Competition pellets

[NightHawk]

First let me said I still love my 700... I'm aware that Rec-Tec(q) got into that rediculous lawsuit and forced to change their name, then got bought by Kingsford which I believe is the root cause of my question. I loved the competition blend pellets by Rec-Tec and need more. Does anyone know why I cannot buy them any longer, nor any Rec-Tec pellets???
The web store only allows for some pellets to be purchased when you purchase a grill only. So what is an alternative to the original competition pellets? My brother is trying other brands and he now has flare ups, major temperature fluctuations, and generality a bad taste.

 

[jfrosty27]

I just got some RT pellets from Amazon a couple weeks ago. But they may just be clearing stock?

 

[Wslayer]

That's not right for a company selling pellet grills to not be selling pellets to the consumer.
Lumberjack or Bear Mountain, much cheaper also.

 

[Greg Jones]

You can still buy pellets when picked up at recteq-that’s where the Amazon sellers are getting theirs. They just don’t want to ship them unless they can wrap them up around a grill on a pallet. recteq continues to emphatically state they are not getting out of the pellet business, but who knows for sure. That’s the first I heard that they were purchased by a Kingsford. They did take on an investment partner, but I don’t think it was an outright buyout nor was the investor Kingsford.

 

[jfrosty27]

I read a couple of articles online saying that RT and Kingsford are in a “partnership” for pellets and consumer education opportunities. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Kingsford buys RT down the road. Kingsford is wholly owned by Clorox who surely have deep pockets. We’ll see I guess.

 

[Mastertech59]

recteq doesn't make pellets they are manufactured by another company and packaged using the recteq name. The recteq pellets are good but I've had great results using other pellet's that are way more affordable that I can get locally.

 

[Maule Guy]

You can still buy pellets when picked up at recteq-that’s where the Amazon sellers are getting theirs. They just don’t want to ship them unless they can wrap them up around a grill on a pallet. recteq continues to emphatically state they are not getting out of the pellet business, but who knows for sure. That’s the first I heard that they were purchased by a Kingsford. They did take on an investment partner, but I don’t think it was an outright buyout nor was the investor Kingsford.

I had not heard that about Kingston either. From the Kingston press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kingsford-and-recteq-spark-a-new-partnership-301161487.html

It sounds like a partnership where Kingston will join w/ RecTeq to joint market their pellets.

However, more worrying is this release about Northwest Equity Partners making a "significant" investment in RecTeq.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-pellet-grill-company-recteq-110000568.html

The way these things seem to go is the equity partners have a time line when they want their money back with a profit and the privately held companies usually need to be sold in order to provide this profit for the equity "partners". The combination of these two releases may mean RecTeq will end up under the Clorox umbrella with Kingston.

I went through this exercise when the equity partners in the privately held company where I worked needed their money back and we were sold to a big company. I spent two years after that apologizing to my customers for the gawd awful and expensive service along with lack of support.

Hopefully RecTeq can come out of this unscathed.

 

[Mastertech59]

I had not heard that about Kingston either. From the Kingston press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kingsford-and-recteq-spark-a-new-partnership-301161487.html

It sounds like a partnership where Kingston will join w/ RecTeq to joint market their pellets.

However, more worrying is this release about Northwest Equity Partners making a "significant" investment in RecTeq.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-pellet-grill-company-recteq-110000568.html

The way these things seem to go is the equity partners have a time line when they want their money back with a profit and the privately held companies usually need to be sold in order to provide this profit for the equity "partners". The combination of these two releases may mean RecTeq will end up under the Clorox umbrella with Kingston.

I went through this exercise when the equity partners in the privately held company where I worked needed their money back and we were sold to a big company. I spent two years after that apologizing to my customers for the gawd awful and expensive service along with lack of support.

Hopefully RecTeq can come out of this unscathed.

Things like this don't usually end well for the consumers. We all have to give it some time t see how it sorts out.

 

[Greg Jones]

The way these things seem to go is the equity partners have a time line when they want their money back with a profit and the privately held companies usually need to be sold in order to provide this profit for the equity "partners". The combination of these two releases may mean RecTeq will end up under the Clorox umbrella with Kingston.

Not denying that these arrangements can go south, but stating that recteq may end up under that Clorox umbrella based on recteq taking on a different investment partner is widely speculative and is not remotely the same as ’Clorox/Kingsford buys recteq’, which was what was stated earlier.

 

[fullhouse32]

The biggest thing I feel I personally can do is promote RecTeq. I have been talking to people letting them know how great RecTeq.
*today I had to make a quick trip to the ER to pick up something for my son. So this visit was going to cut in to my time to get things ready for my cook. As things go I’m there much longer than the wife said I would be.
I open the phone and got my Bull running so it would be ready for me. As we all know you get a lot of bings for the temp when your setting. The nice ladies/Nurses said you are popular. I told her it was my smoker talking to me. And the conversation was on.

So the bottom line is if we can help the company that we all enjoy, in the end RecTeq will continue to be the company that it is.
Also Buying Kingsford helps RecTeq I say buy Kingsford.
- I just wish Kingsford was easy to get around here.

My .02¢

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Are we talking about the RT "Ultimate Blend" white oak, red oak, and hickory pellets? I think "Competition Blend" is the Pit Boss branding.

I bought one of the packages where it came with about 400 lbs of Ultimate Blend. That was over a year ago. I still have several bags. But I mix the UT with LumberJack apple, cherry or mesquite for most of my smokes.

