Wicked Good Charcoal
Competition Blend

nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index      


Quick Stats
Date Of Review: June, 2003
Purchased From: Provided by Wicked Good Charcoal
Date Purchased: June, 2003
Price: $6.75 for an 11 pound bag.
Weight: 11 and 22 pound bags
Burn Time:
Ash Production:
Type of Wood: Various (See review)
Strange Material?: None
Scrap Lumber Pieces?: None
Smell: Pleasant mild smell.
Country of Origin: Brazil


Quick Links
Photos of Contents: Click Here
Other Photos, Including UPC Code: Click Here
Lighting Instructions: Click Here
Statements From The Bag: Click Here
Unusual Or Unique Statements: Click Here
Contact Information: Click Here
Other Information: Click Here
Photo of UPC Code: Click Here
Rate And Comment On This Charcoal: Click Here


Commentary


Update: We have received the following information from Laralee regarding the availability of Wicked Good Charcoal's Competition Blend:
"Unfortunately, the Wicked Good "Competition Blend" Lump Charcoal is no longer available to us. In March '06, the manufacturer informed us that they will no longer be harvesting the woods that make up the Competition Blend. "
To our knowledge, this charcoal is no longer available through any source.


This charcoal is already being used by the Executive Chef and his Head Chefs at The Harraseeket Inn in Freeport, Maine (www.stayfreeport.com) and they are reportedly very pleased with it because it burns forever, with little smoke (so they can add any kind of woods for flavor) and hardly any ash. Now that it is available for retail sale, we have prepared the following review.

This charcoal is made from wood in Brazil that comes from forests certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. (For more information on the FSC, visit the FSC website.

We opened two bags, one 11 pounds, the other 22 pounds. The size distribution was excellent, as you can see from the photo below. There were very few small chips and little dust. The charcoal has a pleasant mild smell with a hint of what we usually refer to as a perfumey smell, something that seems to common to charcoals made from tropical woods. We think this charcoal would be especially attractive folks who don't like much smoke flavor in their food.

Now, we come to the issue of lighting. There is a basic tradeoff in charcoal, how easy it is to light vs. how long it lasts. The denser the charcoal (the higher the fixed carbon content), the longer it lasts and the harder it is to light. This lump is quite a bit more difficult to light than other charcoals we have tested. Most charcoals rate a 2-3 in our lighting test (how many sheets of newspaper it takes to get the lump going in a chimney starter). This lump took 5 sheets to get it going. We further tested the lighting characteristics by lighting in the Big Green Egg as we would normally do when we cook. We took two pieces of starter log about the size of a small golf ball, buried them in the charcoal and lit them with the air vents wide open. The charcoal lit, but it took quite a while for the fire to spread to the entire load of charcoal. However, once it did spread, we had no trouble attaining 800 degrees to cook steaks.

Next we considered the longevity side of the coin. This charcoal is dense. Compare the size of a BGE bag holding 20 pounds, with a bag of Wicked Good Charcoal holding 22 pounds in the photo below. The difference is striking. To test longevity we did an overnight pork butt cook, loading the Big Green Egg up almost to the top of the fire ring. (We were also concerned that if the lump is hard to light, the fire might not spread to the other lump during the long overnight cook, and thus the fire might go out.) The cook lasted 13 hours, starting at 235 degrees, slowly climbing through the nite to 330 degrees. The photo below shows the before and after photos. Clearly this lump is going to last a long, long time and has no difficulty staying lit for a long low fire.

One other benefit of the dense charcoal is that it should hold up better than other charcoals to the abuse that charcoal often suffers in transit. As you can see in the photos below, this charcoal survived the long trip from Brazil to Maine to North Carolina with flying colors.

07/02/05 UPDATE: When we first reviewed this charcoal, we weren't weighing the amount of large/medium/small/chips and dust to see what percentage of the total weight each size was. However, today we finished off a bag of this charcoal and decided that weighing the chips and dust in the bottom of the bag would be a rather quick observation. There were 9 and 3/4 ounces of chips and dust in our 11 pound bag. This works out to 5.5% which is very low compared to other charcoals. (It seems that 10% is the norm for most charcoals.)

UPDATE: We decided to conduct one last experiment regarding the lighting issue. We used a MAPP torch to light the lump and found that a 90 second application of the MAPP torch got a nice small burning area going. After about 15 minutes, the Egg was up to 300 degrees. After probably another 10 minutes it was going 650 degrees. (This was the lump left over after the low and slow cook reported on above, so there was not as good air flow as there had been when we first burned the lump, due to the ash and smaller pieces left over.) 90 seconds is about 3 times longer that what we have read most people use to light their charcoal with a MAPP torch, which makes sense considering how much effort is required to light this lump. But, the MAPP torch does offer an option to those who want their cake and eat it too: long lasting lump and easy to light lump. Use a MAPP torch as long as necessary to light the charcoal in as many places as you see fit.

This is a great charcoal with excellent size distribution, mild pleasant smell and very long-lasting. As for the lighting issue, we suggest using a MAPP torch or a chimney starter to get the lump started if you are in a hurry. Once you get it started, it burns well and can handle both the requirements of low and slow as well as high-temperature searing. We don't own a WSM, but we would think that the longevity of this charcoal might help metal smokers achieve longer cooks than they can presently achieve. (We'd be interested in hearing of anyone's results.) This charcoal gets our Recommended rating.

