Traeger Pellets vs Louisiana Pellets

[tenny80]

Living up here in Canada when I went to purchase a smoker last year my only choice was Traeger to get local support.

Fast forward a year and a local retailer is now carrying Louisiana.

I already have my traeger and I am not going to switch but would I be better off switching to the Louisiana pellets? I remember reading on here last year that a lot of people do not like the Traeger pellets.

 

[jimsbarbecue]

Price would be a factor for me. A small difference for a brand I like is ok. If you can get a different brand half price: I would try it.

 

[MossyMO]

I have tried both, I personally prefer Louisiana from the 2 choices. That being said and I am not sure where you are located in Canada but just south of the border in North Dakota majority of pellets in our area that are available are not constructed of 100% flavor wood, use oak as a filler wood; it does make a difference.

In my area Traeger pellets are 70% oak as a filler wood to 30% flavor wood. So if you purchase Traeger hickory pellets they are 70% oak and 30% hickory.

Best pellet you can use will be 100% flavor wood. The one 100% wood pellet to be careful of is cherry as it will not burn as efficiently as other 100% flavor wood pellets.

Using 100% flavor wood pellets is not essential, but it is comforting to get what you pay for.

Also, when getting 100% wood flavor pellets compared to mixed combinations keep in mind pending the hardness of the wood will also determine your pellet usage for BTU's needed.

 

[TentHunter]

In my area Traeger pellets are 70% oak as a filler wood to 30% flavor wood. So if you purchase Traeger hickory pellets they are 70% oak and 30% hickory.

Marty, I'm not trying to knock your post down brother, but I don't think that's accurate.

According to their patent, they are using grape vines and flavored oils for the various flavors with either oak or alder as the "preferred" base wood. It depends on which plant produces them and what is available at the time they are produced (and they don't have to disclose what is used in a particular bag).

The only claim they make in marketing is: "Traeger selects only the finest hardwoods from across the country to go into our pellets." They could be using Maple in a batch for all you know.


Here's a link to their Patent, updated on December 11, 2012 with the U.S. Patent & Trademark office: Traeger's Patent - Flavored Wood Pellet - USPTO


In the Detailed Description section of you will find the following (the red highlights are my own for emphasis):

"Alder and oak wood are the preferred base wood materials to form the small wood particles, however, other wood types may also be used if readily available."

"Nearly any species of grape plant may be used to provide the base grape vine. However, grape plants whose grapes have desirable flavor qualities typically used in wine making such as, for example, cabernet sauvignon, merlot..."

"This embodiment utilizes soybean oil as a lubricant, but other lubricants, especially other edible lubricants, may be used. In other embodiments, a wood oil may be used in the composition in conjunction with the grape vine to add additional flavoring. For example, hickory wood oil will provide a hickory wood flavor when cooking as compared to a mesquite wood oil ... Any wood oil containing a desired flavor is within the scope of this invention, and particularly: apple, alder, cherry, hazelnut, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, and pecan wood oils."

What's bad is I called one Traeger Rep and emailed another and got two completely different answers on this topic.



Are you sure you're not thinking of Bear Mt.? They use a 70/30 blend.