ziggy wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:Costco's had a steady supply of Cowboy brand lump hardwood.

Which location? I haven't necessarily been looking but I haven't noticed it lately (since pandemic) at Lincoln Park. I am now starting to run low and was in the Kalamazoo Costco the other day (Father's day grill trip) and they definitely didn't have any lump.

Niles

spinynorman99 wrote:

ziggy wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:Costco's had a steady supply of Cowboy brand lump hardwood.

Which location? I haven't necessarily been looking but I haven't noticed it lately (since pandemic) at Lincoln Park. I am now starting to run low and was in the Kalamazoo Costco the other day (Father's day grill trip) and they definitely didn't have any lump.

Niles

Thanks. None at Lincoln Park today.

spinynorman99 wrote:Costco's had a steady supply of Cowboy brand lump hardwood.

Cowboy degenerated into way too much dust and small pieces for us.

I have 2 bags of charcoal. I do grilling and i do smoking. I have a big bag of high quality smoking lump and I have the bag with big stuff and small stuff. When I am grilling, I pour into the chimney with the grilling bag and any big pieces go into the bag of smoking.

Tough times for my lump charcoal habit out here in the west burbs.

I haven't seen Royal Oak since May. Home Depot had Frontier last time I shopped there and it was crap. Lowe's had stocked Cowboy, which I can work with, until recent weeks. But now both stores are briquettes only.

I may have to drive the extra mile to check out Menard's or pay the extra buck to Ace. But for now, I'm working with Ridge briquettes with adjunct wood chips depending on the cook. #suburbandadproblems

Check Walmart for Royal Oak.

I saw lump charcoal at Gordon Food Service about a week ago. I believe it's their own brand.

I saw Royal Oak lump charcoal at Mariano's in Bannockburn today.

Ace, Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's in Tinley Park/Orland Area are out. This appears to be a perfect supply chain issue set in a spiral by Covid19 as it appears there is or was a manufacturing shut down, followed by demand. With everyone cooking at home, supplies running short. My local Ace says they havent had a shipment of lump or briquets in months. Add lump to aluminum cans, coins, yeast, Miracle Grow, Lysol products, and of course condoms.

I've mentioned this before but if you are desperate, firewood turns to charcoal in your Weber. You just have to plan ahead a bit.

I have been very impressed with Cowboy this year. In the past I thought it was very hit or miss, with a lot of small pieces, but this year, since they switched to the stronger nylon bags, it has been an excellent product. Good size chunks with minimal waste that seem to burn very hot. Finding it over the summer was difficult, but Lake Forest Hardware has had an ample supply recently.

-Will

For anyone interested, Costco (whose summer has already started) has big bags (34lb?) of Cowboy lump for $20-ish. They had a big pile at Niles earlier this week.

spinynorman99 wrote:For anyone interested, Costco (whose summer has already started) has big bags (34lb?) of Cowboy lump for $20-ish. They had a big pile at Niles earlier this week.

Mount Prospect (Randhurst) too.

Mettawa too.

Fresh Farms on Golf Rd has plenty of quality lump charcoal though on the pricey side.
$10 for 8/lbs. $20 for 20/lbs.

click to enlarge


Lump Charcoal, count me a Fan!

Indeed! But not a fan of that charcoal lighter fluid of course!

G Wiv wrote:Fresh Farms on Golf Rd has plenty of quality lump charcoal though on the pricey side.
$10 for 8/lbs. $20 for 20/lbs.

click to enlarge


Lump Charcoal, count me a Fan!

I really like that Nature-Glo, maybe even more than Royal Oak.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I really like that Nature-Glo, maybe even more than Royal Oak.

I do believe they are the same thing. Nature-Glo is the food service arm of Royal Oak. Buck a pound is pricey. Though maybe that’s the new normal.

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I really like that Nature-Glo, maybe even more than Royal Oak.

I do believe they are the same thing. Nature-Glo is the food service arm of Royal Oak. Buck a pound is pricey. Though maybe that’s the new normal.

Yeah, I know it's all manufactured under the Royal Oak umbrella but my experience has been that the Nature-Glo is generally much bigger pieces. It seems like rocks whereas Royal Oak has seemed like gravel, at least for some time now. Maybe that's just been happenstance.

=R=

It’s quite possible the food service lump is handled less.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I really like that Nature-Glo, maybe even more than Royal Oak.

I do believe they are the same thing. Nature-Glo is the food service arm of Royal Oak. Buck a pound is pricey. Though maybe that’s the new normal.

Yeah, I know it's all manufactured under the Royal Oak umbrella but my experience has been that the Nature-Glo is generally much bigger pieces. It seems like rocks whereas Royal Oak has seemed like gravel, at least for some time now. Maybe that's just been happenstance.

=R=

Real wood is way more expensive. I suspect we should assume lump charcoal will be more expensive.

lougord99 wrote:Real wood is way more expensive. I suspect we should assume lump charcoal will be more expensive.

Costco's still selling hardwood lump for $20 for 34lbs.

Great. What brand ?

JoelF wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:For anyone interested, Costco (whose summer has already started) has big bags (34lb?) of Cowboy lump for $20-ish. They had a big pile at Niles earlier this week.

Mount Prospect (Randhurst) too.

Costco Niles, today. Lots of charcoal, Cowboy lump and Kingsford. I can't speak for anyone else but Cowboy lump is low on my list and Kingsford is a non-starter.



There was also a Traeger roadshow display, for those that swing that way.

The last bag of Cowboy I had to get at Costco in a pinch was pretty solid. Mostly nice size chunks throughout the bag...but the last pound or so kinda worthless.

The bride was gifted $75 in Wall-Mart gift cards, off we go for Miracle-Gro Potting Mix. I checked the charcoal section and, low and behold, Royal Oak lump charcoal 15.4/lbs for $9.99. Not a great price though better than I've seen for a while. Half of what Fresh Farms Golf road was selling it for last week. I bought a few bags.

The downside is Wall-Mart, check out took 35-minutes, mainly due to gift cards, and they are ALL Self Checkout now. Worse done gots worser.



Royal Oak lump charcoal, count me a Fan!

Not quite as good a deal, but Woodmans has Grove lump 20# for $13.99. Plus a bunch of smaller size bags and brands for slightly under $1/lb. And Royal Oak briquettes 18#/$6.49

G Wiv wrote:The downside is Wall-Mart, check out took 35-minutes, mainly due to gift cards, and they are ALL Self Checkout now.

This time of year, there might be a separate check out near the garden/grill section with a cashier and fewer people in line.

I bought some Pro Mix potting soil at Walmart last year, only because they were the only store that had it in stock, and I did not see a separate checkout in the garden department. I ended up going to both of the Niles Walmarts. I had to make multiple trips there to get it. The first time I got there after I discovered Menard's was out of it, they were closed and it was only 6:00. They closed at 5:00 because of all of the rioting that took place last June in Chicago, and they did not mention anything about it on their website. I hate Walmart, and I only went there because the Pro Mix is the only potting soil I use and Menards was out of it.