To the left is the rating that our readers have given this charcoal. If you have used this charcoal and would like to rate it and leave your comments, Click Here

To view reader ratings of all brands, Click Here.


Other Information

A bit more information on the composition of the charcoal and the lighting characteristics. This charcoal is a mix of different types of wood. Some of the species are easier to light than others. The easiest to light species happens to be all in small pieces. If you sort this lump, say for a low and slow cook, you will find that the small pieces of charcoal will light fairly easily, while the medium and large pieces will be difficult to light. The blend of species is intended to aid in the lighting of the charcoal, so sorting it will affect how easy it is to light.

Also, the species of wood which makes up most of the smaller pieces is more prone to spark than the other species, so if you burn only small pieces, you may notice more sparking than normal.


Unusual or Unique Statements

None.


Statements From The Bag

"Hardwood Lump Charcoal", "All Natural Lump", "Competition Blend", "Product Of Brazil", "100% Hardwood Charcoal", "No Chemicals, Additives or Fillers", "Burns Hotter, Longer and Cleaner"


Lighting Instructions

"Lighting Your Wicked Good Charcoal: Use a Charcoal Chimney Starter"

"Because of the density of this charcoal, lighting is a bit more challenging! For easier lighting, place a generous amount of kindling inside your charcoal chimney starter BEFORE filling it with charcoal. For additional lighting instructions, go to wickedgoodcharcoal.com."


Photos Of Contents

This is the contents of the bag. The ruler has 1 inch markings on it.


Here is a closer view.


Here are the larger pieces we found in the bag.


Here the bag is sorted into large, medium and small stuff. The pile on the far
right was small chips and powder, not that much. As you can see, the biggest part
of the bag was the large and medium pieces.


Other Photos

This is how the bags arrived.

To see how dense this charcoal is (and therefore, how long-lasting it will be when
you burn it), check out how big a bag it takes to hold 20 pounds of BGE lump vs. how
small a bag it takes to hold 22 pounds of Wicked Good Charcoal.

Here is a view of this charcoal before and after a 13 hour cook that started out
at 235 degrees and finished at 330 degrees. As you can see, the lump hasn't burned
down to the top of the firebox. This lump has another 24-30 hours of low and slow
cooking left in it.

On the left, below, is a view of the same charcoal after the 13 hour
butt cook, an 800-degree steak cook, and a 1.5 hour 400-degree cook of
chicken and potatoes. On the right, is the same charcoal after all that
previous cooking and then after another 6 hours of 250-degree babyback rib
cooking. As you can see, the lump is still above the holes in the firebox!

How long can this stuff last? On the left, below, is a view of the same
charcoal after the 13 hour butt cook, the 800-degree steak cook, the 1.5 hour
400-degree cook of chicken and potatoes, the 6 hours of 250-degree babyback rib
cooking and now a further 10 hours of 275 degree brisket! The lump is just about
even with the holes in the firebox! The photo on the right is after all that
plus another 1.5 hours doing some pork chops and potatoes at 350 degrees.

WE GIVE UP!! On the left, below, is a view of the same charcoal after (this is
getting to be like "The 12 Days Of Christmas", isn't it?) the 13 hour butt cook,
the 800-degree steak cook, the 1.5 hour 400-degree cook of chicken and potatoes,
the 6 hours of 250-degree babyback rib cooking, 10 hours of 275 degree brisket, 1.5
hours of cooking some porkchops and potatoes at 350 degrees, and now after another
45 minutes at 500 degrees to cook sausages! The lump is now getting just below the
holes in the firebox!


UPC Code

Here is a photo of the UPC code on the bag:


Contact Information

Imported into the US and sold by:
Larry and Lee Ann Johnson
Laralee Distributors, LLC
West Newfield Village, Maine 04095

www.wickedgoodcharcoal.com


About This Review

If you are unfamiliar with our testing procedures, you may wish to read How We Review Lump Charcoal before reading this review. Also, you can read How We Score Lump Charcoal to learn about our scoring system.

Prices listed in our reviews are current as of the date of the review. We do not attempt to keep these prices current.

The conclusions and final rating given any charcoal are based upon the opinion of the author. We recommend that you use our rating only as a guide. You should read the entire review and decide what is important to you in making any buying decision.

Performance ratings are designated with stars, 1 star being the worst and 5 stars being the best:

= Performance is Far Below Average
= Performance is Below Average
= Performance is Average
= Performance is Above Average
= Performance is Far Above Average

Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon at the bottom right corner. Click on the icon to display the image in a new larger window. If you wish to ensure that you are seeing photographs the same way that we are seeing them, we recommend that you calibrate your monitor to a PC-normal gamma of 2.2. You should be able to see the difference between blocks A, B and C below, as well as the difference between blocks 3, 4 and 5.

  

This review is protected by Copyright and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. You can use the "Email The Whiz" link at the bottom of any of our webpages to contact us about using material from this review.


nakedwhiz.com       Home       Lump Review Index       Search Our Site       Email The Whiz       Listen To Whizcast       Buy Whiz Gear       Privacy Policy
All Contents ©2001, 2023 The Naked Whiz

You can support this website by shopping at The Naked Whiz Website Store and Amazon.com