In discussing what Bar-B-Qubes are or are not we came to the conclusion that Bar-B-Qubes produce the same natural smoke flavor of wood because they are wood. Natural wood, compressed and unique in the delivery of that smoke flavor but wood none the less. So, why use Bar-B-Qubes ?
1. Bar-B-Qubes Deliver Convenience
Because of the dense form, they smoke longer.
Take a look online at wood chunk marketers, they will say that their wood is dense. So, obviously there is an advantage to a dense wood chunk. Bar-B-Qubes are the densest, compressed wood chunks®, grown in the USA, and available now! How long a mojobrick burns depends on many conditions. The size of the fire, the wind, the applicator all of these need to be taken into consideration when comparing products. We bring 3 sizes to market. the smallest it is for cooks lasting less then an hour. The medium size is for 1 rack of ribs or a couple pork chops or a couple steaks. Try one small and one medium size Bar-B-Qubes® for a rack of ribs or 2. a whole chicken. Add a Large Bar-B-Qube for 2 chickens or a small butt. Or try one large and a medium Bar-B-Qube® for a stronger smoke profile.
2. Low Moisture Content
"Less Moisture means Cleaner Smoke. Clean Smoke means Better Tasting Barbecue” ~ Author of “How to BBQ Right” Blog and professional Pitmaster Malcom Reed.
Bar-B-Qubes are 6% to 9% moisture which is 2 to 3 times drier than wood chunks.
3. Proven Results
Bar-B-Qubes have been tested by grandmothers, dads, professional cooks, test kitchens, research and development corporations, by a Saudi King and his court. Everyone and anyone can cook with Bar-B-Qubes and get the same consistent smoke flavor that Bar-B-Qubes are intended to deliver!
The first big result happened in 2012, when a butcher in Oklahoma took a Cherry Bar-B-Qube and used it in conjunction with his pellet grill. He made that combination work at the World Food Championship and won the entire event in the process!
That's when we knew we had a product worth investing in!
4. Simplicity and Diversity
We currently produce the top sellers - Hickory, Oak, Cherry, Apple all are single species but we also do the fun ones which are bourbon, pecan, mapple™, and the name everyone stole from us "Competition Blend" which is a blend of 2 different oaks. So, with Bar-B-Qubes you can cook with the regular smoking wood or you can mix it up and cook with a wood that has been blended to create a unique barbecue experience.
Please enjoy our Mojobricks responsibly and tell a friend to try Mojobricks!
The Story of Bar-B-Qubes
As a college student, co-founder and creator of the Mojobricks® product line, Fred Grosse had the unfortunate experience of a barbecue of steaks leaving the over smoked taste of kerosene in his mouth. That over smoked flavor made him swear off cooking barbecue again! 25 years passed when a rugby buddy and business associate approached him about the future of the wood pellet industry, the idea of burning an earth friendly cleaner alternative to firewood was the beginning of what is now Mojobricks® Bar-B-Qubes®. He wanted to do his part in reducing carbon emissions. So, in 2008 with the encouragement of his wife, Mojobricks® began. The first two years we operated out of an old trucking terminal on the south west side of Chicago. For the first 4 years we were selling firewood bricks, a compressed firewood. Early on in the firewood business we were asked if it could be used for smoke flavor. The first few times, Fred said, "NO"! Once you start hearing the same question over and over again that answer became maybe and then, yeah why not? The why not part was because we had no idea. "I could still taste that nasty kerosene wood smoke flavor from the 1990's". So, when we discovered the bbq brethren we began to make connections and learn about real barbecue cooking. This led to some firewood bricks being sent out to people who understood how to cook barbecue." I remember the first time someone asked me if I could make them smaller, I said no." But that question kept coming. So somewhere around 2011 we made some smaller. One of those people was a butcher in Oklahoma. He was cooking on a pellet grill, he may have been the most successful competitor cook in Oklahoma. In 2011 only a handful of pellet grill manufacturers existed. So, we were learning with everyone else. He showed us that if you place what we were calling a "Barbqube" on the edge of a fire pot, the edge of the cube would hang over the fire pot and ignite. The wood would burn straight back away from the flame. He is David Bouska of Butcher BBQ. The first World Food Championship winner & he won it using a cherry Barbqube® in 2012. When he won the event we knew we were on to something! That same year a competitor team Gonehoggin.com heard about Bar-B-Qubes and bought a bag online, this first time competitor at the Jack Daniels Invitational World Championship placed 2nd in brisket and 2nd place Ribs! On the ride home from the Jack he called the Mojobricks hotline and expressed his gratitude and affinity for mojobricks.
