I have been having issues with charcoal briquettes lately. I usually pick up double pack of Kingsford charcoal briquettes while I am at Costco picking up some meat to BBQ. On a recent trip I come to find out that my local Costco only carries the Kingsford Match-Light Instant Light Charcoal. I’m not a big fan of the Instant Light so I had to press on. All that I wanted was my regular Kingsford briquettes.
Plan-two was Smart & Final, I had to go there anyway to pick up some BBQ supplies. I found a double bag of what seemed like the old favorite with one significant difference… it had ridges, or what Kingsford refers to as “Sure Fire Grooves.” What the heck is a Sure Fire Groove? I wasn’t exactly sure, but after further research I come to find out that these grooves are a standard feature across all of Kingsford charcoal products.
These Sure Fire Grooves supposedly allow the charcoal to be lit faster (in fifteen minutes) and burn more evenly for longer time. Now this is really messing with my mind because I never had a problem with the way the old charcoal worked. Why would you even think about changing a winning formula? It has worked well all these years why change it? Lighting it was never a problem in a chimney starter… BTW, why doesn’t Kingsford make a charcoal chimney starter? Duration was never a problem with the old charcoal and I have yet to find that the Sure Fire Grooves to burn longer. It actually seems as though they don’t burn quite as long. Now, that is just an opinion, but it seems that way. I wish I could get a hold of some of the old stuff to put it to the test, but it is no longer available.
One thing that I have noticed is that this new briquette design becomes much more fragile as it burns. So, if you are someone who likes to adjust your charcoal briquettes after they are lit you might find yourself dealing with a pile of lit ash. This also poses a problem if you are the type of person who uses these briquettes for outdoor dutch-oven cooking. Nobody likes briquettes that fall apart once they are lit.
I am not sure what Kingsford was thinking when they decide to change this age-old design… it was probably some market research guy who wanted to be known as the person who reinvented the charcoal briquette. There have been some arguments against using briquettes because of the additives that are used in their production… believe it or not charcoal doesn’t naturally come in perfectly formed little briquettes. But, I was willing to use the briquettes for the strong and steady heat that was produced by them. It was one constant in the world of BBQ that you could count on again and again. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case and I might have to start using more lump charcoal.
Sure Fire Grooves courtesy of Kingsford market research.
Top view of the Sure Fire Grooves
20. October 2008 at 1:18 pm
I also agree with Melloski on speling. We know what you mean.
11. March 2009 at 3:31 pm
Kingsford Employee 2 basically described a lot of the differences, but I want to stress that it is pivotal to control the vents and remember that Kingsford with SureFire grooves is ready to cook on faster.
Hypothetical grilling scenarios:
Old Kingsford is ready in 15 minutes and has cooled below cooking temperature at 90 minutes.
New Kingsford is ready in 10 minutes and has cooled below cooking temperature at 88 minutes.
If you continue to grill the same way you used to, starting at the same time, you will have less cooking time. Also, if you leave it in the chimney for too long which is great for radiating heat and burning up the coals, a lot of that carbon is going to burn up before the charcoal is in the grill.
For low and slow, as described above, you will most likely need to close up the vents more. Make sure to control the temperature and you should be fine. I have seen the new product work just as well as the old using the Minion method in a WSM. For those who are complaining about the 18 lbs, it’s true when it says that it performs the same as 20 lbs of old Kingsford. Both bags have the same number of briquets. If you fill up a WSM charcoal chamber, there will be the same number of briquets in the chamber whether using old or new, which corresponds to an equal number of bags per use. There will be less total mass, but it performs more efficiently. Another note for those having trouble with low and slow using the Minion method: consider using fewer lit briquets in the beginning. For instance, if you used to use 20 for the old product, try 15 with the new product.
3. August 2009 at 6:21 pm
I’ve been using Kingsford Charcoal for 15 years cooking over 200 pigs and many chickens. This year I’m having a big problem with the ash on my food, I have to cover everything with foil. I have not had this problem until this year. I called Kingsford, seemed interested they took my information, haven’t heard anything. I will be trying some new charcoal. Unfortunately, I do not recommend Kingsford charcaol briquettes at this time.
22. November 2009 at 6:02 pm
They have obviously added something that makes it smokier and makes it “crackle and pop” which it didn’t before.
17. May 2010 at 3:40 pm
I have been a loyal Kingsford user for over 40 years. Something has changed. My grill has black tar like pitch on it now after cooking. When I try to open the lid after it’s cooled, it is sealed shut by the tar pitch. I have never experienced this with the old style Kingsford. The cook time is greatly less, normally I have to finish whatever I’m cooking on the gas grill which I don’t like to admit. I’m totally dissatisfied with the Kingsford product now. I used to brag about Kingsford, now I can’t do that. Unhappy Kingsford user may now have to turn to the gas grill for my outdoor cooking or Royal Oak.
21. May 2010 at 7:39 am
I’ve been useing Kingsford for a very long time (I’m 76) in a Weber cooker. I too am very dissatified with the “new” charcoal. I’m pleased to read others are also dissatified with the product.
Bring back the old!!!
PS: I used up over 440#’s of charcoal this past winter, as I cook year around; point being, I’ve given Kingsford a fair trial. Unless they go back to the “original” size and shape, I won’t be buying this brand.
23. May 2010 at 3:17 pm
i went to kingsford website in search of what happened to the charcoal and obviously, i’m not the only one. what happened to the good original charcoal? cant seem to keep the heat going like it used to. smoking chicken is out with this new stuff. what a shame……….. help!
