Have you thought about doing a high temp test? To see which ones can get the hottest and maintain that temp? I have found a lot of variance in brands. Thanks for posting.
Re: high temp...I LOVE grilling fresh swordfish on my Traeger, and have finally found the best results are at highest temp I can get, ~°400, sometimes higher if I clean out the grill first...(never do 🙄)... ....@ about 6 to 7 minutes per side...I still taste smoke, but not so much that it overpowers the delicate taste of the swordfish.
I exclusively use lumberjack and have been very happy with them. One thing you didn't mention was the diameter of the pellets. To my knowledge only Lumberjack and Smoke Ring use a smaller diameter pellet which is less likely to cause auger jams. I'm not sure what, if any impact the diameter has on flavor.
A group of us did a similar test about a year ago to settle a bet with a friend that said Traeger were the best because they were so expensive. We used the same brands you did plus just a bag of heating pellets.We did 3 cooks 1 with Hickory on meatloaf, 1 with Apple and BB pork ribs and last Cherry on chicken quarters. The heating pellets were used on all 3 as well. With 6 similar smokers (Pit Boss, Camp Chef and Traeger) and 3 separate cooks our results were the same as yours with Lumberjack being the clear blind test winner amongst 10 judges in all three cooks...and the High priced Traeger dead last, even lower than heating pellets on meatloaf. Wish we would have taped it like you did Thanks for taking the time to do it.
The heating pellets were used to answer the question,"does it really matter what you use "smoke is smoke" I can assure everyone out there IT DOES MATTER!!!! Everyone who tasted the food with heating pellets agreed, not all smoke is good smoke!
😱😲...heating pellets on food ? It's NOT all about just smoke, it's about chemical binders and wax being used to bind those heating pellets, and mixes that include pines and furs to attain heat....that's why there's a class called "Food-Grade Pellets," i.e. safe to ingest....
The best pellet to use is the one you are happy with. If you get the results you want with your food then those pellets are fine. Cost is going to be a factor for some people and can’t be discounted. Availability is going to be a factor with some people. I am in Canada, i have had a pellet grill for 8 years. In the beginning finding pellets was difficult and expensive. I used what I could find and made do. I finally found a supplier that offered a “blended” pellet of Maple, Hickory, Oak and another hardwood I can’t recall. Instead of paying $20-30 for a 20lb bag I could get these for $7 / 40lb bag if ordered in bulk. People argued that they were “heating” pellets and were full of filler simply because they didn’t cost $40-50 a bag. Well nowadays pellet grills are the “in” thing and pellet suppliers are jumping on the bandwagon to get their share of the profits. That $7 bag is now $17 and because it is branded as “Competition Blend” all of a sudden they are no longer slagged off as “heating pellets”. My main point here is “cooking pellets” is a marketing ploy, Find a pellet that fits your budget and gives you the results you can enjoy. If it is a hardwood pellet without filler you can use it to cook. All this is just my opinion of course, if you want to spend more for so called better pellets enjoy.
Too bad 90% of pellets sold are mixed wood species. Lumberjack 100% Hickory is the only pellet I've used that gives me good smoke flavor cooking at 275F. Bear Mountain is my 2nd favorite, but I have to cook at 225F to get good smoke.
They are all 100% hardwood. Nobody uses soft wood to make pellets. It just depends on how the hard woods are blended. Good Lord you think they are using pine or cedar?
@@998828k no . Do your own research. Different companies use additives in the wood to preserve the wood and prevent moisture. Those are not 100 percent hardwood. Don’t comment at me when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
@@TylerHankss 100% hardwood implies no softwoods or fillers. I have not seen a pellet brand (for pellet grills) that does not use 100% hardwood. Additives that preserve the pellets do not decrease the amount of smoke the wood produces. The smoke flavor comes from the lignins breaking down in the hardwood from the heat. Oak and alder (hardwoods), which is used in almost every inexpensive pellet brand, has a very mild smoke flavor due to both hardwoods having less lignin than hickory or mesquite woods. These brands use oak and alder and add “flavor” that changes the smoke taste to match other hardwoods. It does not increase or decrease the amount of smoke flavor the pellet produces. It just changes the flavor profile. This is why more expensive pellet brands that use woods like hickory (hardwood),for example, have a stronger smokey taste than the brands that use oak and alder blends. Maybe you should do some more research before commenting next time.
I just saw this review, and you did it right, 1526 bbq, you did it right. A second and third round was necessary as the first taste on a taste-off is coming on a fresh mouth, which will always be impressed with a delicious taste of smoke. I'm impressed with your noticing the need for further testing to insure a fair comparison. Good work, and keep it up.
I have a Pit Boss pellet grill but use Weber and Kingsford exclusively for pellets. Mainly because I can get the Weber pellets at Lowes and Kingsford at my local Walmart. I prefer the Kingsford as they have 100% Hickory and 100% Cherry which I like to mix. Most of those other brands are a blend of oak and whatever flavor woods it happens to be.
B&B. All the way. Cheap too. Like you I've been using pitboss and tregar, but I've tried all the ones in your test. I recently went with B&B and I immediately noticed a good steady blue smoke at 225 degrees and my first cook with B&B gave a nice smoke ring and great smoke flavor. I have no reason to try anything else at the moment. I bought a 40lb bag of the compitition blend for 15 bucks. Win win
i learned this myself the hard way. On my traeger smoker, i started with traeger pellets of course, then i moved to pitboss, bbq delights, GMG, B&B as they are the brands that you can (not easily) find here in Italy. Then...a big dealer here started their own production of pellets, they are called "Devils", using only 100% hardwood, not blended, and it was a true GAME CHANGER. No turning back. Their smoke flavour blown the competition away. I am very curious of Lumberjack, but they are not imported here so i am pushing this dealer since long time to get them. We will see... Nice video anyway!
All traeger pellets are alder wood with whatever oil for flavor. I love lumberjack pellets, camp chef pellets are awesome as well but the lumberjack pecan blend is my go to and never lets me down. Knotty wood almond is also very good stuff as well.
Lots of guesses lol! I’ve had my pellet smoker about 10 months and after trying many brands I’ve settled on Kingsford. Not the sexiest pick but I’ve found the different flavors to impart the best smoke and not a lot of dust.
Question which one left the less after taste. No I'm not cooking with dirty smoke ,i just seem to get more of saw dust after taste. I'm using lumber jack competition and tried hickory which was worse. thank ya a little late.
I use Lumberjack, Bear Mountain and I just bought some Weber pallets for like $4.00/bag recently. I've stayed away from the better known brand. It's nice to know that my local Walmart carries Kingsford pellets too. Great job on the comparison review!
I had no doubts on the outcome of those results. I swithed to Lumber Jack several years ago because of their superior smoke flavor. I'd say that Lumber Jack hands down, makes the best pellets at an affordable price. If you look them up on the internet, you'll find out they are very proud of being a "round log" pellet production. In other words, they use the whole tree, bark & all. They do not use debarked wood in their pellets other than debarking the red oak base wood in their fruitwood blends so that the fruitwood flavors stand out. All of their other pellets are whole log, full bark production. It's the reason their pellets stand out in flavor. The bark is where the majority of the flavor comes from due to the high concentration of tannins & oils in the bark. I'm sure the other brands that have darker pellets are probably also using some bark in their pellets too, which is why they also stood out in flavor. Gotta give props to those companies too if they are.
@@TheWpruden That's incorrect. In their blends, the only debarked wood in their is the oak so that it doesn't overpower the flavor of the primary wood. There's some residual oakiness from the cambium layer, but not much. The primary flavor wood is left whole bark to make it the prominent flavor in the blend.
I always do this with chops when testing a new flavor pellet. No seasonings at all. This way you get the flavor of the smoke and then you can season as you need for future cooks. Outstanding choice of making this video!
Just bought my first ever pellet grill yesterday and I've been researching all morning trying to learn as much as I can because I've only ever used charcoal or gas... after watching this review I'm glad I haven't bought any pellets yet because I was leaning towards trying pit boss or traeger... great video keep it up
I just bought a traeger Timberline 850. Home Depot only had traeger pellets so I got a few bags of “signature Blend”. On super smoke mode I get little to no smoke. I just cooked a poor mans burnt ends using chuck. Hardly any smoke flavor. I did a pizza last night at 400*. Excellent outcome. Fantastic actually, but zero smoke and zero smoke flavor. You’re on to something here especially for us new guys starting into pellet cooking. Keep it up. New sub 👍🏼
Any cook over 300°F the smoke flavor is going to be low. If you want a stronger smoke flavor for a high temp cook. Start your cook out at a low temp like 200-225 for 30 minutes or so to get some good smoke penetration. Then raise the heat to finish your cook.
@@larrybob8018 thank you. I did some ribs on my Trager 575 at 275 with the Traeger signature blend and i didn’t taste any smoke at all. Big difference from my green egg. Didn’t think i would notice but i did. Lol.
I remember when I bought my Traeger from Costco, I also picked up a bag of Traeger pellets (the orange bag), and I totally remember my first cooks (I made burgers, chicken, etc.) and thinking "Man, this isn't all that great" as it was not the smoky flavor I was imagining I'd get. It was pretty disheartening. I later read some BBQ forums online that recommended Lumber Jack pellets and was able to find a bag of their "Competition Blend" at Dick's Sporting Goods. Anyway.. my next cook was night and day and it tasted great. Even the smoke itself had an appetizing aroma lol.
