I'm thinking of buying a smoker...anybody have one they like?

Question

I'm looking mainly for a smoker to make Memphis style BBQ pork shoulder and ribs. My wife is from Memphis and over the last 20 years we've gone there to visit family many times and never missed an opportunity for BBQ. With the passage of time, the family has moved away from Memphis and we just don't have those reasons to go and we miss the Q!

For the yankees reading this, BBQ is strictly a noun in the South.

Answer

Den, I purchased a Cookshack Smokette electric smoker a few months back, and liked it so much that I brought it up to our country house and ordered an AmeriQue, also from Cookshack, to keep in the city.

I make the most incredible hot-smoked salmon, beef ribs, brisket (17 hours!), turkey and chicken. I bought a cold-smoke baffle to make cold-smoked salmon, but I haven't tried it out yet.

One of the great things about these electric smokers is that there is no tending required. Just plonk your seasoned product onto a rack, put a chunk or two of hardwood into the woodbox, plug it in, turn it to the desired temperature, and walk away until it's done.

I've also come to really appreciate Cookshack's down-home customer service, and their online forum.

www.cookshack.com

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For a birthday present my wife got me a Brinkman smoker and I love it - http://www.brinkmann.net/Shop/Detail.aspx?category=Outdoor+Cooking&subcategory=Charcoal+Smokers+%26+Grills&sku=805-2101-S&series=OUT-1001-9&seriesname=Pitmaster&id=283

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We have an electric SmokinTex and love it. We've had it about 3 years now and wouldn't think of doing a turkey any other way. We smoke ribs, chops, whole salmon, brisket and pork shoulder in it regularly. We've also smoked tomatoes, cheese, shrimp, scallops, octopus and goat in it, all with great success. It's completely self-maintaining so you start it up with some wood in the smoker box, close the door and walk away. We run it all year round so we have BBQ ribs in January and our Thanksgiving turkey is always smoked. It's one of the best food-related purchases we've ever made.

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Big Green Egg is the only way to go!

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Big Green Egg website, sorry I forgot it,

http://www.biggreenegg.com/

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I have the Weber Smoky Mountain Cooker, AKA Weber Bullet. I like it a lot.
It's quite easy to use, and turns out reliably good Q with a minimum of fuss. About as foolproof as BBQ can get. Very nearly as easy as an electric smoker, but --IMO-- turns out a better product, and costs less.

If you're interested in a smoker for the food, as opposed to making a hobby of it, this is as good a device as you'll find. If you do make a hobby of it, you'll eventually end up getting an "offset" wood burner of some sort. But those are pretty labor intensive; they require you to constantly mind the fire. The Bullet's pretty much "set and forget."

There's a very good web site devoted to the Weber Bullet here: http://virtualweberbullet.com/tour.html

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I have a Cameron Stove top smoker and for smaller amounts it is the BOMB! Easy to do and control, heavy or light smoking. Not for a whole shoulder but for a couple of slabs of baby backs you won't be disappointed. It does however require an effective ventilation fan

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The Bradley Smoker is very effective,
www.bradleysmoker.com
Looks like a small friidge; but can hold a couple of 14 lb turkeys, or , numerous slabs of ribs and requires very little work once you get the temp correctly set. I also hav a BGE, which definitely requires a little more time and effort; but the resluts are definitely worthwhile.

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Gotta agree with Weinstein's recommend on the Brinkmann. The hardcore BBQ guys might scoff at it, but I don't think you can do better for $400. I've never had much luck with the vertical smokers like BGE's and Bullets. I had a vertical Brinkmann before this one, and often found myself drying things out. I think having the heat source directly under the meat really decreases your margin for error. I've been doing brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, turkey, trout and various game birds on the same horizontal Brinkmann for over ten years now. By keeping it covered when not in use and cleaning it occasionally, I figure it'll outlive me. I know a pretty serious BBQ'er who started out with the same model, then gifted it to a chef friend of ours a few years back when he needed more capacity. Since then he's probably spent ten grand on three or four high-end stock and custom smokers that he'll only keep for about a year or two before he starts looking for something he knows how to use as well as his old Brinkmann. Meanwhile, the chef friend has proceeded to learn how to turn out near-perfect BBQ. He even made it into a cold smoker using a foil-lined cardboard box and a length of flexible dryer vent hose. I'll be the first to admit it was a dodgy looking setup, but his inaugural batch of cold-smoked salmon was so good we ate ourselves silly. Regardless of which brand you choose, I think the most important things are getting one with an offset firebox and a heavy gauge steel body (the lid should feel heavy when you open it). The thickness on mine is about 3/16" - 1/4" (you might want to check to make sure the new Brinkmann's have the same construction if you're looking at one) which really helps maintain an even temperature and allows me to use it almost all year; a necessity for us Yankees. A lot of people seem to like the electrics because you don’t have to mess around with a fire and many are almost automatic, but I think years of learning to keep the temperature steady on a fire really gave me a good feel for how the whole process worked. Although since then, I've gotten lazier and added an Afterburner (http://www.gassmoker.com/Afterburner_H.htm). It's a propane burner add-on that gives you temperature control as good as any electric. I think one of these and a horizontal smoker with an offset firebox is the best combination flavor and flexibility. Nice thing is, when I want to go back to the traditional lump charcoal method, all I have to do is open the firebox door and slide the burner out.

Whatever you wind up buying, just remember if you have fun using your new pit and your friends and family greedily eat up your BBQ, you made the right choice.