31. May 2010 at 4:34 pm
The new stuff really stinks. Why take a product that works great and screw it up? I grill two to three times a week most of the year and several times during the cold MN winter months. I sell this exclusively
at my store. The claims that it is “better” do not hold true for me and my Weber. It does not burn as long as the old product or perform better in any other way. I will go back to using the competitor’s brand until they see the error of their ways!
31. May 2010 at 4:42 pm
I went to the Kingsford website. There does not seem to be a Link to contact them. Did I miss something? I want to send them my (negative) comments on the “new and improved”.
1. June 2010 at 9:40 am
I don’t know how anyone is getting this new coal even lit. After the starter fluid burns down it goes out on us. Match Light is the only one we can get lit for some reason. Anyone else having this problem??
6. June 2010 at 2:24 am
me and my buddy want to purchase a pallet of kingsford as we are sick and tired of always running out and it seems to be getting pricier all the time Im sure we could get a pretty good deal on quantity how do we do that??
6. June 2010 at 5:37 pm
Just got a bag of the new, improved “starts faster, lasts longer” charcoal. Grilled a New York Strip from my favorite butcher and I got a whole lot of “not steak” flavor. I’ve been grilling on Weber grills for almost fifty years. Meat’s good, grill’s good, cook’s good, so the variable is the charcoal. This stuff might be ok for drying out workboots, but for grilling, it sucks. I think it must be adulterated with dog wham.
18. June 2010 at 8:34 am
Been grilling for over 20 years. Last year, I’ve been practicing with lump charcoal. This year I went back to Kingsford Briquettes because it was the the supermarket. What I’ve found is:
* Smokier after lighting.
* More ash, ash on food (like another commentor)
* Lower heat, shorter burning time
* Fragile briquettes. Fragile after ashing over and many half bricks and pieces in the bags.
Someone said they have a cook time of 88 minutes. Well, after 20-30 minutes after ashing over, I find they develop a thick coat of ash and the temp goes way down. If you touch the charcoals, move the grill, or even get a gust of wind, that ash ends up on your chicken or food. The last two bags, I’ve had to put unlit charcoals on the ashed charcoals to keep the heat going for chicken and brats. This is crazy.
It’s got me frustrated because Kingsford was the only brand I trusted. Now, it’s just junk. I’m gonna have to hunt down some specialty briquettes or that lump charcoal. The cooking time was less with the lump charcoal, but it was still better than the ‘new’ briquettes.
21. June 2010 at 6:58 pm
I really liked Kingsford Charcoal. Now they came out with “competition” charcoal (junk). Same briquettes, label change only. I can only use it for grilling burgers, dogs or steak. It lights fast enough for me…sometimes to fast and burns out quicker. I gave up using it for my slow n low smoking. I had that down to a well oiled science before they changed the product.
It wouldn’t be so bad if they came out and said that (any of the following)’
EPA regs won’t allow the old mix
We were bought out by ‘Quick Bux Mfg” and found a cheaper mix
They were/are being bamboozled by some marketing firm from NY City.
or that the “greenies” are upset by the old mixes carbon footprint.
The Emperors New Clothes indeed!
22. June 2010 at 4:01 pm
I have to agree with BBQMaster. I purchased the new “Competition” charcoal at Costco this year and have tried it in several grilling situations. The ONLY time I was OK with the results was using it for hot and fast grilling of steaks and burgers. Using it for 2 zone cooking or low and slow smoking was a disaster. I did an 8 lb. pork shoulder last weekend that takes about 5 hours on my Fire Magic grill with an adjustable coal bed height. Using the old Kingsford briquettes I would typically add about 10-15 briquettes an hour. Using the new competition briquettes I was dumping in 15-20 briquettes about every 45 minutes.
I was used to adding smoke by using a stainless steel smoker box that I put right on top of the charcoal. Not with the new briquettes I’ve since learned. The new ones turn to soft ash so quickly they don’t support the smoker box so I found myself building a briquette bunker around the box to keep it hot enough. This turns out to be a pain as it is much harder now to open the smoker box lid to add additional soaked wood chips.
This weekend I’m going shopping for another brand or minimally the original Kingsford briquettes. I’ll dump the remaining competition briquettes in a bucket and save them for grilling steaks, if I can afford to buy a steak after all the money I’ll have spent on trying to find a good ol’ charcoal briquette.
22. June 2010 at 6:26 pm
I tried the “new and improved” charcoal today, and I agree with the rest of you that it while it may be new, it certainly isn’t improved. The new version only burns half as long (if it stays burning at all) and completely disintegrates in half the time. I’d have better luck using well dried horse muffins than this crap (while this may work for dutch ovens, I wouldn’t recommend this substitute for grilling).
Why mess with a good thing? I’m completely disgusted and won’t be recommending kingsford to anyone.
29. June 2010 at 4:33 pm
I have been bbqing for 30 years now and consider it as second-nature. This week with the new Kingford’s charcoal briquets which are suspiciously lighter in weight and burn much quicker, I have undercooked a chicken and overcooked lamb kabobs because they did not brown. Our Webber has a thermometer and does not heat up properly unless I use quite a bit more charcoal! Not a very “Green” concept. Perhaps this is just another ploy by a company to boost profits! I will be looking for a new source for charcoal.
18. July 2010 at 6:59 am
My husband and I have been using Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes for years. He has seen in the last year or so that the regular briquette bag of 20 lbs is now a bag of 16-18 lbs. and the briquette is thinner which does not burn as long. It’s understandably that a company these days is having problems with economic issues as well as the individual. But, to decrease the bag size, decrease the briquette size and then double the cost is stretching it. Everyone has a budget; and if we have to, we will find another briquette~~if there is one.