I started out using Traeger pellets, because I bought my smoker 11 years ago and there weren't many choices. About 3 years ago I was introduced to Lumberjack pellets and I've never turned back. I pay $10/20# bag and I also think the flavor is much better.
I use bear mountain. Before that I was using traeger pellets .. bear mountain was hands down better so much more smoke flavor my favorite being oak. I get bear mountain for $11 for a 20lb bag which is the least expensive pellets I can find. Q pellets are just as good if not better and definitely burn hotter.
I highly recommend it. Lumberjack, Weber for Kingsford for all really really good. Oh and Bear Mountain was also really good. Those four Brands were Leaps and Bounds better than Traeger and Pit boss.
Love my Treager grill, but lumberjack and Weber pellets do make a difference. Only buy the Treager Costco bag when on sale because it is already at a deal. Add the sale to hard to pass up with the amount you get, but only use it for quick high heat cooks. Long cooks lumberjack, unless I am short and have to get Weber at a near by Ace. Only lumberjack I can buy is hour away. Have to plan when low.
Something else you can do, that I've been trying to do lately, is use your expensive or better brand pellets early on in the cook like when you're still putting Smoke on the meat. But after a few hours, I'm definitely after you wrap if you are wrapping, you can swap out your good pellets for something cheaper. At that point you're just using it as a heat Source not really a smoke source.
Great, thanks for the info. I come from where you use pellets for heating but are new to pellet grills. One test you can also do with the pellets are to put them in a glas of water. First thing to look at is witch one Is desolved first, this indicates on how well compressed they are. And second thing is after 24h, you can see in the water and also from the desolved pellets what they are made of. Small particles as dust is usually unwanted in pellets as they don’t contain that much energy and also they create more ashes. Dark particles are usually from bark or other parts from the tree that does not contain the same amount of energy either. Thanks again 👍🏻
All great points, thank you I thought about doing some extensive testing but figured what people really care about is which one tastes the best but maybe I'll consider that for my next round of pellets that I'm going to test. Thanks again smoke on!
Good video! Results make sense- Kingsford & Lumberjack are 100% hickory where the others are a blended pellet claiming to be "Hickory Flavored". Another interesting test might be matching up only 100% hickory pellets from Cookin Pellets, Smoke Ring, & Lumberjack to see who comes out on top.
I recently made the switched from PB to LJ pellets. You can really smell the difference on your clothes when you come back inside from tending the smoker.
I have used the following pellet brands: Camp chef Cookinpellets Smoke Ring Knotty Wood Lumberjack Bear Mountain Shuping Smokin Brothers B&B Jealous Devil Pro Smoker Griller’s Gold Smokin Brothers was the best.
An objective Blind Test which was repeated to confirm any trends. Very Well Done ! I'm ditching the Pit Boss & going w/ Bear Mountain because they're offered @ a local wholesale Chefs Store in the area.
Good job man, I literally listened to this as I drove to the store to buy pellets for the weekend when I am planning on smoking baby back ribs...very informative
When I first got my Treager, it came with their competition blend which I enjoyed. Lately I have been using Treager apple wood and am not in love. Based on your review I just tried Kingsford and am a convert. I have planted about 15# of Treager pellets in my garden. Should work as fertilizer.
A lot has to do with temperature of the grill and temperature of the meat. If you have it at 225 till the meat is at 135. It will absorb the most smoke flavor. Also if the meat is the coldest it can be with out being frozen then it will absorb the most smoke and make the best bark. Won’t matter what pellets used.
I’ve only used Traeger pellets in my Traeger grill and I have complained about the lack of smoke flavor. Based on this and other videos, I will be switching Lumberjack, Knotty Wood and/or CookinPellets.
Thank you for this. Great team work! This must have been much harder to figure out how to test, than to produce. But you guys did a great job and made it look so simple! I feel like I learned a lot. I just hope my taste buds are similar. But with the two of you in such close agreement I accept your results. Thanks again.
I stopped using Traeger pellets in my Traeger smoker over a year ago.... the three that i really like are Lumberjack, Knotty wood and Cookin pellets those three are the best in my opinion
I live pretty remote. That being said, I always order a pallet with 100 bags on it. I have been using traeger for 15 years. I have in a bind used pit boss. Maybe I just experienced bad luck. But the pit boss wouldn’t feed through my traeger smoothly and had constant plug up issues inside the auger tube. I will try to find lumberjack and give them a shot.
Thank you for this. I've been a traditional grill / smoker and have been considering switching to a pellet system. I think that this just won me over. Great comparison of each.
Yeah, it was my pleasure. Pellets make a giant difference so don't do like I've done for the past year and use the cheap friends. I would try Lumberjack for sure. If you can't find that you could pick up Kingsford or Weber at Lowe's I think is where I picked them up, maybe Home Depot. Thanks for watching man.
Considering Traeger pellets are so damn expensive, I’m surprised they ranked so low. I stopped using them a while ago because of the price, and inconvenience of having to drive twice as far to the closest store that sells them. I’m glad to learn I’m not missing out on anything. Thanks for the solid review!
Traeger are junk oak pellets with Oil flavoring is on it. No real Hickory or cherry or whatever it’s all OK with flavorings on it. I like lumberjack they burn nice smell nice taste nice one what your cooking
When I first got my Pit Boss pellet grill, I used PB pellets exclusively. I tried Traeger once and was pretty disappointed. I heard a bunch of people raving about Lumberjack pellets and so I found a local distributor and bought a few bags (Char-Hickory, Competition Blend, 100% Apple) I haven't even looked back at PB pellets. LJ pellets all the way!!! Great video and I loved how you did 3 different random sampling tests, instead of just one.
Yeah agreed. I will never buy Pit Boss or Traeger pellets again. I'm really thinking about throwing the ones away that I have now. Thanks for watching!
Agreed same story here I just got pit boss pellets just trying something different and they almost ruined a 50 brisket my fire would keep smothering out. I have always used lumber jack and never had an issue until I switched.
@@robertgilmore5205 The funny part is, I never had any problems with the PB pellets, so it was hard to switch to something else. The taste and flavours that came out of the LJ pellets is what won me over. However, I have noticed maybe a little bit more dust in the LJ pellet bag vs. PB pellet bag. Not a deal breaker for me.
I thought about measuring how much dust came out of each bag, but then I thought who really cares. If the pellets that make the best flavor also had a ton of dust oh, I really wouldn't care I want flavor. You're right Griffin!
I've tried different brands of pellets too in the past and found that LumberJack is the best and what I've been using for many years. I agree with Traeger being last as their "Hickory" pellets are Alder wood mixed with hickory oil.
...are you SURE Traeger is still using oil, even after the class-action law suit against them exactly for that reason ? I'd expect they'd stop that practice after "getting caught"? 🤔
Traeger changed their entire line of pellets over the last year or two. Really want to still go with that statement? In doing this test, do you know how fresh the bags of pellets are? I don’t mean they just came from the store. Our local warehouse hardware/lumber store was selling bags of pellets that were two years old. Said you smelled plastic chemical orders. We’re those trays clay that were holding the pellets? Or some other material? Would hope pellet makers are not including bark. Ok on wood for bon fire, but nasty residues if cooking. Prefer clear wood. Pellet grill mfgrs will know shear force on feeder augers. Their pellets made to not exceed that value. Could mfg A pellets cause problems on mfg B grills? Lots of unknowns in this video resulting in guesses.
No, I dont know how fresh the bags of pellets were. Yes they were in plastic containers when I smelled them - but they all were and Traeger were the only ones that had the smell on them. I know I ran all 6 brands with no auger issues. I also know I will never buy Pit Boss or Traeger again unless its for a pellet review video. - Give me a break, its a TH-cam video I made in my kitchen. Im not The BBQ Pellet Association of America. Do you work for Traeger???
@@tomgates316 greater just changed their bags to say 100% hardwood flavored. So you decide if they changed the recipe for pellets they have used for 30 years.
I've been using Lumberjack pellets since I bought my smoker a couple of years ago & been very happy with them. Almost picked up a bag of Traeger pellets at my local Costco the other day. Glad I didn't.
Up until recently I had been using Bear Mountain pecan pellets, which worked on beef, pork, chicken, and turkey, and also made nice thin blue smoke in a tube smoker. But Bear Mountain has apparently discontinued pecan! So I was forced to go looking for a replacement. GMG Fruitwood is a nice blend of cherry, pecan, and Beech for physical heat. It made more white acrid smoke in the tube smoker though. I think it would be excellent for pork, although I used it for brisket successfully. Last week I tried out some pellets made from oak Jim Beam whiskey barrels, and it turned out excellent for a 19 lb brisket in my Traeger Texas. The tube smoker flavor was not too acrid. When the hopper runs out of that, I have either Bear Mountain oak, or Knotty Wood plum wood pellets on hand. The Knotty Wood and Jim Beam pellets are available from Home Depot, with free delivery. I get the Bear Mountain stuff from Chef's Supply in San Jose. I don't use hickory any more because I find it hard to digest food with lots of hickory smoke.
I tried the Knotty Wood on a brisket recently and it was very nice. I saw a number of people online saying that they liked it best when they mixed the almond and plum 50-50, so I tried that first. I did not use a tube smoker since I saw another review where Knotty Wood pellets in a tube smoker added white smoke with negative flavoring. It turned out excellent, a very pleasant light smokiness with a hint of plum. Knotty wood is about to begin offering wine-infused almond pellets, which I am extremely interested in getting. Several years ago I tried pellets made from oak wine barrels and it was the best thing ever.
