The place I am looking to get pellets from has 2 varieties of softwood: AWF Ultra at $305/ton Easy Blaze at $269/ton I have used the Ultra on my new Harman stove we had installed in March and they worked well. I haven't used Easy Blaze before. Given the $36/ton price difference are the Easy Blaze softwood worth getting at the price or is it better to stick with the AWF Ultra softwood pellets? Thanks, Matt
That’s a tough one. Personally prefer the AWFWP over the EZB. $305 is a tough pill to swallow though. Maybe consider doing a split, and get some of each?
I like the EZB over the AWFWP's....but that's just me . Would be good to try a couple bags to try but it's probably a little late in the season to do that, especially down our way. You probably can't really go wrong with either but to me the WP's are way too pricey.
The pricing is funny. Around here, the prices are almost exactly the opposite of what Matt is seeing. Over the winter I paid $235/ton for AWFWP (on sale, regular price was $259). EZBs aren't sold at too many places around here, but the few stores that do sell them are at $290 - $300.
Used to like the EZBs pretty good, at least the first couple batches I got (thanks to you and will711) - they were really good. However, in recent seasons the product has changed dramatically, in fact so much that I wouldn't be able to tell if it was the same product anymore. The pellets are less durable, don't have that telltale "SYP smell", and just don't burn as clean as they used to. It's as if the company made a significant change to their recipe or production process.
correct. They did seem to change the recipe. They give just as good heat as they always did. But color changed and there's a bit more ash than there used to be. Went from nice blonde color to a darker brown. I sent them an email complaining about it and they gave me some quality control is our main goal stuff never really addressed it. Bottom line is it's a good hot pellet and if you never used the old recipe you would not find any problems with it. That's my take on it
Forgot to mention that at 265 that's not a bad price at all for some very hot softies. I'm talking about the easyblaze super premium softwoods. Not the blend.
EZB doesn’t make a blend anymore. Unless the dealers screamed loud enough for them to change their mind. Too bad, it was a decent product.
Oh yeah forgot another thing.original blaze bags had lots of fines which was my only single complaint. New stuff is pretty much fines free.
I think they mentioned that in an email to me but I thought it was a temporary stop production of the blend.
Thanks for the replies. I've been checking around some more and have a couple of friends who swear by hardwoods and even have said that they've experienced hardwoods generally being more expensive than softwoods (only just over the PA line from Maryland). Another friend in Maryland swears by Hamer Hot Ones hardwood pellets, I"m tempted to try as they are only $269/ton vs the AWF Ultra softwoods at $305/ton. I'm tempted to just say screw it and go for 3 tons of Hamers, saving $108 and throw the dice on them. I know the Harman Accentra I have will handle just about any kind. I'm annoyed I didn't try any others besides the Ultras when i had it installed late winter, but now need to decide on my 3 ton order or potentially run into even higher prices come the Fall.
ww Hamers changed over the years. Still bring good heat but lots of very coarse ash now. Not the 1st pellet to go from top shelf to drop in quality or recipe change. Could be hard to get materials, production costs etc. One thing for certain, never saw any great pellet hardwood or softwood go from a changed product back to it,s top of the heap status.
Matt, if possible try more than one brand. In fact, try as many different kinds as you can, to see how they all burn. Consider getting one pallet of each - softies, hardwoods, blend, whatever. You and your stove will find a preference, plus it’s fun to experiment, and if you get a batch you don’t like, at least it’s not your entire stash...
I was an EZ Blaze fan until they were hard to get in my area and the price got unreasonable . I now use Vermont softwood and fine they perform just as well .
For that price, grab the EasyBlaze and don't look back. That's way too much for Ultra in your market.
