Smoker

I had several slightly different stick burners over the years. A few years back, I decided to show my age (and laziness) and bought a Traeger when I caught the model I wanted at the right price. I got it for $600 with free shipping. More competition has brought the prices down, so you have to look around a bit now. Pit Boss and others have good features. I wanted a pellet grill for the convenience of not having to monitor the fire.
 
I am (was) a hardcore charcoal/wood smoker on my 22" Webber for over 45 years, Decided to get a smoker and looked at many options but decided on an electric smoker, talk about set it and forget it!!! I purchased a "Smoking-It" smoker and love it. Nothing like putting a Brisket in at 10:00pm and besides reading the bluetooth thermometer, not worrying about it for 18 hours, gives excellent smoke and creates a good smoke ring. I still would like a Treager, just because(y)
 
I researched these grills for the longest time. Finally settled on thee Master built 800 series charcoal side load. It is simple to use ,load charcoal on side light , set temperature on controller then you are ready to go. It is simple, user friendly, high temp to 700 degrees, came with griddle and 2 grates and 2 shelves. I went the model as the traeger and other models did not reach the searing temperature for steaks and smashed burgers plus the pellets can jam up and cause problems. You can also get a rotisserie for the unit. I like the heck out of mine and use it quite a lot when the weather allows. I also got a good deal by mistake, normally $780 and Walmart had it marked at $475. Don't know why as others there were at the regular price. I snapped that puppy up quick.




David
 
I've had a variety over the years. I had a Masterbuilt electric that worked well, although it had a pretty small chip capacity so I had to monitor that and replenish it every few hours. My current smoker is a Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker. I've been very happy with it. I can do an all-night cook without having to do anything but put the meat in and monitor the meat temps. I've not had any problems with pellets getting clogged, but then again I live in a dry climate so swollen pellets aren't a problem here. I really like that it has Wi-Fi capabilities, so I can control the temp and turn it off from anywhere with my phone. (I also have Wi-Fi thermometers for monitoring the meat temps.) The Traegers are also excellent units, but they were outside my budget range. I also have a large New Braunfels vertical smoker with a separate fire box that was originally wood-fired but I converted it to gas years ago with a pan for the wood chips. It does a great job and holds steady temps, but I really don't have much need for such a large smoker since I'm typically just cooking for myself.

I've also got a Weber natural gas grill, so I really didn't need the grilling capabilities of a smoker/grill combo. I use the grill year-round.
 
I used to feed sticks of wood into a homemade offset. It was fun to use and worked ok, but was a lot of work to keep it running.

Like Vaughn, I switched to a masterbuilt electric, and that was really easy to use, but getting a good smokey flavor was a little tough.

Darren talked me into a pellet smoke several years ago and costco had them on sale, so I picked up a traeger. Mine may not be hooked up with wifi, but it has worked great for me. The pellet smoker for me has been a complete set it and forget it until time to eat kind of thing. There are a bunch of good brands of pellet smokers out there, so I'd say if you find one on sale that has good reviews, pick it up.

They don't tend to do that well at regular grilling, but I've got other grills for that purpose.
 
Are you looking to just smoke or grill too?

There are pellet smokers and pellet grills/smokers. The main difference will be in the max temps they reach. Most smokers max out in the 400F to 450F range, the grill versions can get up to 800F or higher. Just want to be sure if you plan to grill also to check the specs.

I have a Green Mountain grill/smoker and have been happy with it. It even has a pizza oven attachment. Makes a good pizza, but don’t use it very often. For smoking it works well and stays within a few degrees of what it is set to. The fan is variable and will cut out if the temps are spiking or speed up to stoke them back up.

Many of the pellet smokers just have a single speed fan and can see some temp swings with them as the either feed more or less pellets to adjust. This is still way better than babysitting a charcoal cooker

But, if you don’t mind tending them, charcoal ones are as good as pellet smokers. A Weber Rocky Mountain Smoker is probably on the high end of what I’d spend for one, but they hold temps very consistently for up to a 9 to 12 hour cook at low temps.

On the low end, I’ve used the cheaper charbroil bullet smokers without the bottom, they work, but tending to the meat can be a bit of a hassle if they don’t have easy access to the lower shelf. A slight wind will really throw off your temps and cook times too. If you’re not looking to cook a lot they work. One of my coworkers used to make blocks of cheese in one. He’d just light a single briquette in a tin can put a handful of soaked apple wood chips on it and set it in the chamber off to one side, fill the other side with blocks of cheese and leave it for an hour or two. It didn’t get warm enough to melt the cheese, and left a lot of smoke flavor. He’d put the cheese back in the fridge for a week or so, usually got more flavorful after sitting in there.
 
