Best brand of pellets for Pit Boss? Most smoke?

[WT2121]

I am using PB mostly. The charcoal blend has varied in smell and smoke. Testing Royal Oak charcoal pellets. So far, I like them better than PB charcoal pellets. The PB Pecan have done well with turkey and chicken. Favorite for turkey! I like PB hickory for beef. I have had horrible luck with PB competition. Do not like it at all. Bear Mountain has been good and seemed more smoke than PB. Next test is PB Classic blend. I am going to try the Kirkland blend too. Read PB makes them for Costco. Hope they are good. Local Costco has them at $12.99 for 40lb.
I believe it is difficult to get same smoke each time per pellet flavor. Each tree is different from the next although similar. The PB hickory and pecan have been the closest flavor from bag to bag for me. PB mesquite, charcoal and competition have varied the most. Just my opinion.
Keep in mind we have different tastes. It is fun to experiment with different pellet flavors and brands.

 

[djsams]

I am using PB mostly. The charcoal blend has varied in smell and smoke. Testing Royal Oak charcoal pellets. So far, I like them better than PB charcoal pellets. The PB Pecan have done well with turkey and chicken. Favorite for turkey! I like PB hickory for beef. I have had horrible luck with PB competition. Do not like it at all. Bear Mountain has been good and seemed more smoke than PB. Next test is PB Classic blend. I am going to try the Kirkland blend too. Read PB makes them for Costco. Hope they are good. Local Costco has them at $12.99 for 40lb.
I believe it is difficult to get same smoke each time per pellet flavor. Each tree is different from the next although similar. The PB hickory and pecan have been the closest flavor from bag to bag for me. PB mesquite, charcoal and competition have varied the most. Just my opinion.
Keep in mind we have different tastes. It is fun to experiment with different pellet flavors and brands.

I find the PB Competition Blend creates sort of an odd fruity flavor for me. I have used it on both pork butts and ribs and simply just didn't like the results compared to Lumberjack or PB hickory. I did however like it for cold smoking cheese.

 

[mixed up]

I find the PB Competition Blend creates sort of an odd fruity flavor for me. I have used it on both pork butts and ribs and simply just didn't like the results compared to Lumberjack or PB hickory. I did however like it for cold smoking cheese.

I totally agree with this

 

[Private]

We use Lumberjacks almost exclusively. We buy full pallets a few times per year. Over the years, we have sampled a lot of brands, and LJ have been our consistent winner.

Be aware, however, of how much the pellet industry is changing.

Lignetics (huge company out of Colorado) has owned bear mountain for a while, and bought the company that makes lumberjacks maybe two years ago(?). Funny - I met the head of marketing for Lignetics at a trade show, and he kept telling me "we aren't going to change anything at lumberjack", then he would proceed to tell me all the things they could do better. I am watching to see how much "betterment" flows through to Lumberjack. I noticed this year that their sales systems/reps changed to be in the Lignetics model. Pellets haven't changed (yet).

One of the things I like about Lumberjacks is that they grind up whole trees - bark, cambium - the whole thing. Lots of flavor in those outer parts. I see some brands/devotees argue that they don't want bark, but I think they are just misled (again, just my opinion).

Bear mountain is a mixed bag (pardon the pun). They used to make all of their pellets in the northwest, so their blends were all alder based (I don't like alder base because alder has zero flavor and doesn't burn as hot as oak, but that is just my opinion. I like alder or birch for smoking fish because they have a light flavor). Now bear mountain makes pellets regionally, so some are alder-based, and some are oak-based. I don't know what they put on the bags or whether you can tell which are which. It also means that when someone is praising Bear Mountain pellets, you have no idea whether the ones you can buy are the same.

I was talking to the dansons guys (they own pit boss, Louisiana smoker, etc). a couple of years ago and they said they had stopped buying pellets in (inconsistent quality) and had bought their own pellet mill. I got some samples and the quality was very good. One of their guys told me they had so much capacity they are making the kirkland brand pellets for costco. I haven't seen those at my local costco yet.

So, to make things even more confusing, Dansons was acquired a couple of months by W.C. Bradley, whose big brand is Char-Broil. I have no idea how that is going to play out. I fear it won't be good for pit boss, but you never know.

Crazy times. I guess pellet smoking has become too profitable to remain a cottage industry.

 

[mixed up]

thanks for the back story on the pellets hope they dont end up being generic name made by one company .I like varity of flavors from other brands and I have my favorites

 

[Desert_Smokin]

I tried the Kirkland’s pellet blend. I wasn’t impressed- didn’t heat as well as BM, less smoke, more ash. Sticking to my tried and true, Bear Mountain.

 

[JimM.]

I get Bear Mountain at Academy sports and I like them for all of my cooks. I tried the Knotty Wood Almond pellets several times and it seems to leave a lot of ash in the pot. On a couple of overnight cooks, the smoke was coming back out of the pellet hopper. It doesn't do that with the PB or Bear Mountain pellets.

 

[njcruiser]

Stopped at local Ace Hardware looking for different brands of pellets. They had lots of Traeger but nothing else. Didn't buy and will keep looking. I've heard Traeger are no better than PB. Still have plenty of PB to use up.

I hear Traeger uses additives unlike most others. Will avoid

 

[Mike From R.I.]

I hear Traeger uses additives unlike most others. Will avoid

I read that too.