From what I understand, competition pellets may often the best way to go, but a bit more spendy. And the reason why is they are supposed to be 100% smoke/flavor woods, while the others (apple, cherry, hickory, etc.) are actually blends of a large proportion of fuel wood (pine) coupled with the targeted wood (say, apple), often with the smoke wood constituting only like 30-40% of the pellet. Still, some manufacturers cheat on their competition pellets too. And, rarely certain types of meat you may not want a blend of smoke and want a targeted wood, such as fish or cheese.

But, it is good to know about the "fuel wood" secret on pellets when you make the decision of what to buy.