I accidentally stumbled onto lumberjack just picking them up cause they were cheap in rural king. I started using pit boss because they were easy to find near me. The lumberjack just are so much better in terms of flavor and even how clean they burn/the temps the hold. They just seem more consistent. I'll never go back to pit boss.
Well I just reviewed all my pellet purchases over 4 years and all were Lumberjack except one Bear Mountain, so I guess I've done alright! Thank you for this experiment!
I absolutely agree with the Treager pellet results... big disappointment there. I have since changed to all Kingsford whether Hickory, Apple or Oak blend... pellet consistency, clean burning and easy start, with good smoke results... consistently. good compare I thought.
Great video! I like the way you tested these. The first round of results was quite surprising. I agree with the other two rounds more. I’m a huge fan of Lumber Jack and Bear Mountain pellets. I haven’t tried the Weber and Kingsford yet. But I’m not impressed with Traeger or Pitt Boss. Especially Pitt Boss. I do love my Traeger grill though. Great test!
I've used bear mountain for awhile and was happy for the most part. I ended up getting a gravity charcoal smoker. Seems to be the way to go if you're chasing flavor but don't have the time for an offset
I have been Using Bear Mountain Hickory in my Z-Grills 7002b the Past year in my Hopper I also use the Other Flavor Woods from Bear Mountain in a Smoke Tube to give it a Extra Smokey Taste I Also used Lumber Jack Pellets but its a 200 Mile round trip to get my Hands on them
Yeah, I couldn't find any Lumberjack near me either. I had to order them off of Amazon. They were a bit expensive at about $35 for 20 lb, but I figured for the experiment I'd go ahead and spend the money. Thanks for watching!
I've had my Grilla Grills Silverbac for over 4 years. I tried Pit Boss pellets (comp blend) because Lowe's had them for $15 for a 40 lb bag. Never again. The only time I had a flame out was from Pit Boss. I switched exclusively to LJ and couldn't be happier. The mesquite is fabulous for beef as well as the oak.
B and B have been some great pellets for me. Still getting a great smoke and dark bark when using the low smoke setting on my Rec Tec. Great video! Thanks for sharing.
I just bought my first pellet grill over the weekend and was skeptical about what pellets to use. This just settle what i should get. Thank you for your time to make this extremely helpful video
I’ve tried them all . Im all in on the Basspro pellets. They provide Smoke through the entire heat range. Others drop off above 300deg. They essentially become heating pellets. Try em out.
Carlos- I’m currently using Cabelas pellets which might be the same as BPro pellets! The Cabelas puts out a lot of smoke compared to several others I’ve tried!
Great comparison! Can we have a follow up on the max temperature they can reach, how much ash they made, how much they cost, how prone they are to moisture?
Thank you for the video. I bought a pellet smoker about a year or so ago to save time and I was not impressed. Figured the pellets I was using were the cause. It was Pit Boss pellets.
Been using Bear Mountain on my Green Mountain since I've had it...recently I grabbed a bag of Traeger at Costco since it was convenient. For some reason the Green Mountain auger didn't like those Traeger Pellets and I was getting binding and wild heat fluctuations when I used them. After thinking my auger had broken I decided to try different Pellets (Webber) and no more binding or wild heat swings. I'm not sure if it was a fluke but I'm never using Traeger Pellets on my Green Mountain again...
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been trying different pellets for years, I was to the point of selling my Pit Boss because it never gave the smoke flavor like my stick burner. Now I’m going to give it another chance, thank you.
I agree about the 100% hickory Lumberjack, Kingsford and Weber. I also agree that Traeger and Bit Boss have a "chemical" flavor. Instead of plastic, I likened it to candle wax, aka paraffin. Like when you light up a presto log and in the beginning, it rolls a cold, black, waxy smoke that smells like paraffin. If you run out of pellets, then add more to your hopper, your ignition chamber gets overloaded before it gets up to temperature and it starts "rolling coal" and you can really smell that paraffin. Traeger says it is "100% hardwood blend and wood oils". I'm reading that as Walnut oil or Brazil nut oil added for caloric density, but without real hardwood flavor. Once it fully lights off and gets hot, the wood oil burns clean and the chemical taste mostly goes away. But it is no comparison to Lumberjack, that advertises that they use whole branches and stems, including bark and cambium, the sap layer below the bark, that has all that hardwood flavor. The heartwood left over from furniture making doesn't have any cambium / sap wood and has a lot less hardwood flavor. My favorite is Lumberjack with Kingsford and Weber tied for #2.
As a 12-year owner of an early Traeger, I have tried many many brands. While I do agree with your assessment of the number one and two position, Bear Mountain have been my go-to for years. They are made locally and are readily available to me. One thing that you might like to keep in mind if you decide to do a similar test again, is that there is more to a pellet grill than just smoking. I have found that lumberjack and BM than the lower rank pellets.
@@1526BBQ sorry, darn voice transcription. The Lumberjack and Bear Mountain are able to reach higher temperatures than the lower ranked pellets. In my uncontrolled environment testing, it seems like the Lumberjack and BM give me about a 50° hotter chamber than Traeger or PB when high temperature grilling.
Most pellets to my understanding are 70% oak or alder and 30% (Pitboss, Traeger, GMG, Bear Mountain ETC.) what they say. Made with wood shavings sawdust or what ever they van import for cheapest. I've also heard that Traeger adds oil and fragrances (Maybe.... I dont know) to get the natural flavor back. Lumberjack is made from 100% tree fiber. .Real LOGS turned into pellets. They are also 5.5mm in diameter we've noticed that you get less auger pop and jams and they burn way cleaner. Ive used them all and sell Pitboss and GMG I cant tell the diffrence between flavors. But when you use Lumberjack and sell Lumberjack you no longer use or sell anything else.
I can only consistently get pit boss or Traeger in my area. The Lowe’s around me has bear mountain but only one flavor which is the gourmet bbq and IMo they are weak af. I wasn’t a fan. I was able to find one bag of fruit wood lumberjack pellets just recently and it was good by very mild. I want to try other flavors of lumberjack pellets, however they are difficult to find outside online vendors.
Great test, sorry that took forever! But it confirmed what I already knew, Lumberjack to me is also the smokiest (especially the Char-Oak-Hickory.. Wow! LoL), but Kingsford isn’t far behind. My local grocery store stocks the Kingsford brand, that’s why I’ve been using pretty much exclusively that lately. My only complaint with Kingsford is that I can’t seem to get high temperatures with it, I’m not sure why.. I’ve cooked in 20 degree weather and still got 400 degrees, but I can’t seem to get higher than 370 with the Kingsford. Which is still good, it still does the job. But I like using olive oil to crisp the outside, and it works better with higher temperatures. But that being said Kingsford is still excellent and readily available. Thanks for all your hard work!
I just got a CampChef DLX24 and went with CampChef pellets primarily because it was either those or Treager pellets at 3 bucks more a bag. I smoked a 18lb ham for Christmas as the first smoke and used their cherry pellets and you could definitely smell the sweet smell of the wood and the ham came out very, very good. I also have a CampChef vertical propane/wood smoker and will say this pellet smoker left me with basically nothing to do except drink more beer lol. Trying their Hickory this week on some ribs I think.
The differences in color, oder, and flavor could also be attributed to where the pellets come from, and there are 18 different species of hickory, which could also be a factor.
I've been using Weber Hickory with really good results in my Pitboss 820. I don't recommend using these for a smoke tube though, because they make dirty smoke in tubes. Not sure why, but I get good grey-blue smoke from the smoker, but yellow-white smoke with the same pellets in a smoke tube.
To compare it would be helpful to research each brand for their processes and make up. Is it 100% flavored wood, if not what “filler” does each use, bark used. I choose based on if it is 100% flavored. Hard to find but not impossible.
I’m a Traeger owner, Timberline and Ironwood, and use several varieties of Traeger pellets. But NOT the hickory. It’s meh. Apple, cherry, pecan, big game blend (no longer made) alder, oak all have nice flavor but the hickory just isn’t there. When I’m doing hotdogs and hamburgers I use the Lumberjack Charcoal hickory blend. Give that nice hint of using a charcoal grill.
Traeger I also found to be the worst pellet. Traeger pellets are made of 70% filler wood and 30% flavor wood. For example, if you buy a bag of Apple Wood, it's 70% alder wood and 30% apple wood. Lumberjack for example, uses no filler woods. There are also rumors, that Traeger uses wood oils in the pellets. This may not be true, but they do hold a patent on the process off adding wood oils to pellets. Lumberjack, CookinPellets and SmokeRing pellets all seem to be of about equal quality, and all are better than Traeger (and PitBoss).
Great idea for a video. Thanks for taking the time. I didn’t think I should use different pellets, because of course Traeger says it’s not recommended. I think they say you could jam up the auger. I’m definitely going to try now.
I've heard that too, but it doesn't really make sense. Yeah give him a try I really recommend Lumberjack Weber and Kingsford, they were so good. Thanks for watching!
Actually, it DOES makes sense....but Traeger's not telling the whole story....there's pellets out there that have unprocessed chunks of hardwood in them, and pellets that weren't cut properly, so are as much as 2" long...and some grills that have a sort of "filter/screener grill" the pellets have to drop through to get to the auger...so those 2" pellets were clogging the flow when they couldn't make it through that "grill."
ack! buying my second bag of pellets and saw 40 lbs of pitboss at BJ's ... lol i'll use it, finish it off, and then continue on with Lumberback or Bear Mountain!
