King's Mail Order Carolina BBQ?

Has anyone mail-ordered 'cue from King's BBQ in NC? (www.kingsbbq.com)
Is it any good? I'm trying to find a good place to order barbecue mail order for my dad, who's from NC but now lives in Ohio.
Thanks.

Hi Parker,

(this is a slightly edited version of something I posted in May on Chowhound)

I've ordered twice now from King's in Kinston. I thought their 'cue was good, but I see in recent exchanges on the Chowhound South board that some folks in eastern NC put King's in the second tier of barbecue places. The two places in NC where I used to regularly eat BBQ (Allen and Sons in Chapel Hill, where I'm from, and Wilber's in Goldsboro (halfway to the beach)) haven't yet jumped onto the internet market, unfortunately.

Two things to keep in mind if you order from King's: (1) the shipping charge is so high ($26, as I recall, for 2nd day FedEx) that you really need to order 5 pounds or so to make it reasonable. The 'cue itself is $7/lb., comes with a good bottled hot sauce. (2) I recommend placing your order by phone so you know that a real person has started the process of filling the order. The second time I ordered I used the website and there was apparently some delay on their end checking their email...

Today's Raleigh News and Observer contains a ranking of North Carolina barbecue places. A columnist there had asked readers to vote on the best place -- 85 different spots were nominated, but the article only lists the top 12 vote getters.

The two I mentioned in my previous post -- Wilbers in Goldsboro and Allen and Sons in Chapel Hill -- were #1 and 5, respectively. King's in Kinston didn't make the top 12.

#6 was Mitchell's BBQ in Wilson. Ed Mitchell was featured at The 22nd Annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party last month; click on this link for a great story by YourPalWill regarding Mitchell's BBQ.