Primo Grills & Smokers Cowboy Charcoal PR608 Review

Some of the good old boys told me that I HAD to try Cowboy charcoal. They were rather shocked that I use Kingsford and other brands of compressed charcoal brigettes. That's easy to explain. I live in a small town. I get what I can get at the IGA grocery or drive pretty far or order online.

The Lowe's on the other side of town (half hour drive) did carry Cowboy charcoal, so I snagged a bag when I was there picking out some stuff to fix up the circa 1950s bathroom that is crumbling.

The difference is that Cowboy is natural charred wood rather than compressed wood and who-knows-what. If you've seen burned trees or wood, then you have the general idea. You get chunks or charred wood rather than chunks of compressed wood stuff.

Generally I start my charcoal with a chimney starter. That works like a charm. But, it does not work so well with Cowboy charcoal. These natural charcoal wood chunks are various sizes ranging from about the size of my fist down to dime sized. The chimney starter bottom grate would need to have smaller holes at the bottom to work with Cowboy Charcoal. The first thing I did was make a mess on the porch. OK. I should have poured that in over the bottom grill grate. Live and learn. Then, I abandoned the chimney starter, because that clearly was not going to work.

Cowboy charcoal did start up fine in a kettle gril with newspaper under the bottom grate. That usually does not work out so well with charcoal brigettes (which is why I use a chimney starter). Lighting up the Cowboy charcoal right in the grill went well, so that is a plus.

With a direct light up on the grill, it took longer to get the charcoals to the stage where the meat could go on the grill. Cowboy did burn, but it was a slow burn to cooking temp. And, the temperature was lower than other charcoals. It was more of a low and slow burn. All I used was one sheet of newspaper, and the charred wood chunks caught up.

Once the Cowboy coals were cranking, I put the steaks on. The heat was not high enough for a true sear, but it was decent. I suppose I could add more Cowboy charcoal and heat longer to get a hotter temperature, but I'm not so sure. It really was more of a slow and steady burn.

The flavor of the steak was excellent. Cowboy charcoal does have that smoked wood flavor and none of the lighter fluid taste or other strange flavors with compressed charcoal mixes. Most guests won't notice that anyway, but the a few will note the clean taste with the Cowboy charcoal. Then again, I'm sure some would wonder where that regular charcoal flavor went. The taste is different.

My thoughts are that I will probably go with the general market brigettes in most cases. I can use my chimney starter and get going much faster and hotter. Of course, those charcoal brigettes burn hard and fast and also may add a slight "off" taste (although I've never had any complaints). For lower temperature and slower cooking, I'd lean toward Cowboy charcoal. It does burn even and lasts a long time. I'd vote on Cowboy charcoal for chicken or when using a smoker rather than a high heat grill.