Ive been really happy with Lumber Jack. My Favorite brand is Grilla Grills but I can get a a 40lb bag of lumber jack from the local store a for the same price as a 20lb bag of Grilla Grills. Thanks for the video
I tried Bear Mountain because of the cost and like them a lot. I’ll look for Lumberjack. I read Kingsford makes a lot of ash and burns quickly. May try them anyway.
Thanks. Quite revealing test. I can't afford Traeger or Camp Chef and I have been using Lumberjack for a couple of years. I get them at Rural King at a very affordable price.
It would be nice if someone would chime in on the ones sold at Sam's. I find them less bitter than PB. There are many parts of the US where it's not practical to buy LJ or BM and the other higher-scoring brands cost quite a bit more.
Just got a bag of pit boss and there's plenty of saw dust and even chunks of wood and now even my traeger don't work properly, first time it ever happens in almost 5 years
Great video and test. I had the same issue with my Traeger. I wasn't getting as much smoky taste that I was looking for. I used Traeger pellets for about a year and a half before doing my own pellet experiment last month. As you noted, it's not easy to whip out meat smoked with multiple different pellet brands, unless you have multiple pellet smokers lined up. My experiment was conducted over about five days. I smoked three racks of baby back ribs cooking at 225 using only salt and pepper to focus on and enhance the smoke taste. I also compared the color produced. Pellets I tried Lumber Jack competition blend (maple, hickory, cherry) Cookin' Pellets Perfect Mix (hickory, cherry, maple, apple) Bear Mountain BBQ Mesquite Not a wood-to-wood comparison, but two out of the three had similar wood blends. I taste tested after each rack finished. Not side-by-side or a blind taste test. I wanted them to all be fresh when tasted. I was pleased with them all compared to the Traeger brand pellets. The Bear Mountain Mesquite had a strong flavor, goes better with brisket. They all produced great color, much better than Traeger, though the Traeger Cherry was pretty good for color. The Cookin' pellets were my favorite for flavor and color. Lumber Jack was a very close 2nd. They were also a better deal. Cookin' Pellets Perfect Mix come in 40lbs bags for under $40 while the Lumber Jack comes in 20lbs bags for just under $30. So for about $10 more you get twice as much when buying Cookin' Pellets. Prices vary across the web and shipping needs to be considered. The price I gave included shipping. Pay attention to the composition of the pellets. Some brands pellets are 100% the wood they list. Others use a ratio of flavor wood, i.e. hickory, cherry, etc, to non-flavor wood like 30/70. They say it results in burn consistency from one flavor pellet to another. Still other brands will use flavor oil (I've heard Traeger was called out on this). One new trick I learned while doing this test was to do a two-step rub. I used black pepper/salt before putting them on the grill, then started sprinkling my go to pork rub about two hours into the cook, adding a little more each time I mopped until I got an amazing crust. I did this on half of the rack because my girlfriend isn't a fan of just pepper and salt. She missed the sweet. This technique increases the smoke flavor on the meat (pepper/salt leaves more bare meat for smoke to adhere than the rub) while still getting the nice flavor of the rub.
Jim, thank you for all that insight into your test and its results. May folks have mentioned that I should try Cookin' Pellets (and a few other brands too). I think Ill do a second round of testing with these brands. Thanks again Jim. Semper Fumus!
I know lumberjack states that they use the wood bark on single flavored pellets because that’s where most of the flavor comes from. I believe many others don’t use bark.
@@1526BBQ if you look on their website they explain when they leave the bark on. They also leave the bark on the labeled blend. So if it a a Pecan blend, pecan will have bark and the mixed in woods won’t.
Traeger pellets always left the inside of my smoker shiney. I was told its because they use flavored oils not the wood species itself. Been using Cabelas ever since they came out and really like their Competition Blend.
Liked your pellets review,I was using Traeger for a couple of years(never tasted smoke flavor)switched to Lumberjack WOW.I was so pissed off w/Traeger I sold my grill and bought a Campchef SG-24 WiFi.Some Pellets I haven't tried are B&B,GMG-Goldblend,BBQ Delight.
Picked up a pellet smoker in July. Have been using mostly pitboss competition blend pellets because it's $14 for a 40lbs bag. Guess I should spend a little more. Definitely lacks smokey flavor. Thanks for doing this! Will be checking out different pellets!
Thanks for the Video. Glad you guys did a comparison of top brands. My wife and I just picked up our first pellet grill with the traditional Pitboss pellets for first go around . (Honestly just wanted to get the grill out the door since it was accidentally marked almost 50% off.)
A note about the Traeger pellets. They use oil as a binder in their pellets and the smoke isn't as 'clean' as say Bear Mountain is. If you want to smoke with oil vapor, use Traeger. I won't be!
Interesting results, but for hickory only, which I never use. It would be cool to see a comparison of blends (signature, competition, fruit wood, etc.) from the different brands. They seem to be quite prevalent these days.
Thanks for your video! FYI, I’ve gotten what I consider to be good results, in terms of smoke flavor, with Traeger Signature and Pit Boss Competition blends. But I will definitely keep an eye out for the brands that performed well in your test.
Good to know. Others have said the same thing - comp blend may be better. Theres a link to Amazon in the description of this video, where you can order the Lumber Jack pellets. Thanks for watching Rock Dog!!
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I was truly surprised. I didnt think it made such a big difference!!!
Have you thought about doing a high temp test? To see which ones can get the hottest and maintain that temp? I have found a lot of variance in brands. Thanks for posting.
I haven't. I dont typically go super high in temp... What are you cooking at that high?
@@1526BBQ Usually for searing. Traeger can get to 500deg. I've heard of a Weber going to 700.
Can you get to exposed fire, like on the Pit Boss?
Re: high temp...I LOVE grilling fresh swordfish on my Traeger, and have finally found the best results are at highest temp I can get, ~°400, sometimes higher if I clean out the grill first...(never do 🙄)...
....@ about 6 to 7 minutes per side...I still taste smoke, but not so much that it overpowers the delicate taste of the swordfish.
You’re not the only TH-camr that has gotten similar results. I appreciate the time and effort it took to make this video.
I exclusively use lumberjack and have been very happy with them. One thing you didn't mention was the diameter of the pellets. To my knowledge only Lumberjack and Smoke Ring use a smaller diameter pellet which is less likely to cause auger jams. I'm not sure what, if any impact the diameter has on flavor.
Thats true. Thanks Iceberg!!
A group of us did a similar test about a year ago to settle a bet with a friend that said Traeger were the best because they were so expensive. We used the same brands you did plus just a bag of heating pellets.We did 3 cooks 1 with Hickory on meatloaf, 1 with Apple and BB pork ribs and last Cherry on chicken quarters. The heating pellets were used on all 3 as well. With 6 similar smokers (Pit Boss, Camp Chef and Traeger) and 3 separate cooks our results were the same as yours with Lumberjack being the clear blind test winner amongst 10 judges in all three cooks...and the High priced Traeger dead last, even lower than heating pellets on meatloaf. Wish we would have taped it like you did Thanks for taking the time to do it.
Kenny - great minds think a like. Thanks for watching!
You used heating pellets on your food? You gotta a set of balls.
What! Which ones are heating pellets??
The heating pellets were used to answer the question,"does it really matter what you use "smoke is smoke" I can assure everyone out there IT DOES MATTER!!!! Everyone who tasted the food with heating pellets agreed, not all smoke is good smoke!
😱😲...heating pellets on food ? It's NOT all about just smoke, it's about chemical binders and wax being used to bind those heating pellets, and mixes that include pines and furs to attain heat....that's why there's a class called "Food-Grade Pellets," i.e. safe to ingest....
The best pellet to use is the one you are happy with. If you get the results you want with your food then those pellets are fine. Cost is going to be a factor for some people and can’t be discounted. Availability is going to be a factor with some people. I am in Canada, i have had a pellet grill for 8 years. In the beginning finding pellets was difficult and expensive. I used what I could find and made do. I finally found a supplier that offered a “blended” pellet of Maple, Hickory, Oak and another hardwood I can’t recall. Instead of paying $20-30 for a 20lb bag I could get these for $7 / 40lb bag if ordered in bulk. People argued that they were “heating” pellets and were full of filler simply because they didn’t cost $40-50 a bag. Well nowadays pellet grills are the “in” thing and pellet suppliers are jumping on the bandwagon to get their share of the profits. That $7 bag is now $17 and because it is branded as “Competition Blend” all of a sudden they are no longer slagged off as “heating pellets”. My main point here is “cooking pellets” is a marketing ploy, Find a pellet that fits your budget and gives you the results you can enjoy. If it is a hardwood pellet without filler you can use it to cook. All this is just my opinion of course, if you want to spend more for so called better pellets enjoy.
Thanks Paul
I'm 51 years old ,I've tried every pellet, traeger is the best... So far
To each his own I guess. Thanks for your input Josh
@@joshuatree9845 not everyone likes a real smoky flavor.
I’ll make it easy for you. Any pellet that’s %100 hardwood is gonna be more smoky.
Yeah, thats right
Too bad 90% of pellets sold are mixed wood species. Lumberjack 100% Hickory is the only pellet I've used that gives me good smoke flavor cooking at 275F. Bear Mountain is my 2nd favorite, but I have to cook at 225F to get good smoke.
They are all 100% hardwood. Nobody uses soft wood to make pellets. It just depends on how the hard woods are blended. Good Lord you think they are using pine or cedar?
