I have had a heck of a time finding Heartland pellets this season. They are my absolute favorite pellet. I already have 60 bags of Heartland's stockpiled in storage, but I'm cooking through my "burn now" stash quickly this winter. I was able to contact Heartland through some internet sleuthing. The gentleman told me that Heartland's sell out fast, nationwide. But, he said Black Hills Gold are the exact same pellet, and the Murdoch's closest to me has a thousand bags. So, I went to Murdoch's and bought 20 bags to see for myself. Low and behold, they are the EXACT same pellet. They look, feel and burn the same. Zero noticeable fines in the bags. They are made in the same factory, by the same company. They are the same price. They even use the same catch phrases on the bags. Does anyone know why companies manufacture and sell the same product, under different names? Seems like it would cost more to do that? Well, at least I have another option now. I'll probably grab a pallet of the BHG pellets in a month or so.
Cubex are great pellets, made by Lauzon. Just by dumb luck a couple of years ago I ran into a FB ad for some Fusion pellets. Had never heard of them before but they had a picture on the add - and they are made by Lauzon. Some pellets are re-bagged for store brands (TSC is an example, and my local TSC ONLY sells their own bags), others may be locked into a contract with a BBS (they sell name X to HD, but not L*wes), but rebagged to Y, they can go to another BBS. Rebagging can also get around consumer's perceptions - say someone had a bad experience with X (which may or may not have been the mfg fault). Consumer goes to brand Y and thinks they are better. Some of it may be for marketing purposes in different areas. Or, even marketing purposes that involve the public's bias of "big business". Others, buy out smaller pellet mills and keep their brand name for recognition. Bags are cheap, printing is cheap. I wouldn't expect the cost difference, if any, to make an impact on the bottom line.
