That cheap charcoal i tried almost ruined my whole cook

I grabbed a bag of Royal Oak lump from the hardware store in Columbus last weekend - it was like $8. Man, that stuff threw sparks everywhere and gave my brisket a weird chemical taste. I learned you really can't skimp on fuel if you want good results. Has anyone else had a bad experience with bargain charcoal?

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adam_nguyen75mo ago

Learned a hard lesson last month too. It's funny how we'll spend hours picking the right meat and rubs but then cheap out on the one thing that actually cooks it. Kinda like buying bargain bin tires for a nice car, just doesn't make sense lol.

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luna_clark385mo ago

Gotta push back on that a little though. My first smoker was a beat up old offset I found on Craigslist for like 50 bucks, rust holes and all, and it taught me more about fire management than any expensive rig ever could. I mean sure, a cheap smoker can be a headache sometimes but you learn the basics hard and fast when you have to babysit temps all day. Plus it let me save up for that expensive brisket instead of dropping all my cash on the cooker first.

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adam_hernandez5mo ago

Bargain bin tires" describes my first smoker perfectly, I bought it for $40 and the thing caught fire lol.

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