@@998828k no . Do your own research. Different companies use additives in the wood to preserve the wood and prevent moisture. Those are not 100 percent hardwood.
Don’t comment at me when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
@@TylerHankss 100% hardwood implies no softwoods or fillers. I have not seen a pellet brand (for pellet grills) that does not use 100% hardwood. Additives that preserve the pellets do not decrease the amount of smoke the wood produces. The smoke flavor comes from the lignins breaking down in the hardwood from the heat. Oak and alder (hardwoods), which is used in almost every inexpensive pellet brand, has a very mild smoke flavor due to both hardwoods having less lignin than hickory or mesquite woods. These brands use oak and alder and add “flavor” that changes the smoke taste to match other hardwoods. It does not increase or decrease the amount of smoke flavor the pellet produces. It just changes the flavor profile. This is why more expensive pellet brands that use woods like hickory (hardwood),for example, have a stronger smokey taste than the brands that use oak and alder blends. Maybe you should do some more research before commenting next time.
I just saw this review, and you did it right, 1526 bbq, you did it right. A second and third round was necessary as the first taste on a taste-off is coming on a fresh
mouth, which will always be impressed with a delicious taste of smoke. I'm impressed with your noticing the need for further testing to insure a fair comparison.
Good work, and keep it up.
Thanks brother!!
I have a Pit Boss pellet grill but use Weber and Kingsford exclusively for pellets. Mainly because I can get the Weber pellets at Lowes and Kingsford at my local Walmart. I prefer the Kingsford as they have 100% Hickory and 100% Cherry which I like to mix. Most of those other brands are a blend of oak and whatever flavor woods it happens to be.
Yep
B&B. All the way. Cheap too. Like you I've been using pitboss and tregar, but I've tried all the ones in your test. I recently went with B&B and I immediately noticed a good steady blue smoke at 225 degrees and my first cook with B&B gave a nice smoke ring and great smoke flavor. I have no reason to try anything else at the moment. I bought a 40lb bag of the compitition blend for 15 bucks. Win win
I need to try B&B... Thanks Das
LJ are basically all I’ve used since getting into the pellet pooper game. I’ve gone through over a ton worth and never an issue.
Nice. LJ is the best.
i learned this myself the hard way. On my traeger smoker, i started with traeger pellets of course, then i moved to pitboss, bbq delights, GMG, B&B as they are the brands that you can (not easily) find here in Italy.
Then...a big dealer here started their own production of pellets, they are called "Devils", using only 100% hardwood, not blended, and it was a true GAME CHANGER. No turning back. Their smoke flavour blown the competition away. I am very curious of Lumberjack, but they are not imported here so i am pushing this dealer since long time to get them. We will see...
Nice video anyway!
Thank you Francesco!!
All traeger pellets are alder wood with whatever oil for flavor. I love lumberjack pellets, camp chef pellets are awesome as well but the lumberjack pecan blend is my go to and never lets me down. Knotty wood almond is also very good stuff as well.
I can't wait to try all the lumber Jack flavors!
Lots of guesses lol! I’ve had my pellet smoker about 10 months and after trying many brands I’ve settled on Kingsford. Not the sexiest pick but I’ve found the different flavors to impart the best smoke and not a lot of dust.
Kingsford are really good. 👍
Question which one left the less after taste. No I'm not cooking with dirty smoke ,i just seem to get more of saw dust after taste. I'm using lumber jack competition and tried hickory which was worse. thank ya a little late.
If you're looking for less smoke taste, then Pit boss or Traeger might be the pellets for you.
I use Lumberjack, Bear Mountain and I just bought some Weber pallets for like $4.00/bag recently. I've stayed away from the better known brand. It's nice to know that my local Walmart carries Kingsford pellets too. Great job on the comparison review!
Thanks brother. Semper Fumus!
I had no doubts on the outcome of those results. I swithed to Lumber Jack several years ago because of their superior smoke flavor. I'd say that Lumber Jack hands down, makes the best pellets at an affordable price. If you look them up on the internet, you'll find out they are very proud of being a "round log" pellet production. In other words, they use the whole tree, bark & all. They do not use debarked wood in their pellets other than debarking the red oak base wood in their fruitwood blends so that the fruitwood flavors stand out. All of their other pellets are whole log, full bark production. It's the reason their pellets stand out in flavor. The bark is where the majority of the flavor comes from due to the high concentration of tannins & oils in the bark. I'm sure the other brands that have darker pellets are probably also using some bark in their pellets too, which is why they also stood out in flavor. Gotta give props to those companies too if they are.
Great insight. Thanks Fire Turtle!!
No it's their 100% flavor brands that have the bark. The non 100% flavors have no bark and are 60% oak.
👍
@@TheWpruden That's incorrect. In their blends, the only debarked wood in their is the oak so that it doesn't overpower the flavor of the primary wood. There's some residual oakiness from the cambium layer, but not much. The primary flavor wood is left whole bark to make it the prominent flavor in the blend.
👍✌
I always do this with chops when testing a new flavor pellet. No seasonings at all. This way you get the flavor of the smoke and then you can season as you need for future cooks. Outstanding choice of making this video!
Thanks Riker!!
Just bought my first ever pellet grill yesterday and I've been researching all morning trying to learn as much as I can because I've only ever used charcoal or gas... after watching this review I'm glad I haven't bought any pellets yet because I was leaning towards trying pit boss or traeger... great video keep it up
Thanks Grimlynz! Welcome to the club!!
I just bought a traeger Timberline 850. Home Depot only had traeger pellets so I got a few bags of “signature Blend”. On super smoke mode I get little to no smoke. I just cooked a poor mans burnt ends using chuck. Hardly any smoke flavor. I did a pizza last night at 400*. Excellent outcome. Fantastic actually, but zero smoke and zero smoke flavor. You’re on to something here especially for us new guys starting into pellet cooking. Keep it up. New sub 👍🏼
Thanks brother
Any cook over 300°F the smoke flavor is going to be low. If you want a stronger smoke flavor for a high temp cook. Start your cook out at a low temp like 200-225 for 30 minutes or so to get some good smoke penetration. Then raise the heat to finish your cook.
@@larrybob8018 thank you. I did some ribs on my Trager 575 at 275 with the Traeger signature blend and i didn’t taste any smoke at all. Big difference from my green egg. Didn’t think i would notice but i did. Lol.
Yep.
Try different pellet brands too, see which you like.
I remember when I bought my Traeger from Costco, I also picked up a bag of Traeger pellets (the orange bag), and I totally remember my first cooks (I made burgers, chicken, etc.) and thinking "Man, this isn't all that great" as it was not the smoky flavor I was imagining I'd get. It was pretty disheartening. I later read some BBQ forums online that recommended Lumber Jack pellets and was able to find a bag of their "Competition Blend" at Dick's Sporting Goods. Anyway.. my next cook was night and day and it tasted great. Even the smoke itself had an appetizing aroma lol.
They make such a big difference! Thanks for watching!!
I started out using Traeger pellets, because I bought my smoker 11 years ago and there weren't many choices. About 3 years ago I was introduced to Lumberjack pellets and I've never turned back. I pay $10/20# bag and I also think the flavor is much better.
Agreed
Rural King has lumberjack for $6.99 when bought on line for in store pickup.
Nice
Where do you buy yours at?
B & B competition blend pellets at academy are awesome, then, BBQ DELIGHT, then lumberjack
Thank you! I'll give them a try.
I use bear mountain. Before that I was using traeger pellets .. bear mountain was hands down better so much more smoke flavor my favorite being oak.
I get bear mountain for $11 for a 20lb bag which is the least expensive pellets I can find. Q pellets are just as good if not better and definitely burn hotter.
Agreed. BM hands down better than Traeger. Thanks for watching!!
I’ve had my Traeger for 10 years, used only Traeger pellets. Guess I’m going to have to expand if I can find Lumber Jack or Webber.
I highly recommend it. Lumberjack, Weber for Kingsford for all really really good. Oh and Bear Mountain was also really good. Those four Brands were Leaps and Bounds better than Traeger and Pit boss.
Love my Treager grill, but lumberjack and Weber pellets do make a difference. Only buy the Treager Costco bag when on sale because it is already at a deal. Add the sale to hard to pass up with the amount you get, but only use it for quick high heat cooks. Long cooks lumberjack, unless I am short and have to get Weber at a near by Ace. Only lumberjack I can buy is hour away. Have to plan when low.
Something else you can do, that I've been trying to do lately, is use your expensive or better brand pellets early on in the cook like when you're still putting Smoke on the meat. But after a few hours, I'm definitely after you wrap if you are wrapping, you can swap out your good pellets for something cheaper. At that point you're just using it as a heat Source not really a smoke source.
Great, thanks for the info.
I come from where you use pellets for heating but are new to pellet grills.
One test you can also do with the pellets are to put them in a glas of water.
First thing to look at is witch one Is desolved first, this indicates on how well compressed they are.
And second thing is after 24h, you can see in the water and also from the desolved pellets what they are made of.
Small particles as dust is usually unwanted in pellets as they don’t contain that much energy and also they create more ashes.
Dark particles are usually from bark or other parts from the tree that does not contain the same amount of energy either.
Thanks again 👍🏻
All great points, thank you I thought about doing some extensive testing but figured what people really care about is which one tastes the best but maybe I'll consider that for my next round of pellets that I'm going to test. Thanks again smoke on!
