Wood fired barbecue has long been considered king, so it’s no surprise that there seems to be an endless stream of new brands popping up with wood chip, wood chunk, and lump charcoal products in recent years.

While some rely on their big brand name and others claim to have the secret formula or the most unique and exotic wood, Chigger Creek lets its products and customer service speak for themselves. From the understated packaging to the hard work that kept them going through the pandemic, Chigger Creek has proven worthy of a try the next time you’re shopping for wood for your smoker.

Nick Broughton, owner of Chigger Creek, took over the company from a family member six years ago and hit the ground running.

“We’ve always loved cooking; it’s been a big family thing,” Broughton said. “My wife, Erin’s family and my family both do a lot of cooking so it just kind of seemed like a natural fit and we bought it.”

In the six years since, they have gone from hand bagging their products to automating the process and they’ve upgraded their building, secured sources and supply of raw material, and built up their inventory. But it hasn’t been without challenges.

“Every day presents a new challenge,” Broughton said. “Sometimes you deal with the weather element. In the early days, there would be a chance that we could run out of some type of wood and wouldn’t be able to fulfill an order. That happened to me once, probably two or three months in, and I said, man, that will never happen again.”

That dedication to building a sustainable business paid off when the Covid-19 pandemic hit last spring and consumers who were now stuck at home without restaurants to order from turned to home cooking.

According to a study done by The NPD Group early in the pandemic, over 75% of consumers who regularly cook outdoors said they would likely cook outdoors more frequently during the crisis and 48% of consumers whose jobs were affected or who were getting paid less were still likely to cook outdoors more frequently than they were before. That increase was felt by brands and retailers across the spectrum.

“Around the beginning of May and into June, the charcoal supply was gone,” Broughton explained. “Ace Hardware is one of our biggest retailers and they were telling us that they didn’t have a single bag of any brand in their warehouse. We were going nuts trying to get product out the door and luckily we had a pretty decent supply to fulfil orders and get it out there.”

While Broughton ascribes it to luck, it was a testament to his planning and foresight, and it was the reason I first gave Chigger Creek a try. From a consumer standpoint, I typically buy my charcoal and wood chips from Ace, but shortly into Covid, the brand I had been using disappeared. I turned to another brand, but a couple of months later, it was gone too. I gave Chigger Creek a try and liked the results, and since I’ve been able to consistently find it, it became my go-to brand.

Availability is an important factor, but even more so is quality, and Chigger Creek delivers in that department too. Broughton sources all of the wood form orchards and farms within a 60-mile radius of Chigger Creek’s facility in Macon, Missouri. It is all green wood that is stored indoors in a climate controlled building and not treated with chemicals. It is all cut to a uniform size, vigorously shaken to remove debris, and heated to remove moisture and insects in order to meet USDA standards.

“Our big thing is, we want everything in the bag to be usable, whether it be chips or chunks,” Broughton said. “A lot of times you’ll get a bag and the bottom of it will be full of dust. We try to get out as much as possible to bring more value into the bag so the end user can use everything they’ve paid for.”

That’s apparent with their wood chip and chunk packaging, too, because Chigger Creek uses a completely see-through bag printed with product information. That means the customer can see everything inside before they purchase, and the brand can’t hide any filler to make the bag appear more full than it actually is.

As if availability, quality, and transparency aren’t enough, Chigger Creek also operates in a way that has a positive impact on the environment so customers can feel good about the product they are using.

“It’s either from loggers that are doing land management projects or orchards,” Broughton explained. “A lot of times, these fruit bearing trees such as peach and apple will reach maturity to where they don’t produce good fruit anymore. If nobody takes this wood, then they just set it on fire and plant new trees. So we work directly with several different orchards for our fruit wood supply.

“Then, with different loggers and landowners, we try to do everything the best we can to be environmentally friendly,” he continued. “There are forest management techniques that will allow growth if certain trees are removed, and we work with a lot of people doing that.”

The end result is a great product and a diverse product line to choose from. Their “Sweet ‘n Smoky” wood chips and chunks come in single woods such as apple, hickory, wild cherry, nutty pecan, great grape, sugar maple, whispering oak, and desert mesquite, or specialty blends like apple/hickory, cherry/oak, sweetwood, and Kansas City blend.

Pick up a bag at your local Ace Hardware or order online to see for yourself. They also have a store locator on their website to help you find it locally.

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