FOGO Super Premium Oak Restaurant Quality All-Natural Large Sized Hardwood Lump Charcoal for Grilling and Smoking, 17.6 Pound Bag

FOGO is the single best general purpose lump that I have had the pleasure to use. In over 20 years of cooking on kamados of various types, FOGO outshines every other brand of lump across the board. FOGO gives me the size of lump pieces I want for my cooking, the product itself is dense and lasts a long time, lights well with essential no sparking, FOGO burns hot, and produces a minimal amount of ash compared to other mass market lump charcoals. Finally, FOGO has a very mild odor while burning that I find a real advantage.I cook on a large kamado, 32" across, and because of that my firebox is quite large. FOGO provides the best size that accommodates my kamado. The size assortment of this high quality lump is beyond compare. In my experience of using FOGO for a few years now is that the size of the pieces in the FOGO bag is on the order of 75% XL, 15% L, and 10% M. Of course there will always be a few small pieces and there is a minimal amount of dust in the bottom of the bog, but compared to other lumps I have used, this is a deminimus amount. The size distribution allows me to build a lump pile that allows for good air flow which translates to a lump pile that won't die out during long cooks of 12-20 hours. This is a real plus, especially on over night cooks!FOGO is some of the densest lump that I have used. This density is an important characteristic for me in that I get consistent heat from my lump over a long period of time. This high density also means that on those long over night low-n-slow cooks I know that when I fill my fore box with lump I have more than enough lump to last the duration of any cook. I simply don't have to ever worry about my fire extinguishing because the lump is consumed.For all its density, FOGO is pretty easy to light. Unlike some backyard chefs, I don't use a chimney to light my lump. Rather, I use a MAPP Torch. All I do is pull the trigger, point the nozzle at the spot of lump that I want to light, and 10-15 seconds later, I have a good fire established. Further, FOGO doesn't spark much at all. In fact, FOGO is among the lowest sparking lumps I've found. Some lumps spark like crazy and while I wear welders' gauntlets, lumps that spark like crazy manage to have embers that land on exposed skin and that's not on my Top 10 List of things to experience on a regular basis!It seems to me that FOGO burns hotter than other lumps and that relates to both less fuel consumed during a specific cook and the capability to really get my cookers up to high temps in a hurry. Getting my kamados to searing temps quickly is important to me as I have been known to use the reverse sear technique. His temps are also important when I cook pizzas on my kamado. If you never had pizza cooked on your backyard grill, you deserve to taste pizza cooked over FOGO. Unlike cheaper lumps which have a hard odor given off when burning, because FOGO has a mild odor given off when it burns. FOGO gives each pizza cook just the right hint of wood fired flavor. It doesn't overpower the pizza as other lumps can do all too easily.One of the best qualities that FOGO has is that it produces a minimal amount of ash compared to other lumps I've used in the past. I want to cook on my kamados, not spend a lot of time cleaning ash out of the internals of my kamados. If there is one thing I hate it is cleaning sh out of the cooker. While you still get some ash when using FOGO, its nothing that overwhelms you like other lumps. And in my world, that is a BIG plus!Finally, as I mentioned above, FOGO has a really mild odor produced when it burns. This is advantageous in a variety of ways. First, FOGO doesn't take over a cook and flavor a cook in ways the backyard chef may not want. The odor produced by FOGO is just a hint of oak. This means I can lay on a flavor to the cook as I see fit. For instance, if I want to lay on a peach wood smoke I can easily do that with FOGO since it doesn't overpower every other component of smoke I'm trying to achieve. I like to use a very mild flavor like alder on my fish cooks. FOGO allows me to get that flavor without any problems whatsoever. It's this ability to lay on the flavors of smoke that I want rather being confined to very strong flavors like hickory or mesquite that I really like.I've been using exclusively FOGO for the majority of my cooks in the last few years. I've never had a bag that failed to meet my expectations with respect to size, how hot it burns, ash production, or its odor. Every once in a great while, I'll stray off the FOGO reservation and try some other mass market lump that is on sale. I always come back quickly to FOGO. I can recommend it without hesitation.Give FOGO a try and you won't be disappointed. It is, quite simply, the finest conventional lump I have ever used in my years of backyard cooks.

I have used many different brands of lump charcoal in my Kamado Joe ceramic cooker. I began to notice that the lump of the previous brand that I was using was becoming smaller and smaller in size. I have always loved larger size pieces for my Kamado Joe. I heard about Fogo and had to give it a try.Upon receiving the package I was greeted at the door by a very large box. This 35 lb bag of charcoal is large, but still very manageable. After reading the reviews about the size of the lump in Fogo charcoal, I couldn't wait to open the bag and see for myself. After cutting the bag open I was not disappointed. I was very happy to find many very large pieces of charcoal, but at the same time a good amount of medium to large pieces as well. In my opinion, Fogo provides you with the perfect bag of charcoal based on the assortment of sizes of lump.I couldn't wait to put Fogo to the test. I filled up my Kamado Joe with extra large pieces in the bottom and a few medium to large pieces on top. I was curious to find out if the Fogo would take longer to start due to its large size, but to my surprise it did not! I lit a small amount of lump in the middle and closed my Kamado Joe and let it come up to temp. Once I hit 240 degrees I tossed on two racks of baby backs and anxiously waited. During the cook, I was extremely pleased to see that I did not have any fluctuations in temp. I did not have to adjust my cooker for the entire smoke and maintained a temperature within 5 degress with my stock Kamado Joe without any electronics or fans used to control temp. After 4 hours the ribs had exceptional color and perfectly cooked. The real test was the taste test. The ribs had a beautiful pink smoke ring and looked excellent. The taste of the ribs was excellent. You could taste the cherry wood that was used without any odd additional flavors from the charcoal.The next test was a high temp ribeye cook. I found that the large lump provided great airflow and made it very easy to achieve searing temps. After lighting the fire I was shocked to find that my Kamado Joe had reached 700 degrees quicker than ever before and I'm sure it would have continued going much higher with ease.From smoking low and slow to searing steaks at high temps Fogo lump performs excellently! I am definitely sold on Fogo and will not be using any other brand of charcoal in the future.