Good video! Results make sense- Kingsford & Lumberjack are 100% hickory where the others are a blended pellet claiming to be "Hickory Flavored". Another interesting test might be matching up only 100% hickory pellets from Cookin Pellets, Smoke Ring, & Lumberjack to see who comes out on top.
Thanks Drew. Ill see what I can do.
I recently made the switched from PB to LJ pellets. You can really smell the difference on your clothes when you come back inside from tending the smoker.
I just did a brisket with LJ. Before I put the meat on the neighbor was asking what I was cooking cause it smelled so good.
I have used the following pellet brands:
Camp chef
Cookinpellets
Smoke Ring
Knotty Wood
Lumberjack
Bear Mountain
Shuping
Smokin Brothers
B&B
Jealous Devil
Pro Smoker
Griller’s Gold
Smokin Brothers was the best.
Ill have to try them out - thanks!!
I got a 20lb bag of bear mountain gourmet BBQ pellets for $7.99 at Win Co..... Very impressed. Awesome taste on ribs
An objective Blind Test which was repeated to confirm any trends. Very Well Done ! I'm ditching the Pit Boss & going w/ Bear Mountain because they're offered @ a local wholesale Chefs Store in the area.
Good job man, I literally listened to this as I drove to the store to buy pellets for the weekend when I am planning on smoking baby back ribs...very informative
Thanks 489! I got more pellet reviews planned for the future.
When I first got my Treager, it came with their competition blend which I enjoyed. Lately I have been using Treager apple wood and am not in love. Based on your review I just tried Kingsford and am a convert. I have planted about 15# of Treager pellets in my garden. Should work as fertilizer.
Glad I could help!
A lot has to do with temperature of the grill and temperature of the meat. If you have it at 225 till the meat is at 135. It will absorb the most smoke flavor. Also if the meat is the coldest it can be with out being frozen then it will absorb the most smoke and make the best bark. Won’t matter what pellets used.
Interesting. Thanks WILDMAN!!
I switched to Weber pellets a year ago due to supply issues, glad I did, they are the best. : )
They are really good!!
I’ve only used Traeger pellets in my Traeger grill and I have complained about the lack of smoke flavor. Based on this and other videos, I will be switching Lumberjack, Knotty Wood and/or CookinPellets.
Enjoy!!
Thank you for this. Great team work! This must have been much harder to figure out how to test, than to produce. But you guys did a great job and made it look so simple! I feel like I learned a lot. I just hope my taste buds are similar. But with the two of you in such close agreement I accept your results. Thanks again.
Thanks George!!
I stopped using Traeger pellets in my Traeger smoker over a year ago.... the three that i really like are Lumberjack, Knotty wood and Cookin pellets those three are the best in my opinion
I havent tried knotty wood.
@@1526BBQ in my opinion knotty wood give the best smoke flavor for a pellet smoker ... i like to combine the plum and almond for the best flavor
Thanks Slow!
I live pretty remote. That being said, I always order a pallet with 100 bags on it. I have been using traeger for 15 years. I have in a bind used pit boss. Maybe I just experienced bad luck. But the pit boss wouldn’t feed through my traeger smoothly and had constant plug up issues inside the auger tube.
I will try to find lumberjack and give them a shot.
They were so much better for me!
Thank You
👍
Thank you for this. I've been a traditional grill / smoker and have been considering switching to a pellet system. I think that this just won me over. Great comparison of each.
Yeah, it was my pleasure. Pellets make a giant difference so don't do like I've done for the past year and use the cheap friends. I would try Lumberjack for sure. If you can't find that you could pick up Kingsford or Weber at Lowe's I think is where I picked them up, maybe Home Depot. Thanks for watching man.
@@1526BBQ we have 2 local BBQ supply houses, I'm sure one of them will have it if not I've always been happy Kingsford. Thanks for the reply.
Smoke on!!
Considering Traeger pellets are so damn expensive, I’m surprised they ranked so low. I stopped using them a while ago because of the price, and inconvenience of having to drive twice as far to the closest store that sells them. I’m glad to learn I’m not missing out on anything. Thanks for the solid review!
Np TGD.
Thanks for watching!
Traeger are junk oak pellets with Oil flavoring is on it. No real Hickory or cherry or whatever it’s all OK with flavorings on it. I like lumberjack they burn nice smell nice taste nice one what your cooking
Agreed. LJ pellets are awesome.
@@unclebill5170 I’ll have to get a bag of the LJ and try it out. Thanks!
When I first got my Pit Boss pellet grill, I used PB pellets exclusively. I tried Traeger once and was pretty disappointed. I heard a bunch of people raving about Lumberjack pellets and so I found a local distributor and bought a few bags (Char-Hickory, Competition Blend, 100% Apple) I haven't even looked back at PB pellets. LJ pellets all the way!!! Great video and I loved how you did 3 different random sampling tests, instead of just one.
Yeah agreed. I will never buy Pit Boss or Traeger pellets again. I'm really thinking about throwing the ones away that I have now. Thanks for watching!
Agreed same story here I just got pit boss pellets just trying something different and they almost ruined a 50 brisket my fire would keep smothering out. I have always used lumber jack and never had an issue until I switched.
@@robertgilmore5205 The funny part is, I never had any problems with the PB pellets, so it was hard to switch to something else. The taste and flavours that came out of the LJ pellets is what won me over. However, I have noticed maybe a little bit more dust in the LJ pellet bag vs. PB pellet bag. Not a deal breaker for me.
I thought about measuring how much dust came out of each bag, but then I thought who really cares. If the pellets that make the best flavor also had a ton of dust oh, I really wouldn't care I want flavor. You're right Griffin!
LJ is the way to go!
I've tried different brands of pellets too in the past and found that LumberJack is the best and what I've been using for many years. I agree with Traeger being last as their "Hickory" pellets are Alder wood mixed with hickory oil.
I had no idea! Thanks for the watch Jim, and thanks for adding the conversation.
...are you SURE Traeger is still using oil, even after the class-action law suit against them exactly for that reason ? I'd expect they'd stop that practice after "getting caught"? 🤔
Traeger changed their entire line of pellets over the last year or two. Really want to still go with that statement?
In doing this test, do you know how fresh the bags of pellets are? I don’t mean they just came from the store. Our local warehouse hardware/lumber store was selling bags of pellets that were two years old.
Said you smelled plastic chemical orders. We’re those trays clay that were holding the pellets? Or some other material?
Would hope pellet makers are not including bark. Ok on wood for bon fire, but nasty residues if cooking. Prefer clear wood.
Pellet grill mfgrs will know shear force on feeder augers. Their pellets made to not exceed that value. Could mfg A pellets cause problems on mfg B grills?
Lots of unknowns in this video resulting in guesses.
No, I dont know how fresh the bags of pellets were.
Yes they were in plastic containers when I smelled them - but they all were and Traeger were the only ones that had the smell on them.
I know I ran all 6 brands with no auger issues.
I also know I will never buy Pit Boss or Traeger again unless its for a pellet review video.
- Give me a break, its a TH-cam video I made in my kitchen. Im not The BBQ Pellet Association of America.
Do you work for Traeger???
@@tomgates316 greater just changed their bags to say 100% hardwood flavored. So you decide if they changed the recipe for pellets they have used for 30 years.
I've been using Lumberjack pellets since I bought my smoker a couple of years ago & been very happy with them. Almost picked up a bag of Traeger pellets at my local Costco the other day. Glad I didn't.
Yeah, you got it right with the LJ. SMOKE ON!
Up until recently I had been using Bear Mountain pecan pellets, which worked on beef, pork, chicken, and turkey, and also made nice thin blue smoke in a tube smoker. But Bear Mountain has apparently discontinued pecan! So I was forced to go looking for a replacement. GMG Fruitwood is a nice blend of cherry, pecan, and Beech for physical heat. It made more white acrid smoke in the tube smoker though. I think it would be excellent for pork, although I used it for brisket successfully. Last week I tried out some pellets made from oak Jim Beam whiskey barrels, and it turned out excellent for a 19 lb brisket in my Traeger Texas. The tube smoker flavor was not too acrid. When the hopper runs out of that, I have either Bear Mountain oak, or Knotty Wood plum wood pellets on hand. The Knotty Wood and Jim Beam pellets are available from Home Depot, with free delivery. I get the Bear Mountain stuff from Chef's Supply in San Jose. I don't use hickory any more because I find it hard to digest food with lots of hickory smoke.
I'm right there with you. Love that Jim Beam whiskey pellets. I've done pork steaks and rack of pork loin. Great flavor
I got try Jim Bean...
I tried the Knotty Wood on a brisket recently and it was very nice. I saw a number of people online saying that they liked it best when they mixed the almond and plum 50-50, so I tried that first. I did not use a tube smoker since I saw another review where Knotty Wood pellets in a tube smoker added white smoke with negative flavoring. It turned out excellent, a very pleasant light smokiness with a hint of plum. Knotty wood is about to begin offering wine-infused almond pellets, which I am extremely interested in getting. Several years ago I tried pellets made from oak wine barrels and it was the best thing ever.
Very interesting, wine infused wood pellets... Thanks John!!
I accidentally stumbled onto lumberjack just picking them up cause they were cheap in rural king. I started using pit boss because they were easy to find near me. The lumberjack just are so much better in terms of flavor and even how clean they burn/the temps the hold. They just seem more consistent. I'll never go back to pit boss.
Agreed!
Sorry, somehow this comment got lost - just seeing it now.
Thanks for watching!
Well I just reviewed all my pellet purchases over 4 years and all were Lumberjack except one Bear Mountain, so I guess I've done alright! Thank you for this experiment!
