I've been using these charcoal pellets for a while and I got to say, they are really growing on me.
First, I love the flavor that charcoal gives to grilled meats; when I'm making burgers and dogs I'll run the smoke boost for a while to lay down some of that flavor before cranking it up a bit to finish everything off. When I make cevapcici, a distinct charcoal flavor is essential so I add a smoke tube with charcoal pellets, and this recreates the authentic flavor perfectly. Real Serbian cevapcici have a reddish color interior similar to a smoke ring, I think its the baking soda mixed into the meat reacting with the charcoal fuel, because I have never been able to get them to turn red on my gas grill or in the broiler. A couple of hot off the grill cevaps tucked into a fresh pita with diced raw onion and a dollop of Tzatziki (kajmak is hard to find) pretty much nails the Belgrade street food experience. Which is amazing BTW.
Second, charcoal has a far greater energy density than hardwood, so when we're firing wood-oven pizzas using the Green Mountain pizza accessory, charcoal pellets get the oven much hotter and much faster than wood pellets, the difference is night and day and I don't even consider making pizzas unless I have a bag of Royal Oak pellets on hand.
I only wish every store that stocked Royal Oak charcoal also carried their pellets, I've had to order them online or make a drive out to Farm & Fleet to get them. From what I've read about Royal Oak charcoal the quality is unpredictable, my impression of the pellets is quite the opposite.
