> 
> ...



It's part personal preference, but think think of the difference between smoking and grilling as the difference in the distance from the fire to the food.  With smoking aka BBQ the food is usually further away from the heat.  With grilling even indirect the food is closer to the fire unless you have a really big grill.  I use lump for both direct and indirect grilling but don't do much indirect.  Mostly to hold food till the rest finishes.  I use lump to start the coal bed in my pit and then use mostly wood once it's started.

Both bricks and lump vary by manufacturer depending on what they're made of.  There's good and bad brands in both.


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## Nick Prochilo (Mar 19, 2007)

ZBQ said:
			
		

> Ok, you use lump in your smoker but briquettes for indirect?
> 
> I must be reading it wrong, sorry.   I thought smoking was indirect. I know I must be reading it wrong.
> 
> ...



ZBQ, I've used RO for smoking before. I don't think it's gonna burn as fast as you think if you control the fire. The biggest problem I've seen with the lump is you just can't stack enough in the ring due to the different sizes and shapes of the pieces. The kingsford is uniform in size and you can pack a lot into the ring of a WSM. With that, I usually use kingsford for smoking and RO for grilling. I do save all the leftover coals from both kingsford and ro and usually mix them together with more ro for grilling. I also use ro when I'm grilling indirect.


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## john pen (Mar 19, 2007)

Im using the Humphrey lump in the WSM. I seem to notice a nicer flavor (maby its just me). It does burn a little faster but not to the point of having to load it every hour. If I remember I got about an 8 hour burn with the lump. It seems to burn hotter, so my vents are shut down more and its a slower burn..IMO...


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 20, 2007)

wboggs said:
			
		

> Quite honestly Royal Oak is a superior lump.  I like it as well as B&B professional or even Wicked Good Pro (which isn't available anymore).
> 
> Check it out: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag11.htm


I guess I'm just really unlucky with the bags of RO I've bought. I only used 4 bags of RO last year and 2 of the bags had some bad wood in them that smelled awfull. I'm not saying RO is junk, but I'm not sure I would call it superior eigther.


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## Pigs On The Wing BBQ (Mar 20, 2007)

I go threw about a little less than a ton of Humphrey lump a year. I like the stuff. Wittdog told me about a place to get it about a buck cheaper than I was paying for it last year. That's going to save me some dough!


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## wittdog (Mar 20, 2007)

ZBQ when using lump in the WSM you need to be a little more careful placing the lump in....if you pack it in nice and tight and move some of the pieces around you can really fill up the bowl and not need to add more...


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## cflatt (Mar 20, 2007)

rooster I dont know how much luck you had with cowboy but almost every other bag I used had unburned furniture or flooring scrap in it. Sometimes it would be just a chunk, sometimes very large pieces. I switched to RO and havent looked back


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## Cliff H. (Mar 20, 2007)

That's a long time.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 20, 2007)

cflatt said:
			
		

> rooster I dont know how much luck you had with cowboy but almost every other bag I used had unburned furniture or flooring scrap in it. Sometimes it would be just a chunk, sometimes very large pieces. I switched to RO and havent looked back


Just starting to try Cowboy bought the first bags 2 days ago and haven't even opened them yet, but if I get any building material in mine I can promise this, The store I bought it from will likely no longer cary it and replace it withe something else. I'll let you know how it goes. As far as the RO I have probably gone through a pallet of the stuff over the last couple of years and those are the only 2 occasions I ran into smelly wood. That's when I decided to try other lumps. I hope you never find any bad stuff. I also figure every company ends up with some bads stuff slipping through sometimes.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 22, 2007)

You never know but the bags might have been contaminated sometime before I bought them. The local Wally world only had 4 bags on a pallet and I bought them out. That's when I got the bad wood. I still want to try some other stuff. I'm usually not convinced by some studies. I hope you never get a bad piece of wood no mater what lump you buy.


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## Pigs On The Wing BBQ (Mar 22, 2007)

For some odd reason I have found that RO only needs to get a little damp, then it STINKS like cat urine. I have used it in the past and a fresh bag from inside a store is ok, let it sit in the garage on the floor when it's damp out and the same bag stinks to high heaven. Evan if you dry it out in the sun dosen't help. Who knows why. YMMV. :scratch


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 22, 2007)

Pigs On The Wing BBQ said:
			
		

> For some odd reason I have found that RO only needs to get a little damp, then it STINKS like cat urine. I have used it in the past and a fresh bag from inside a store is ok, let it sit in the garage on the floor when it's damp out and the same bag stinks to high heaven. Evan if you dry it out in the sun dosen't help. Who knows why. YMMV. :scratch


 Well the last bags I bought were the last on the pallet at Wal-Mart so that is highly likely the problem, because that was very close to the smell it had.


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## cflatt (Mar 22, 2007)

I try to store mine in one of those large rubbermaid style containers, or even a deck box with a bag or two of some form of desiccant. you can order it prebagged or just order in bulk and pour it in a sock and sew the top closed. works great in your toolbox as well, i just throw in a bag or so everytime I get a package with the packets in it and toss the oldest ones away.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 23, 2007)

I guess I need to give RO one more try and try to make sure it has stayed dry. I never had a problem before that and did use a lot the year before. I just realized that BGE was made by RO and I went through a lot of that last year without a problem, so I guess you could say I actually used quite a bit of RO lump.  :? It is awfull easy to find here.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 23, 2007)

If it became contaminated it happened before I got it. I keep all my Charcoal in a couple of Roughneck 33gal trash cans with lids inside my shop.


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## Rockin Rooster (Mar 24, 2007)

Cooked a couple of chickens (sorry no pis, they didn't make it long enough to get the camera) using the Cowboy lump. I didn't get anything wierd in the bag, and it burned fine just a little fast. Cowboy does use the end cuts from hardwood floor manufacturing, so it's environmentally kind using what would normally be wasted, but it is still mostly dried oak like most low priced lump. This will likely be the last bag for me because it burns too fast, and is real ashy.


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