Yes you have! Thank you!!
I absolutely agree with the Treager pellet results... big disappointment there. I have since changed to all Kingsford whether Hickory, Apple or Oak blend... pellet consistency, clean burning and easy start, with good smoke results... consistently. good compare I thought.
Thanks Ray!
Great video! I like the way you tested these. The first round of results was quite surprising. I agree with the other two rounds more. I’m a huge fan of Lumber Jack and Bear Mountain pellets. I haven’t tried the Weber and Kingsford yet. But I’m not impressed with Traeger or Pitt Boss. Especially Pitt Boss. I do love my Traeger grill though. Great test!
Thanks man! Yeah I love my Pit Boss Grill, but I will not be using Pit Boss pellets.
I've used bear mountain for awhile and was happy for the most part. I ended up getting a gravity charcoal smoker. Seems to be the way to go if you're chasing flavor but don't have the time for an offset
Man I want one of those so bad! Did you get the kind that has a digital controller?
@@1526BBQ yep, I decided on a char griller 980, was tough to get one. Ended up having to drive 2hrs to get it. It's an awesome unit
I need to get one
I have been Using Bear Mountain Hickory in my Z-Grills 7002b the Past year in my Hopper I also use the Other Flavor Woods from Bear Mountain in a Smoke Tube to give it a Extra Smokey Taste I Also used Lumber Jack Pellets but its a 200 Mile round trip to get my Hands on them
Yeah, I couldn't find any Lumberjack near me either. I had to order them off of Amazon. They were a bit expensive at about $35 for 20 lb, but I figured for the experiment I'd go ahead and spend the money. Thanks for watching!
Several of my friends telling me they only use knotty wood bbq pellets. I have not tried them yet for I can get the B&B locally.
Knotty wood - never heard of them. Thanks Dewayne!
I've had my Grilla Grills Silverbac for over 4 years. I tried Pit Boss pellets (comp blend) because Lowe's had them for $15 for a 40 lb bag. Never again. The only time I had a flame out was from Pit Boss. I switched exclusively to LJ and couldn't be happier. The mesquite is fabulous for beef as well as the oak.
Thanks ron! I cant wait to try LJs other pellets.
B and B have been some great pellets for me. Still getting a great smoke and dark bark when using the low smoke setting on my Rec Tec. Great video! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!!!
B&B delight and lumber Jack are my favorites.
I got to try B&B
I’ve been using lumberjack for years, but have recently switched to Jax.
The color difference is caused by the material used to lubricant the die and also moisture
Good to know. Thanks!
I just bought my first pellet grill over the weekend and was skeptical about what pellets to use. This just settle what i should get. Thank you for your time to make this extremely helpful video
I’ve tried them all . Im all in on the Basspro pellets. They provide Smoke through the entire heat range. Others drop off above 300deg. They essentially become heating pellets. Try em out.
I will, thanks Carlos!
Carlos- I’m currently using Cabelas pellets which might be the same as BPro pellets! The Cabelas puts out a lot of smoke compared to several others I’ve tried!
@@robertthibodeaux4435 Absolutely I like the bourbon brown sugar and the straight hickory but they do a really good job in the upper heat range
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Great comparison! Can we have a follow up on the max temperature they can reach, how much ash they made, how much they cost, how prone they are to moisture?
Working on some follow ups. Will switch up some of the brands, but more to come. Thank you!
Thank you for the video. I bought a pellet smoker about a year or so ago to save time and I was not impressed. Figured the pellets I was using were the cause. It was Pit Boss pellets.
Try some of the other brands. Pit Boss and Traeger were the worst...
Been using Bear Mountain on my Green Mountain since I've had it...recently I grabbed a bag of Traeger at Costco since it was convenient. For some reason the Green Mountain auger didn't like those Traeger Pellets and I was getting binding and wild heat fluctuations when I used them. After thinking my auger had broken I decided to try different Pellets (Webber) and no more binding or wild heat swings. I'm not sure if it was a fluke but I'm never using Traeger Pellets on my Green Mountain again...
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I had binding on my GMG auger from gmg pellets, had to switch to traeger, works now. The gmg were hard as a rock .
Good thing you figured it out.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been trying different pellets for years, I was to the point of selling my Pit Boss because it never gave the smoke flavor like my stick burner. Now I’m going to give it another chance, thank you.
Thanks for watching brother. Good luck!
Get a smoke tube
I don't think you needed if you use the right pellets.
How did it turn out
Yeah - we want to know...
I agree about the 100% hickory Lumberjack, Kingsford and Weber. I also agree that Traeger and Bit Boss have a "chemical" flavor. Instead of plastic, I likened it to candle wax, aka paraffin. Like when you light up a presto log and in the beginning, it rolls a cold, black, waxy smoke that smells like paraffin. If you run out of pellets, then add more to your hopper, your ignition chamber gets overloaded before it gets up to temperature and it starts "rolling coal" and you can really smell that paraffin. Traeger says it is "100% hardwood blend and wood oils". I'm reading that as Walnut oil or Brazil nut oil added for caloric density, but without real hardwood flavor. Once it fully lights off and gets hot, the wood oil burns clean and the chemical taste mostly goes away. But it is no comparison to Lumberjack, that advertises that they use whole branches and stems, including bark and cambium, the sap layer below the bark, that has all that hardwood flavor. The heartwood left over from furniture making doesn't have any cambium / sap wood and has a lot less hardwood flavor. My favorite is Lumberjack with Kingsford and Weber tied for #2.
Well said Larz. Thanks for adding to the conversation!
As a 12-year owner of an early Traeger, I have tried many many brands. While I do agree with your assessment of the number one and two position, Bear Mountain have been my go-to for years. They are made locally and are readily available to me.
One thing that you might like to keep in mind if you decide to do a similar test again, is that there is more to a pellet grill than just smoking. I have found that lumberjack and BM than the lower rank pellets.
Thank you for your 12 year experienced input! What was the last sentence - what did you find???
@@1526BBQ sorry, darn voice transcription. The Lumberjack and Bear Mountain are able to reach higher temperatures than the lower ranked pellets. In my uncontrolled environment testing, it seems like the Lumberjack and BM give me about a 50° hotter chamber than Traeger or PB when high temperature grilling.
Cool. Thanks brother.
Most pellets to my understanding are 70% oak or alder and 30% (Pitboss, Traeger, GMG, Bear Mountain ETC.) what they say. Made with wood shavings sawdust or what ever they van import for cheapest. I've also heard that Traeger adds oil and fragrances (Maybe.... I dont know) to get the natural flavor back. Lumberjack is made from 100% tree fiber. .Real LOGS turned into pellets. They are also 5.5mm in diameter we've noticed that you get less auger pop and jams and they burn way cleaner. Ive used them all and sell Pitboss and GMG I cant tell the diffrence between flavors. But when you use Lumberjack and sell Lumberjack you no longer use or sell anything else.
LJ is awesome brother. Give Weber and Kingsford a try at some point, they were good too. Thanks for watching!
I can only consistently get pit boss or Traeger in my area. The Lowe’s around me has bear mountain but only one flavor which is the gourmet bbq and IMo they are weak af. I wasn’t a fan. I was able to find one bag of fruit wood lumberjack pellets just recently and it was good by very mild. I want to try other flavors of lumberjack pellets, however they are difficult to find outside online vendors.
Good to know that the lumberjack pellets i use are top notch, just sucks i have to order them in bulk online. Garage is full of them!
Bulk is a good idea! I get mine online too...
Great test, sorry that took forever! But it confirmed what I already knew, Lumberjack to me is also the smokiest (especially the Char-Oak-Hickory.. Wow! LoL), but Kingsford isn’t far behind. My local grocery store stocks the Kingsford brand, that’s why I’ve been using pretty much exclusively that lately. My only complaint with Kingsford is that I can’t seem to get high temperatures with it, I’m not sure why.. I’ve cooked in 20 degree weather and still got 400 degrees, but I can’t seem to get higher than 370 with the Kingsford. Which is still good, it still does the job. But I like using olive oil to crisp the outside, and it works better with higher temperatures. But that being said Kingsford is still excellent and readily available. Thanks for all your hard work!
Thank you, for adding to the convo and for watching!
I just got a CampChef DLX24 and went with CampChef pellets primarily because it was either those or Treager pellets at 3 bucks more a bag. I smoked a 18lb ham for Christmas as the first smoke and used their cherry pellets and you could definitely smell the sweet smell of the wood and the ham came out very, very good. I also have a CampChef vertical propane/wood smoker and will say this pellet smoker left me with basically nothing to do except drink more beer lol. Trying their Hickory this week on some ribs I think.
I here good things about campchef pellets. Let us known how the hickory one do ya.
The differences in color, oder, and flavor could also be attributed to where the pellets come from, and there are 18 different species of hickory, which could also be a factor.
You're right, and I never thought of thay. Thanks Kim!
I would have loved to have seen the smoke ring for each one before you tasted. Great vid though, thank you! As a beginner this is very helpful.
I've been using Weber Hickory with really good results in my Pitboss 820. I don't recommend using these for a smoke tube though, because they make dirty smoke in tubes. Not sure why, but I get good grey-blue smoke from the smoker, but yellow-white smoke with the same pellets in a smoke tube.
Great insight - thank you!
To compare it would be helpful to research each brand for their processes and make up. Is it 100% flavored wood, if not what “filler” does each use, bark used. I choose based on if it is 100% flavored. Hard to find but not impossible.
