Quebracho QHWC40LB 40-Pound Carbon de Lena Hardwood Charcoal Bag

Inconsistent size chunks - but far too many small and chip size, TONS of dust. Probably 25-30lbs of good, useable charcoal in the 40lb. bag. May be suitable for large commercial operations, but for the home consumer, the red meat cooking, bacon and steak eating, beer drinking, American flag waving, vegetable scorning, Communist hating, Republican voting, hard working, red white and blue 'Merican, this charcoal just isn't it. It's better than Cowboy (I could load my grill with my old duty boots and two pounds of dog poop, and it would be better than Cowboy), but it's not quite as good as Royal Oak/Big Green Egg. Fogo still seems to be the best deal going on Amazon. Pound for useable pound, it's cheaper than Quebracho, and your kids/wife/homeless guy down the street that you pay 75 cents and half of a flat Miller Lite to clean your grill will appreciate the ash loading difference. Not even a third of a bag into this stuff, I've had to clean out twice. With the Fogo, run all 35lbs and clean once. Or twice, if the kids/wife/homeless guy down the street need work.It's ostensibly cheap, so it has that appeal - but so was Obamacare. Treat your finely prepared charred animal flesh to Blue Cross/Blue Shield with no co-pays, don't subject them to Obamacare. Honor the death of those noble bovines that sacrificed their very corporeal beings for your gastrointestinal bliss, don't spit on their graves by cooking them over lousy charcoal. It also doesn't like to get north of 600-650, even with a clean firebox and clear drafts, so it's probably really good for making jerky. Personally, I don't want to make jerky out of my steaks and burgers. I want to sear it so it stops kicking, then warm it just enough to be sure it's dead in the middle.My scientific analysis of the pound for pound USEABLE charcoal between Royal Oak, Fogo, and Quebracho indicates Royal Oak and Fogo are almost neck and neck for price point, but Fogo pulls ahead in value. Fogo is best I've used thus far. Quebracho isn't the worst, but it kind of sucks. Not Cowboy sucks, but not as good as Royal Oak, either.TL;DR: Quebracho sucks, stick to Fogo. If you don't have Amazon Prime and pay for shipping, stick to Royal Oak from your local retailer.

This is Fogo’s Argentinian charcoal. It is absolutely the best charcoal I’ve used, even better than the regular Fogo. In fact, the only reason I bought this is because the regular Fogo was out of stock.There were shipping issues that Amazon dealt with appropriately. The packaging could have been better, there was only a small amount of cushioning that didn’t really do anything so the bag got a hole in it and the entire bag and inside of the box were black. Fortunately I still had my other Fogo bag and just transferred the Quebracho to the old bag.The charcoal is really dense. The 40-pound bag was actually smaller than the 35-pound regular Fogo bag. Nice, big chunks but not so big that I had to cut them down, and enough smaller pieces to fill the chimney starter. The charcoal started easily enough using two Weber starters and the chimney, and took about 30 minutes to turn white.For my first cook, I did a low and slow pork butt. I use a Vision Kamado grill and started with a layer of charcoal that I put the chimney coals on top of. I got the meat on the grill at 8pm and dialed in the temp to 205. The temp barely moved before I went to bed, only dropping to 170 when the pork butt got to the stall around 2:30am. For the rest of the cook, all the way to 6pm the next day, the temp stayed between 212 and 220 with only one or two vent adjustments throughout the day. When it did drop to 212, I assumed the charcoal must be about out so I prepared another chimney’s worth to finish the cook. That was unnecessary, as there were plenty of coals left. Once the meat was done, 22 hours after I started, I closed the vents on the grill. The next day I BBQ’d steaks over direct heat. Some of the coals were still smoldering from the day before, and there was plenty to get through the steaks. Again, I closed the vents and had more left for the next day.This is the longest-lasting, most consistent charcoal I’ve ever used. I agree that it doesn't add much flavor to the food, but that's what wood chunks are for. If I want the charcoal to add flavor I'll use mesquite or something cheaper for quick cooks, like burgers or steaks, but for the low and slow I don’t want to use anything else. I hope Amazon continues to stock this charcoal.

I am a very loyal user of the regular Fogo brand lump charcoal for my big green egg. I have found it to be very cost effective and always contains nice big chunks for longer and hotter cooks. I decided to try the Quebracho line and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. The vast majority of the bag (75% by volume) was very small pieces of roughly 1 square inch or less. There were a few large chunks in the bag but not very many. This compares to the regular Fogo which is consistently about 75-80% fist size chunks or larger.That said, the product is good, it burns very hot and it produces a good flavor. For some setups this is probably a great option but Kamado cookers require a lot of airflow so small chunks tend to block the air and can lead to inconstant combustion. I will stick to the regular Fogo from here on out as it is the absolute best I have found in many years of using lump charcoal.