I've been very satisfied with the performance of all the Lumberjack pellets I've used. Im only using the RT UT pellets because I have so much of it. I typically blend pellets for each cook, depending on the meat type. I have buckets of pellets and just scoop out or pour some of this and some of that, either into another bucket or right into the hopper and just hand mix it. I've gotten pretty good at estimating how much I need for each cook.

If I learned anything about pellets over the past year of using my Bull, I think it may be that mixing in some (1/3) oak into cherry, apple or mesquite, seems to add some stability to burning temperature.

 

[Greg Jones]

I think "Competition Blend" is the Pit Boss branding.

Lumber Jack has a Competition Blend also, with maple, hickory, and cherry. It’s a nice blend, and once I burn up all the various brands and blends of pellets I have on hand, I expect I’ll only stock the Lumber Jack Competition Blend and their 100% Hickory.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Folks with first hand experience in retail marketing are already familiar with the term "co-op advertising". That's essentially what the Kingsford relationship is for RT. The terms can vary, but one company helps the other with advertising costs, sometimes money, sometimes mentions in their own ads (you may have seen Helsberg Diamonds mentioned in GEICO ads). Apparently the relationship with Kingsford is a "big get" in the bbq business. I sat in on a podcast with the owner of Pit Barrel Cookers who openly explained how he tried to get "in bed" with Kingsford to help promote his biz. He said they danced for a couple years, and in his mind, but that it was all talk and no action. Eventually he figured out he wasn't going to get even a kiss. He went from "strongly recommending" that his customers only use KBB for best results to admitting that he personally only used lump charcoal.

 

[JCWolfHeart]

First let me said I still love my 700... I'm aware that Rec-Tec(q) got into that rediculous lawsuit and forced to change their name, then got bought by Kingsford which I believe is the root cause of my question. I loved the competition blend pellets by Rec-Tec and need more. Does anyone know why I cannot buy them any longer, nor any Rec-Tec pellets???
The web store only allows for some pellets to be purchased when you purchase a grill only. So what is an alternative to the original competition pellets? My brother is trying other brands and he now has flare ups, major temperature fluctuations, and generality a bad taste.

To answer your primary question about RecTeq and their pellets, I am not sure if they are still making pellets. since the partnership with Kingsford. Which is fine for me. I never used their pellets and have only ever used Lumberjack. Competition blend and Hickory to be specific. I have never had a problem with their pellets, they burn consistently and have good flavor. Since I first started, I have begun using a smoker tube to add a bit more smoke flavor, it really helps out. Now I use the Competition blend as the fuel and then fill the smoke tube with whatever fits the meat I am smoking.

Just my $0.02

 

[mooncusser2k]

Folks with first hand experience in retail marketing are already familiar with the term "co-op advertising". That's essentially what the Kingsford relationship is for RT. The terms can vary, but one company helps the other with advertising costs, sometimes money, sometimes mentions in their own ads (you may have seen Helsberg Diamonds mentioned in GEICO ads). Apparently the relationship with Kingsford is a "big get" in the bbq business. I sat in on a podcast with the owner of Pit Barrel Cookers who openly explained how he tried to get "in bed" with Kingsford to help promote his biz. He said they danced for a couple years, and in his mind, but that it was all talk and no action. Eventually he figured out he wasn't going to get even a kiss. He went from "strongly recommending" that his customers only use KBB for best results to admitting that he personally only used lump charcoal.

Kingsford has been around for a few years. The way I look at it, if they wanted to own a grill company - charcoal, pellet, or otherwise - they would have done it long ago.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Kingsford has been around for a few years. The way I look at it, if they wanted to own a grill company - charcoal, pellet, or otherwise - they would have done it long ago.

i don't know if Kingsford wants in on grill making or not.
But company strategy and leadership changes over the years. A dozen or so years ago most of the pellet grill makers of today didn't exist. Not many people even knew what a pellet grill was. I recall when Terry Bradshaw came on the Tonight Show and peddled Traeger. Times change.

 

[Foodkid]

I use lumberjack 100% hickory pellets almost exclusively. Hickory goes with everything and it is just convenient to standardize on it

 

[Pops]

I just asked the same question as I have burned through my first bag this week. I like the Ultimate blend pellets as my wife does not like heavy smoke. If you look at the picture on the website they are clearly labeled cookinpellets . OR THEY WERE, looks like they took it down while reading this thread!
RecTeq told me you can buy at Amazon or home depot, which HomeDepot does sell the RecTeq brand for $35.00 per bag. Not sure if they stock.

Just looking for a pellet to keep my RecTeq and my wife happy. I have had great luck with the Ultimate blend, I don't understand why RecTeq wont sell pellets they recommend for their grill.

 

[SmokeyBones]

I had not heard that about Kingston either. From the Kingston press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kingsford-and-recteq-spark-a-new-partnership-301161487.html

It sounds like a partnership where Kingston will join w/ RecTeq to joint market their pellets.

However, more worrying is this release about Northwest Equity Partners making a "significant" investment in RecTeq.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-pellet-grill-company-recteq-110000568.html

The way these things seem to go is the equity partners have a time line when they want their money back with a profit and the privately held companies usually need to be sold in order to provide this profit for the equity "partners". The combination of these two releases may mean RecTeq will end up under the Clorox umbrella with Kingston.

I went through this exercise when the equity partners in the privately held company where I worked needed their money back and we were sold to a big company. I spent two years after that apologizing to my customers for the gawd awful and expensive service along with lack of support.

Hopefully RecTeq can come out of this unscathed.

My experience is when the big guy buys a little guy the little guy and his quality disappear.