I’m a Traeger owner, Timberline and Ironwood, and use several varieties of Traeger pellets. But NOT the hickory. It’s meh. Apple, cherry, pecan, big game blend (no longer made) alder, oak all have nice flavor but the hickory just isn’t there. When I’m doing hotdogs and hamburgers I use the Lumberjack Charcoal hickory blend. Give that nice hint of using a charcoal grill.
I'll have to try em all. Thanks Bob!
Traeger I also found to be the worst pellet.
Traeger pellets are made of 70% filler wood and 30% flavor wood. For example, if you buy a bag of Apple Wood, it's 70% alder wood and 30% apple wood.
Lumberjack for example, uses no filler woods. There are also rumors, that Traeger uses wood oils in the pellets. This may not be true, but they do hold a patent on the process off adding wood oils to pellets.
Lumberjack, CookinPellets and SmokeRing pellets all seem to be of about equal quality, and all are better than Traeger (and PitBoss).
Thanks for adding to the conversation
Great idea for a video. Thanks for taking the time. I didn’t think I should use different pellets, because of course Traeger says it’s not recommended. I think they say you could jam up the auger. I’m definitely going to try now.
I've heard that too, but it doesn't really make sense. Yeah give him a try I really recommend Lumberjack Weber and Kingsford, they were so good. Thanks for watching!
Actually, it DOES makes sense....but Traeger's not telling the whole story....there's pellets out there that have unprocessed chunks of hardwood in them, and pellets that weren't cut properly, so are as much as 2" long...and some grills that have a sort of "filter/screener grill" the pellets have to drop through to get to the auger...so those 2" pellets were clogging the flow when they couldn't make it through that "grill."
10-4. Do you know what brand of grill has the filter"grill"?
ack! buying my second bag of pellets and saw 40 lbs of pitboss at BJ's ... lol i'll use it, finish it off, and then continue on with Lumberback or Bear Mountain!
Now can u run ur experiment using another flavor wood. Just to see if the same brand results are the same. And possible another food type
Two great ideas. Thanks Eugene!
Ive been really happy with Lumber Jack. My Favorite brand is Grilla Grills but I can get a a 40lb bag of lumber jack from the local store a for the same price as a 20lb bag of Grilla Grills.
Thanks for the video
Thanks for watching
I tried Bear Mountain because of the cost and like them a lot. I’ll look for Lumberjack. I read Kingsford makes a lot of ash and burns quickly. May try them anyway.
Bear Mountain is good too.
Thanks. Quite revealing test. I can't afford Traeger or Camp Chef and I have been using Lumberjack for a couple of years. I get them at Rural King at a very affordable price.
I wish there was a Rural King near me. Thanks for watching!
It would be nice if someone would chime in on the ones sold at Sam's. I find them less bitter than PB. There are many parts of the US where it's not practical to buy LJ or BM and the other higher-scoring brands cost quite a bit more.
Im thinking about doing mor pellet review videos. I'll keep Sams in mind. Thanks!
165° for 20 mins then turn it up to 450 if possible. For about 15 mins or till internal temp hits 145
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Just got a bag of pit boss and there's plenty of saw dust and even chunks of wood and now even my traeger don't work properly, first time it ever happens in almost 5 years
That sucks!
@@1526BBQ went to HD and got the traeger brand because are the only ones I can find around and I am back on grilling!!!
You got to try some of the other brands pellets I tested in this video - so much better. Thanks for watching brother!
Great video and test. I had the same issue with my Traeger. I wasn't getting as much smoky taste that I was looking for. I used Traeger pellets for about a year and a half before doing my own pellet experiment last month. As you noted, it's not easy to whip out meat smoked with multiple different pellet brands, unless you have multiple pellet smokers lined up. My experiment was conducted over about five days. I smoked three racks of baby back ribs cooking at 225 using only salt and pepper to focus on and enhance the smoke taste. I also compared the color produced.
Pellets I tried
Lumber Jack competition blend (maple, hickory, cherry)
Cookin' Pellets Perfect Mix (hickory, cherry, maple, apple)
Bear Mountain BBQ Mesquite
Not a wood-to-wood comparison, but two out of the three had similar wood blends.
I taste tested after each rack finished. Not side-by-side or a blind taste test. I wanted them to all be fresh when tasted.
I was pleased with them all compared to the Traeger brand pellets. The Bear Mountain Mesquite had a strong flavor, goes better with brisket. They all produced great color, much better than Traeger, though the Traeger Cherry was pretty good for color.
The Cookin' pellets were my favorite for flavor and color. Lumber Jack was a very close 2nd.
They were also a better deal. Cookin' Pellets Perfect Mix come in 40lbs bags for under $40 while the Lumber Jack comes in 20lbs bags for just under $30. So for about $10 more you get twice as much when buying Cookin' Pellets. Prices vary across the web and shipping needs to be considered. The price I gave included shipping.
Pay attention to the composition of the pellets. Some brands pellets are 100% the wood they list. Others use a ratio of flavor wood, i.e. hickory, cherry, etc, to non-flavor wood like 30/70. They say it results in burn consistency from one flavor pellet to another. Still other brands will use flavor oil (I've heard Traeger was called out on this).
One new trick I learned while doing this test was to do a two-step rub. I used black pepper/salt before putting them on the grill, then started sprinkling my go to pork rub about two hours into the cook, adding a little more each time I mopped until I got an amazing crust. I did this on half of the rack because my girlfriend isn't a fan of just pepper and salt. She missed the sweet. This technique increases the smoke flavor on the meat (pepper/salt leaves more bare meat for smoke to adhere than the rub) while still getting the nice flavor of the rub.
Jim, thank you for all that insight into your test and its results. May folks have mentioned that I should try Cookin' Pellets (and a few other brands too). I think Ill do a second round of testing with these brands. Thanks again Jim. Semper Fumus!
I have a pit boss being delivered today. Can't wait.
Nice! Get some good pellets!!!
My go to is Bear Mountain. Always good smoke and inexpensive.
I was up there on the list - very good pellets!
Bear Mountain pellets make thin blue smoke in my tube smoker, which is great for kicking up the smoke flavor a few notches.
I know lumberjack states that they use the wood bark on single flavored pellets because that’s where most of the flavor comes from. I believe many others don’t use bark.
I hadn't heard that, but I suspected so. I know when I used to smoke on my Weber Smokey Mountain the wood chunks I would throw in some times had bark.
@@1526BBQ if you look on their website they explain when they leave the bark on. They also leave the bark on the labeled blend. So if it a a Pecan blend, pecan will have bark and the mixed in woods won’t.
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I like the Green Mountain Gold are very decent. Coupled with the Weber Smoke Boost feature the smoke flavor is spot on.
I'll have to try them out. Thanks!
Traeger pellets always left the inside of my smoker shiney. I was told its because they use flavored oils not the wood species itself. Been using Cabelas ever since they came out and really like their Competition Blend.
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FYI, Cabelas is made by Lumberjack.
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Ever tried knotty wood pellets? They are hands down better than any of these brands.
I havent, but I'll add them to the list. Thanks!
Huge thanks! Just got a pellet grill and trying to find the best pellets right now :)
Glad I could help. Thanks for watching!!
Liked your pellets review,I was using Traeger for a couple of years(never tasted smoke flavor)switched to Lumberjack WOW.I was so pissed off w/Traeger I sold my grill and bought a Campchef SG-24 WiFi.Some Pellets I haven't tried are B&B,GMG-Goldblend,BBQ Delight.
Not selling my grill but yeah, PB and Traeger pellets suck!
Picked up a pellet smoker in July. Have been using mostly pitboss competition blend pellets because it's $14 for a 40lbs bag. Guess I should spend a little more. Definitely lacks smokey flavor. Thanks for doing this! Will be checking out different pellets!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the Video. Glad you guys did a comparison of top brands. My wife and I just picked up our first pellet grill with the traditional Pitboss pellets for first go around . (Honestly just wanted to get the grill out the door since it was accidentally marked almost 50% off.)
Nice steal!
@@1526BBQ or “Nice Steel!”
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Lol thank you Gents
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I would like to try lumber jack but can't get them locally. And I don't want to pay shipping. Bear Mountain I can get all day long
Bear Mountain and Lumber Jack were so close to being the same, dont sweat it. Enjoy your Bear. Thanks for watching!
I love Lumberjack competition blend. Smoke everything with them including desserts!
They are so good!
A note about the Traeger pellets. They use oil as a binder in their pellets and the smoke isn't as 'clean' as say Bear Mountain is. If you want to smoke with oil vapor, use Traeger. I won't be!
Color difference is likely that some use more bark than others. Some use no bark at all.
That makes sense. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
Interesting results, but for hickory only, which I never use. It would be cool to see a comparison of blends (signature, competition, fruit wood, etc.) from the different brands. They seem to be quite prevalent these days.
Thats a great idea! Thanks!
Thanks for your video! FYI, I’ve gotten what I consider to be good results, in terms of smoke flavor, with Traeger Signature and Pit Boss Competition blends. But I will definitely keep an eye out for the brands that performed well in your test.
Good to know. Others have said the same thing - comp blend may be better. Theres a link to Amazon in the description of this video, where you can order the Lumber Jack pellets. Thanks for watching Rock Dog!!
Correction: the Traeger blend I used was ‘Gourmet’
Oh - fancy huh. 😁😄😁😄
Runnin my pit boss for the first time as I speak so far so good!!
Congrats!