So, it's been about 6 years since we last reviewed Cowboy Charcoal. That was back in the day when Cowboy Charcoal was made from millwork scraps such as molding and flooring cutoffs. We had a sort of fondness for that charcoal because it was good for some things that just made it convenient to have a bag of Cowboy around. Low ash, low smoke, easy to light and uniformity of size were all useful characteristics. However in the past several years, (allegedly due to the lack of millwork scrap caused by the downturn in the housing market) they switched to using regular wood for their feedstock. So, here we are ready to review this latest incarnation. We have no clue as to what type of wood this is made from, but it comes from Mexico.
When we dumped the charcoal on the ground for sorting, we immediately could tell that much of the charcoal was not completely carbonized. You can see photos down below that look as if they were carbonized very little. Little of the charcoal had the normal clinking sound of wood that's been converted to charcoal. We'll have more to say about this in a bit. You can see from the following table that there was a reasonably good distribution of sizes. The 10.6% chips and dust was average compared to other brands. We did find a few strips of plastic in the charcoal, and you can see a photo of that down below, also.
| Large |
3.6 pounds |
15.8% |
| Medium |
8.4 pounds |
40.7% |
| Small |
6.8 pounds |
32.9% |
| Chips/Dust |
2.2 pounds |
10.6% |
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| Total |
21.0 pounds |
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When it came to starting the charcoal, it took 3.5 sheets of newspaper in our chimney starter test which is better than average compared to other brands we have tested. While the charcoal was starting there was some mild sparking, but nothing to be concerned about. The smoke was very woodsy and relatively strong. Again more on this later.
The maximum temperature test was the high point of our testing of this charcoal. It burned at around 1050°F which is very high compared to other brands. There was very little sparking and no popping while the charcoal was coming up to temperature or while it was roaring away.
Next was the burn time test. The bag says that this charcoal is now longer burning. Of course, this begs the question, "Longer than what?". If we use the obvious comparison which is to their previous charcoal, well, it missed the mark. The old charcoal burned an hour longer than this version, and this version's burn time was low compared to other brands. We use a MAP-Pro torch to start the fire and there was very little sparking and no popping while we were applying the torch.
Our last test is of course the ash that is produced and Cowboy Charcoal produced an appalling amount of ash. This brand produced the highest amount of ash of any brand of lump charcoal we have ever tested. It could actually be an issue for an overnight cook.
Back to the smoke. Cowboy Charcoal appears to be not fully carbonized, a fair amount of it appearing almost like wood. Well, this shows up in the low burn time and it REALLY showed up in the quantity of smoke it produces. It actually behaves somewhat like a wood fire as much as a charcoal fire. When doing the burn time test, we use a BBQ Guru device to bring the fire up to 400°F and the cooker was smoking like a chimney while the fire spread. The fire was very slow to spread and come up to temperature. When it did get to 400°F, the smoke was somewhat reduced, but the smoke did not dissipate until the fire had been burning for hours. Even then, the smell of the smoke was quite pervasive around the cooker. There's no two ways about it, this charcoal is smokey!
So, Cowboy charcoal does burn hot and is easy to light, but its burn time is below average, the ash produced is enormous and the distribution of sizes is only average. And then you have the smoke. We can see the smoke being a real turn off for many cooks. We can only give this charcoal our Average rating.
Note that there is an intriguing section on the Cowboy web site listing a product called "Cowboy Gold Premium Hardwood Lump Charcoal". The description sounds like this is similar if not the same as the original Cowboy Charcoal from long ago. We will try to find some and do a review when we do.