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The "BarB-Qube" had early successes as it would smoke for about 3 hours. People really loved that. As it turned out wood chunks do not last very long. The more fieldwork we did, the more we learned about how to cook barbecue and how to use Bar-B-Qubes in a variety of grills and smokers. In 2013, Two worthless nuts, Pork Mafia and Randy and Andy of The Southern Krunk BBQ team placed 1st in Ribs at the Jack Daniels World BBQ Championship- cooking on a reverse flow cabinet charcoal smoker. In the meantime, we began hearing from teams who had never won any event, the first time they used mojobrick they won the state championship. Fred's mom an 80 year old grandmother said "if I can cook bbq using mojobricks than anyone can!" On that note, we even had a Kansas City "American Royal" Kids Que World Champion when the then 12 year old Cole Backerman of Caveman Cuisine became the first Grand Champion of that event.
The success of Mojobricks for us has been the journey. We have met so many people, heard from many customers, made new friends and shared in so many success stories, it would be a shame to quit just because of hardships!
So we keep going. We hope you will to! No matter what life serves up , no matter what the mountain is to climb no matter what the challenge, we hope you will keep dreaming and keep going as we continue to bring you the "worlds finest smoking woods". We'd love to hear from you and your experience with our unique wood for smoke flavor - a one of a kind product.
To you & the bbq community, stay safe in 2021.
Fred and Mandy
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P.S. - 2019 was our most successful Jack Daniels Invitational with 3 teams representing we saw a 1st in Pork, 1st in Chicken, 2nd in Chicken and a perfect score in Brisket!
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The Benefits of Using Bar-B-Qubes
The making of the bourbon mojobricks
PART I
We went to great lengths to bring about the bourbon barrel wood for smoke flavor. It was no simple task, although we wished it had been. In the process of making the bourbon product we looked at American, Irish, Scottish and Spanish sources for what we considered to be the highest quality of product available. Our first samples came in big bags of black, brown and white wood fines.
We separated all samples by age, aroma, barrel wood and finally by the fines themselves. Eventually we settled on the set of samples that contained only the inside of the oak barrels wood fines. These produced the greatest amount of aromas that tickle the taste buds. Vanilla, maple syrup, charred oak, butterscotch, caramel, pecan floral, even the aroma of apple was detected and so we separated each accordingly.
The whole process of making mojobricks is a secret so we can only say so much about the wood we use in the process of making it. Here I will tell you – once we decided on which fines to use with which wood it was a matter of adding the right ratio of fines for the big compression machine. No binder was needed, it never is needed. We have never used a binder in the making of any mojobrick. 100% wood was in the mix - cherry bourbon is a mixture of the Vanilla Oak Floral wood and our premium cherry hardwood. The Apple is a mix of the Apple Oak floral bourbon hardwood and our premium apple fines with a hint of some other bourbon wood. The Hickory bourbon came as a collaboration from one of our fans and blogger Scott Bailey of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Scott uses Mojobricks in a variety of smokers and recipes in his weekly blog posts on “the real bbq show.” It was Scott’s suggestion that we mix Oak, Hickory and the strongest wood aroma of the Bourbon wood into one. So we did. So, if the Hickory Bourbon is your favorite you can thank Scott for that! You can see the many videos Scott has produced over the years at “the real bbq show” on FB, IG, and YT. Stop back to learn more about our bourbon woods in the coming months.
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