Not sure yet what I want.

I am reading all your comments and learning.

Money is certainly an issue. Spent a lot of money on the house in 24 and savings is low. I don't want to kill the savings account.
I have points saved up but that is for a new 85 tv
 
Leo, The one you linked to says it is a frequently returned item. That's a red flag to me.

I have a couple of older propane powered Masterbuilt Sportsman Elite's. I like them because the shelves are large enough to do full racks of ribs and they will hold several pork butts. I chose propane because I wanted to keep the smokers far from the house so as not to aggravate the missus' asthma or stink up the house, and also didn't want to mess with a long extension chord. The first I bought new from Bass Pro about ten years ago and I picked up the second one from Facebook market place a couple of years ago. (I see used smokers frequently on FBMP.) They are simple bottom burner set ups with a dial control similar to a grill. No fancy temperature controllers, but I can generally adjust the dial to maintain temperature within about a 50 degree range, with frequent trips to check how things are doing.
A big drawback, other than lack of accurate temperature control, is that in between uses spiders will get into the burners and feed tubes and their webs clog up the burners and affect the propane/air mix causing yellow flame and soot. Before each use I have to fill up my portable air tank and use compressed air to clean out the burner orifices/feed tubes to make sure of a clean blue flame. A real PITA. For those reasons I don't recommend propane.
I'd love a Traeger or other pellet smoker that would maintain a temperature without constant babysitting, but looking at the ones on display at my local ACE gave me sticker shock, so will have to make do with what I have.
 
The Pit Boss gas smoker you linked to looks like a workable unit, although I'd be interested to see some reviews on it before deciding whether to buy it. Before you pull the trigger on a smoker, I'd suggest browsing through one or more smoking or BBQ forums to get a bigger picture of what smokers others are using and any problems they might be running into with specific brands/models. I used to belong to a great forum called The Smoke Ring, but it has shut down. I did find the Smoking Meat Forums here and it looks like many of the guys from The Smoke Ring have moved over there:


Down toward the bottom of the Forums page, I see they have subforums for pretty much every style of smoker out there...wood, gas, electric, pellet, etc. I've found BBQ forum guys are generally eager to help newbies and offer all kinds of advice. Meat smoking guys are a lot like woodworkers in that regard. :thumb:
 
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I think you'll find a number of workable basic models in the $225 - $250 price range. And as Ted said, you might find some good bargains on the used market. Smokers are a lot like shop tools...people upgrade to bigger/fancier models and need to get rid of their oldsmokers to make room for the new ones. As long as the racks are clean and nothing is rusted, I would have no qualms about buying a used smoker. (Be aware that the inside of the cooking chamber might look dirty, but as long as it's not dripping with grease, that just means it's well-seasoned.)
 
I mostly use a cheap upright propane smoker, looks like the price has almost doubled since I got it around $250 now.

It does NOT do low temperature very well, to solve that I bought a $15 hibachi and pop riveted a dryer duct fitting to the top of it and the inlet side of the smoker so I can move the "smoke box" off to the side. I usually start a small charcoal fire and then add wood chunks to that.

Pros: cheap to buy, cheap to run (I mostly use tree trimmings and select scrap wood), flexible, doesn't take a huge amount of space (maybe 18"x18" floor space although it's maybe 4' or more tall for storage).

Cons: less consistent temperatures, more care and feeding in use, not as hip with the joneses.

For small amounts of smoking I go even more down market and use my propane grill and use the burner opposite where the food is (I bought a 3 burner with the burners side/side partially for this reason) and use a redneck "tin can smoke box" on the side (
- you can also buy a premade "smoke box" for between $10 and $40..).
 
My first smoker was an old junked metal walled refrigerator that I gutted, with a thrift store electric frying pan on the bottom as a heat source and a couple of charcoal briquets topped with green alder for smoke. These days an inexpensive amazon SS pellet tube makes be an excellent smoke source. You can turn just about anything into a functional smoker. No need to spend much money to get the job done.
 
I had the Pit Boss pellet smoker like the one Leo is looking at. It did work well for a while but the big draw backs to me were, it was not easy to load and unload or to check on the progress of cooking. Very tight inside when loaded up. You also needed to keep a pan inside on the bottom with water in it to catch the drippings. The pan needed to be refilled a few times while in use. Hard to do and requires opening the door. Also the glass door looks great when new but keeping it clean is a chore. The smoker lasted about 3 years but the electronics blew out. Im shopping for a new one now, leaning toward a Traeger.
 
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