"Preferred" Pellets

whta

Well-known member
Messages
63
Location
Florida
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
OK, so I have ordered the 700 and it's ready for pickup (shipping). Looking around these threads, there seems to be no single best option when it comes to pellets, and I understand that, opinions are like hineys - everybody has one.

I have looked around the older posts, but to be honest, when you search something like "pellets", there is a butt load of responses. I apologize if this has been asked, but honestly, I did go through 10 pages before I got frustrated.

Here are some of the brands I have seen on the first 10 pages of "pellets": I would like to know your 3 favorite brands/flavors of pellets you would recommend to a newbie RT pellet smoker.
  • Rec Teq
  • Bear Mountain
  • Camp Chef
  • Jack Daniels
  • Kirkland Premium
  • Kirkland Signature
  • Kingsford
  • Pit Boss Competition
  • Traeger
  • Something really cool I don't even know about (Old School Reference!)
 
  1. Smoke Ring - super hard to find lately, but their Oak Hickory Cherry (OHC) is the best I've used
  2. Lumberjack OHC
  3. Bear Mountain Gourmet BBQ (OHMC).
Knotty Wood was fun to experiment with, but it creates some challenges with ash and "clinkers" that need to be cleaned out of the firepot.

Finding pellets without crazy shipping costs is often a deal breaker.
 
Assuming the above pellets are what you have easily available to you, I’d pick a top three of recteq, Bear Mountain, and Kingsford. But I also would not sleep on Cookin’ Pellets, Rural King, or Jealous Devil.
 
You are just going to have to experiment and find what you like. I have no idea what is available in your area and at what price. Personally, I can find Lumberjack for $7 to $10 for a 20lb bag at the local farm store so that is what I go with. I'm glad I can since they are one of the few that actually has a 100% wood flavor, most are only 40 to 60% of the wood flavor that is on the package. I also don't get into the blended stuff.
 
I haven‘t shopped my area to see what’s available yet, was going to wait and see what I would be shopping for
 
LJ favorite and Bear Mountain is available in my area but no consistent burn temp with them (cut longer, augar has a tough time with them) gave the BM to a buddy that has a Traeger.
Buy what's available in your area, need to find what works for you and your liking.
 
I admit to be biased toward Hickory, so my top 3 (in descending order) are Kingsford Hickory, Bear Mountain Hickory and LumberJack Hickory. These work well with beef and pork. For lighter cooks like chicken, salmon, etc. I sometimes use Bear Mountain alder pellets and a fruitwood like peach or apple in a smoke tube.
 
Kingsford Hickory is the one I like for a good smoke flavor. But they are nowhere around S. E. New Mexico this year. I called Kingsford a while back and said they no idea why there’s none around. 🙄
 
Kingsford Hickory is the one I like for a good smoke flavor. But they are nowhere around S. E. New Mexico this year. I called Kingsford a while back and said they no idea why there’s none around. 🙄
Have your tried Tractor Supply (TSC)? I think you have them in NM and they usually carry Kingsford Hickory. I just bought some at my local TSC last week.
 
I did but Kingsford said there there was no stores for 180 miles around was carrying their pellets. The lady on the phone didn’t know why. 🤨
 
I too have no complaints with the RT pellets that came bundled with my 340 purchase. Dependable cooks and low ash.
However, after this 200 lbs is gone, I'd like to experiment with other brands/flavors.
 
Same here. I'm very curious to try other pellets but I would like to go through the 200lbs (170ish lbs remaining) of RT pellets I ordered first.
 
Have your tried Tractor Supply (TSC)? I think you have them in NM and they usually carry Kingsford Hickory. I just bought some at my local TSC last week.
I was mistaken; TSC doesn’t carry Kingsford pellets. It was our local Safeway supermarket that had them in stock last week. TSC usually stocks Bear Mountain. Sorry for the misdirection.
 
My rule of thumb(because I have options around me) is stick around 50 cents a lb or less. The one pellet I do buy which runs around $1 a lb is the Royal Oak charcoal pellets. Those did heat up my grill faster and do give some charcoal taste but not like a Weber. So I buy a bag of the Royal Oak and use them for my pellet tube which I mix with wood chips.

Of the ones I've used, I really liked cookinpellets and I used to get a good deal (50 cents a lb) from a dealer near me but he was told to raise his prices by cookinpellets so I stopped buying them.

My go to after that was lumber jack. Happy with all their flavors - especially cherry. But Rural King by me stopped selling them for their own brand. I have been happy with them and really like their southwest blend. They sell for $7.99 for a 20 lb bag which is a good price. They recently had a sale for $4.99 a bag.

So it depends on where you live and what price. All the ones you listed I've heard good things about.

The one brand i've always wanted to try but not willing to pay $1 a lb is Smokering. Every person I've ever heard mention them loves them.
 
The one brand i've always wanted to try but not willing to pay $1 a lb is Smokering. Every person I've ever heard mention them loves them.
I was getting 40# bags for $30 out the door including the 8.75% local (rape) sales tax, but the local guy I was getting them from (former co-worker) got out of CA and so life got more complicated real fast. I'm kicking tires about becoming a dealer, but their parent company is looking for real storefronts rather than the "garage dealers" of the past.

If you can find Smoke Ring at a decent price, they really are exceptional. Decent smoke, high quality low dust, unbroken pellets, and exceptionally low ash compared to anything else I've tried. I still have a couple hundred pounds of a couple different types in my garage that I picked up so that my buddy didn't have to move them.

Smoke Ring price on places like Amazon is just plain nuts at generally $30 for 20#.
 
Personally of the ones I've tried, in order of preference

Bear Mountain gourmet blend. First ones I used. Good flavor, and my Bullseye ran consistent temps out of the gate with them

Sam's Club Smokehouse brand premium Hardwood blend. Similar to the Bear Mountain Gourmet Blend. Very consistent pellet sizes, none too long or too short. Low dust.

Sam's Club Smokehouse Bourbon barrel pellets. Made from old bourbon barrels. Unique flavor that didn't work well with all meat types. Wasn't good with pork IMO. Did taste good on beef.

Bear Mountain Hickory pellets. Had more temp swings with these on my Bullseye.

Treager Apple wood. Got these with a used RT-300 I bought locally. Good flavor on pulled pork I tried. Only used these in my RT-300

RecTeq premium blend. Very inconsistent pellet size. Had many over 2" long. Lots of dust in bottom of bag. Only ones I actually used a collander to sift out the dust with. These also came in an open bag with the RT-300. Flavor wasn't bad, but couldn't get past the extra long pellets, especially when I have read posts before saying RecTeq tells people with temp swing issues that they recommend not using pellets longer than 3/4 to 1" long. Definitely heard the auger breaking up the longer pellets when feeding. Only ones to do that
 

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