Traeger Signature Blend Pellets Review

Hey smokers and welcome to my Traeger Traeger Signature Blend Pellets Review. Now, for those of you who have visited my site before, you will know that it is all about my adventures on my new Traeger Pro Series 22 pellet smoker. And if you haven’t, well I bought one and and have been smoking away madly on it.

And for most of my smoking exploits, I have been sticking to what I know in terms of pellet wood and flavors with Hickory or Apple for Pork or Mesquite for Beef. However, when I went to my local trusty BBQ store recently, there had been a delivery delay meaning the only pellets I could get my hands on were the Signature Blend.

And as they cost a little more than the regular ones, I thought I had better check them out properly!

So with that in mind, I am going to do a cook and see how they go. From here I will run you through:

• What they are and how they are made
• How I will test it/results
• Pros and Cons
• Cost
• My thoughts

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Traeger and make a commission on sales of any Traeger products purchased from this page.

What Are Traeger Signature Blend Pellets?

Traeger Signature Blend Pellets are a combination of hickory, maple and cherry hardwoods. The reviews and sales pages outline this mixture as creating a “balanced flavor that works well for grilling, smoking, baking and roasting, imparting a rich, smoky taste”.

And unlike pellets made of specific wood types, these ones are portrayed as being suitable for almost all meat types including

• Beef
• Poultry
• Pork
• Lamb
• Seafood
• Baked Goods
• Vegetables

As with most smoker pellets of quality, the Traeger Signature Pellets are made with the use of real hardwoods that are manufactured by:

1. Griding: To start, the chosen hardwoods are ground into small particles to ensure that the wood is in fine enough form to be shaped into pellets.
2. Drying: After grinding, the wood particles are dried to reduce their moisture content to around 6-10%.
3. Compression: The dry wood particles are then fed into a pellet mill where they are compressed under high pressure which heats the wood slightly, causing the lignin (natural wood glue) to soften and act as a binder for the particles.

The formed pellets are then cooled, which hardens the lignin again and solidifies the pellets’ structure.

Check out my post: Smoker Pellets – What Goes With What?

How Will I Test Them?

To test this, I have simply undertaken some research to determine what characteristics make a ‘good’ smoker pellet. This way I am testing against a clear set of parameters including:

1. Quality and consistency
2. Heat and temperature control
3. Ash production
4. Moisture and dust content
5. Taste

And for my cook, I have chosen a pork shoulder as the meat will allow for a good taste test and the cook long enough to really check out all of the above. This is how it went:

1. Quality and Consistency

In terms of quality and consistency, the key here is the appearance and feel of the pellets. I always look for a sheen on the pellets that are uniform in their width and circumference (length will vary). They should also feel fairly hard – i.e. not ‘squishy’ and make a snap when broken in two.

Poor quality pellets are also characterized by the presence of sawdust and other impurities in the pellet – trust me, if you have had these, you will be able to see it as you inspect them.

My score: 9.5

I have always found Traeger pellets to be of high quality with a good sheen on the side and consistency in size. They are solid and do not display any evidence of sawdust of fillers in the mix.

2. Heat and Temperature Control

As we know, this smoking caper involves using wood pellets as a fuel to actually cook our food. Furthermore, the whole low and slow philosophy works best at a consistent, low temperature. And whilst most pellet grills (at the budget end anyway) do have slight fluctuations in temperature, a good pellet will assist here in keeping things ticking over in a set and forget scenario.

Poor pellets lose temperature quickly if there is not enough hardwood or consistency in the mix.

My score: 9.5

I may be taking a half point off unfairly here as my smoker does have a 10 degree variation depending on how many pellets the auger has distributed however in this case, there were no major fluctuations in the cook and the meat came out on time and cooked perfectly.

3. Ash Production

When wood burns, it produces ash. And when it comes to pellet smokers, pellets that produce too much ash can cause the burn cup to struggle to keep them alight. Additionally, the internal fans can blow ash all around onto your food as well.

The main thing here however is that the better the quality of the pellet, the less ash they produce.

My score: 7.5

I have to admit that when I pulled the pit plate off I was actually a little shocked at how much ash there actually was in the smoker – compared to the hickory or apple pellets I have been using.

Now just to be clear, there was definitely not enough there to cause me any problems and there was no ash on my pork, however there was a little more than I expected here.

4. Moisture and Dust Content

This one was probably covered in the first test above and not always the fault of the manufacturer. I mean if you drop the pellet bag enough they will break down a little. Additionally, if you don’t store them properly they can build up moisture.

I am therefor going to be a little lenient here. However, excess moisture and dust will definitely affect the ability of the pellets to maintain temperature and increase ash build up.

My score: 9

In light of the above, I have taken this from the point of opening the bag. Moisture content was non existent so a big tick there. There was a little more dust than I was expecting however on inspection of the bag, it did look a little ‘jaded’ so I think I should have checked that prior to purchase.

So I will give them the benefit of the doubt based on my experience with other pellets from this brand.

5. Taste

This last one if obviously a matter of personal preference and can be a little hard to detect as well. So here, I didn’t mention to my family that I was using new pellets and just let them try the output to see if they noticed anything.

My score: 9

For me, I actually noticed the difference in flavor straight away in that the sweetness of the maple and cherry was definitely evident. My wife then asked me directly if I used different pellets here after a “Oh, I like that”. So that is good enough for me.

My 12 year old shrugged his shoulders, made a sandwich and ran off, so I guess 2 out of 3 aint bad… haha.

So, My Thoughts

Look, in my view, at the end of the day when it comes to smoking meats, the last thing you want to be worrying about are the pellets. These pellets are well made, hold temperature well and can be used for almost anything that you could throw into a smoker.

I tested them on pork shoulder however in the time since that test and finishing this post, I have use them on pork belly burnt ends and a tri tip as well and to be honest, the taste of the meats in these instances was perfect.

So whilst, they are a couple of bucks more expensive than singular wood options, they are a great choice for those who vary their cook types or simply can’t be bothered changing pellets all the time as well.

Conclusion

So there you have it, honest review and appraisal of the Traeger Signature Blend Pellets Review. I hope it has been of assistance but as usual, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out by commenting below. I would also love to hear of your own experience with these.

Are there any other products you have been looking at but want to know more about? If so, please comment below and I will do my best to get some details for you.

Until next time

Have fun and get smoking!

Paul