So since November 3rd I have used 28 bags of Vermont Softwood pellets. I love them as they are the only pellet ever burned, but now that I am into my the latter part of my 1st ton I am on the hunt for more pellets. Driving through NH today, I stopped at Home Depot near Hooksett to check out pellets. They had two brands from the western part of the US. Both bags said "Premium", one bag did give the pellet contents.....the other bag did not. Neither bag said if they were hard, soft or mixed? What's up with that? With the little bit I know about pellets, I felt pretty good about passing up on these! My last question is about all the mixes. 50/50, 60/40, 80/20. Other than a marketing ploy by the manufacturer is there any real advantage of any of these mixes? From people on this wonderful forum....softwoods are from Venus and hardwoods are from Mars. I can't see why anyone would want to mix the two, unless.....there is really isn't much of a difference . Curious, Bill