What is stopping you from choosing between the two?
Lumber Jack and Traeger both are some of the finest choices in the world of grilling when it comes to selecting a brand for grilling pellets.
Those who really know about barbeque understand that the kind of wood pellets used for smoking gives the food its specially textured smoke flavoring.
Knowing about the wood pellets you’re using goes a long way in helping you prepare the best BBQ meals.
So, what brand will you choose?
We have put together a thorough comparison of both pellet companies to help you weigh their qualities.
About Lumber Jack Pellets
Lumber Jack produces pellets using properly harvested, actual woods.
They are later chipped and turned into green chips to retain the complete taste, texture, and natural smoke flavor.
According to many chefs, professionals, and BBQ enthusiasts, Lumber Jack pellets tend to give more heat than other competitors do in the market.
This allows them to be versatile between grilling or smoking, whichever you desire.
For all the 10 different flavors they offer, they use the actual core and bark of the original tree for the particular pellet that you select.
This gives you a realistic smoke flavor during BBQ just like you had a real log freshly cut.
Pros:
- Zero additives or extra oils.
- Already tested for chemical, toxins, ash, etc.
- Ten different flavors.
Cons:
- May produce too much smoke.
About Traeger Pellets
If you happen to own a Traeger grill, the company highly recommends that you use its own pellets.
You can choose pellets from any company in the grill but that will exempt you from using the impressive warranties that come with most of the Traeger grills.
Traeger offers several pellets to make a choice for your BBQ sessions and making a wrong selection will very likely ruin your food.
Although the fundamental manufacturing procedure is similar for all types of BBQ pellets but still there are small details about the wood types that you shouldn’t miss.
You should know everything about different types of Traeger pellets and their specific uses in grilling or smoking.
Pros:
- Burns very well and warm.
- Consistent quality.
- Low ash.
Cons:
- Uses natural flavoring oils and alder/ oak wood according to some articles.
Comparison between Lumberjack and Traeger Pellets
Available flavors and pellet types
Lumber Jack pellet list:
- Pecan
- Mesquite
- Hickory
- Apple
- Fruitwood
- Char
- Competition Blend
- Supreme Blend
- 100 percent Apple
- 100 percent Cherry
- 100 percent Hickory
- 100 percent Maple
- 100 percent Oak
Traeger pellet list:
- Alder
- Apple
- Cherry
- Hickory
- Maple
- Mesquite
- Oak
- Pecan
Duration
A bag of Lumber Jack wood pellets weighing 20lbs can last anywhere between 6 to 20 hours depending on a number of factors that include the grill settings, conditions like the ambient temperature, the kind of grill you’re using, etc.
Lumber Jack BBQ pellets burn at a rate of 1-3lbs/hour.
Traeger pellets on the other hand, are also packaged in bags that weigh 20 pounds each.
These pellets are known to last for around 20 hours for every typical 20-pound bag.
These also depend on the kind of wood you’re burning and the manner in which you burn them.
Details of best flavors and blends
Alder
Alder pellets can go with any BBQ meal because of their versatility, moderate aroma, and flavor.
The Alder pellets also tend to release a lot of smoke and are great for flavoring chicken, bakery delicacies, and seafood without altering their own unique flavors.
Traeger claims to give you 100 percent real hardwood pellets without adding any binding agents etc.
They are available in 20-pound bags. Apart from that, they also offer a blend of Alder and Maple with Leinenkugel’s.
Lumber Jack doesn’t list Alder wood as one of their hardwood options as of now.
Apple
Apple wood is mostly used with poultry and pork and its smoke is quite fruity, which helps enrich meats with milder tastes.
Lumber Jack offers both blended apple pellets and 100 percent flavored apple pellets.
The blended apple flavors are composed of 60 percent debarked red oak and 40 percent pure apple.
Traeger on the other doesn’t offer any blends and their 20-pound apple pellet bags are available.
Cherry
Cherry is one of the pellet options that imparts a very rich, hearty flavor to the dishes. Pellets made with cherry wood are particularly great with beef, pork, and lamb.
Lumber Jack can provide you with two cherry options: 100 percent flavor cherry pellets along with their special Fruitwood Blend. The Fruitwood blend is composed of 80 percent sweet wild cherry and 20 percent apple.
Traeger has two cherry options. One of them is 100 percent flavor Cherry available while the other one is a blend called the Signature Blend containing cherry, Hickory, Maple.
Hickory
Hickory is probably the most popular of all barbeque pellets because of their particularly strong flavor that goes along with almost any type of meat.
Lumber Jack can provide you two different hickory pellet options. They have the 100 percent hickory pellets. The other Char-Hickory blend is 80 percent Hickory and 20 percent hickory lump coal charcoal.
Traeger provides a 20-pound bag of pure Hickory pellets. This is complemented with a Turkey Blend containing Hickory, Oak, and Maple hardwoods.
Other Lumber Jack blends
Lumber Jack’s Supreme Blend (OHC blend) is composed of equal proportions of Oak, Hickory, and Cherry.
Another option is the Competition Blend (MHC blend) which contains equal proportions of Maple, Hickory, and Cherry.
Other options
Both companies also provide other flavors and blends that are mentioned above. You can take a look at them on their respective official websites.
Conclusion
The best company in our opinion is clearly Lumber Jack because of two main reasons. The first one is that they provide a better range of flavors and blends than Traeger.
The second reason is that their options are available in varying ranges of both portions and prices.
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