Best Pellets On The West Coast?

Great forum but It doesn't look like theres a lot of info regarding the west coast. Any thoughts on which are the best pellets available in California?

Don't know if they're available in your area, but I've had the most consistent luck with Golden Fire. Bear Mountain is a fair brand, but tend to be more sooty and have more ash content. The Bear Mountain will also tend to have a lot more fines in the bag than others.

I live in NW CA, we have burnt a ton and a half of Cleanburn Doug Fir pellets. They are made in Tacoma, WA and are $290 a ton delivered.
They burn hot, not much ash and have been very consistent.

I have had great luck with Bear Mtn, North Idaho Energy, Cleanburn, Pacific Pellets and Blazers. It's hard to say which is best as they are all mostly Doug Fir. My favorites right now are Cleanburn for price vs heat output and least ash. Bear Mtns were the best I tried, but they want $300 ton vs about $200 for the Cleanburns. This year, Cleanburn cut down the length of the pellets so now they burn pretty close to as hot as the Bear Mtns. North Idaho Energy are great, but also pricey like the Bear Mtn. Pacific Pellets have been good heat output and low ash, but slightly inconsistent in pellet length so one bag will burn super hot and other not as hot. Makes you wonder if something is wrong with the stove at times. The Blazers are the ashiest of all the above, but still put out great heat for typically $200/ton around here. My favorites are in the following order:

Not taking price into consideration:
Bear Mtn
Clean Burn
North Idaho Energy
Pacific Pellet
Blazers

Taking price into consideration:
Cleanburn
Blazers
Pacific Pellet
Bear Mtn
North Idaho Energy

You absolutely can not go wrong with any of these brands.

The pellets I used exclusively this season were Natural Glow Premium +. 100% Doug Fir pellet from Blue Mt Wood Products. Great pellet for $220/ton.

Great pellet, I agree. I have also burned Bear Mountain, and American Eagle wood pellets out of Caldwell, ID. Quite a bit of ash in AE pellets but for $200 a ton, I can deal with some ash.

Huge Bear Mountain fan here. Pacific pellets and Northern Idaho Energy Logs work great also.

Flynfrfun you havent tried the cascades I take it then. they make 4 times more ash than the blazers or cleanburns, and less heat for the 189/210 price range.

My first choice is the blazers,then cleanburns. I just dont see the need to pay the overpriced bearmnts or lignets. 225 a ton is max for me... just my preferneces is all.

I haven't seen any Cascades around me. But, it sounds like I'm not missing anything. I'm with you, the Bear Mtns are great, but the extra 15% heat output is not worth $100/ton more price tag. Besides now that I'm a little more savvy, I realize they just cut their pellets shorter and smaller dia. to get more feed per revolution of the auger. So really, you are not getting more BTU's since it burns hotter, but also uses up the fuel faster. So, now I realize there is nothing magical about their pellets, other than the size. I wasn't much of a fan of Cleanburn because my first ones from 2 yrs ago were longer and maybe bigger dia. and would not burn as hot as the Bear Mtn. Now this year, I notice they cut them shorter and while I haven't compared them again to Bear Mtn, they are burning as hot as the Bear Mtn according to my stove thermometer.

I got lucky and found out about an Arrow Lumber special last fall and got 2 tons of Cleanburns for $175 ea.

I did try some Presto-Logs or something like that from Lowes, but felt they were more ashy and less heat than the Blazers, so I didn't mention them in my comparison.