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I think it's also fair to warn you that you're not gonna be an expert the second you take it out of the box. I've had a smoker for 7 years now and still haven't come up with ribs that I'm head over heals about. I'm happy with my shoulders, chickens and salmon (Hot smoked) but brisket, turkey and ribs have all eluded me so far. I'm real close on the ribs though. 

Smoking is as much about technique as anything.

DT

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I have a Kamado also. Love it.

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Y'all should check out the Drum Smokers at www.bigdrumsmokers.com. It is great technology and well executed. Anything at those prices which can achieve 24 hr low and slow smoking times has got my vote.

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Have to agree with Ted, the Weber Smokey Mountain for 200.00 from Amazon.com is the way to go for just family cooking or a small get together. There is a whole web site devoted to these smokers, just type in "weber bullet" and you will find it (The Virtual Weber Bullet or TVWB ). This site is 10 times better than the owners manual. It has recipes and tips on about everything concerning their usage. Someone on one of the other replies needs to also visit this site, he mentioned he was having trouble adjusting the heat while cooking on the W.S.M. Highly suggest you use the "Minion Method" for firing up your WSM, its all explained on this web site. BBQ teams have won many events using these little dynamos. For shoulder and butts I usually smoke them for 12 to 16 hrs on one load of charcoal and and 4 or 5 chunks of smoke wood for flavor.
Someone mentioned the Big Green Egg, it also does a great job, but depending on which one you buy you could purchase 3 to 5 WSM's. Weber will also stands behind their products, customer service is second to none. Hope this post finds you in time, I realize I'm a little late. By all means research!!!

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I have a CookShack Smokette and love it! Great temp control, easy to clean and very sturdy. Now, it will set you back over $400 but if you like to smoke then it is a great option.

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I purchased a Tejas offset water pit about five years ago, and it's been bulletproof. It's designed like a bomb shelter and made to last that long. Jim has kept the design pretty simple and quite functional. The finishing isn't shabby either. 

My only other recommendation might be a Trager smoker, they use the pelleted wood. The nice thing about this unit is that anyone can use it. It doesn't take someone to know how to manage the fire pit to run it. Basically you just turn it on and walk away. The only trick is finding a local dealer that carries the pellets.

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I recently bought a Cookshack Amerique, it is completely digital, you put in your smoking wood, meat, plug in the probe and it will cook a perfect pork butt, brisket , etc and automatically shut down to a holding temperature so you dont have the hassle of adding charcol every hour. They have different size smokers for home and large commercial restaurant smokers, to find out more go to http://cookshack.com/

Check out their forums on the site also, really good info from other smoker affecianados.

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I've read all of your posts, and find myself more confused than ever. Seems like everyone's got their favorite brand and style. So what's a beginner to do? How do you decide on that FIRST smoker? What features are most important? How does one enter the world of real southern BBQ without having to take a second mortgage on the house?

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I got a New Braunfels barrel (offset) smoker 10-12 years ago as a Father's Day present & have been hooked on it ever since. New Braunfels is out of business now. My smoker is getting a bit of rust on it so I read through this thread with keen interest. IMHO, unless you make the big bucks, the way to go is with a low-budget barrel smoker -- the Char-Broil silver smoker (previously noted) or the Char-Griller Smokin' Pro. Both are for sale at Home Depot & you can check them out on the HD website. They retail in the $169-$159 range. A barrel smoker gives you the authentic barbecue flavor/experience in a way that's hard to replicate with a bullet (or, for certain, any kind of electric smoker). Labor intensive? Maybe, but all good BBQ is labor intensive . . . if it were easy to do, a whole industry + contests wouldn't be built around it. (Of course, you could say the word ``hamburger'' and my arguement falls to pieces, but, hey . . .) The key to an offset smoker (or any smoker) is a reliable wood supply. If you can get, say, a half cord of hickory or mesquite or oak, you're in business. The other variable is meat. If you live in Texas, big briskets are no problem. Here in the D.C. area, fuhgetaboutit. But we have good pork shoulders, pork ribs and I just bought huge slabs of beef short ribs at a Latino grocery that turned out pretty well (got me a lot of compliments). But bottom line is you probably go wrong with most any of the suggestions aforementioned. And if you're a newbie, the best advice is the answer to the old joke about how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

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You don't mention a budget for your smoker. Assuming budget is not a concern, I would recommend a Traeger Wood Pellet Grill made out here in Oregon. Just Google Traeger Grills.

The Traeger is almost too easy to use for smoking as the electronic auger and fire box regulates your temps all day long!

For smoking before the Traeger days, I used my Kamado cooker most often. I still have a Kamado (old school from Asia), 2 Weber Kettles and a Weber Genesis gas grill. The Traeger is very easy to use but spendy to buy and operate.

Have fun smoking and grilling!

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We have a Weber smoky mountain cooker (bullet smoker) and it is fantastic. We have been following the guidance of http://virtualweberbullet.com/, the guy gives exacting steps to get really great results. We have smoked ribs, chicken, fish and prime rib all with outstanding results. We ordered smoke wood chunks from charcoalstore.com, and we use hardwood charcoal. While you are ordering (this smoker or other) be sure to order a thermometer to mount on the smoker, it is essential (the website mentioned above details how to do this cheaply and easily for weber bullet). Good luck.

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Just because I'm a Yankee doesn't mean I don't understand BBQ. ;-)

For Mother's Day, my hubby bought me a smoker - not the most expensive out there, but it's been working very nicely for me and it's what was in the area - smokers are a relatively new commodity when purchased in this area- Char Broil's Silver Smoker. 

The only thing I will say is that it didn't come with the thermometer so I had to find one online, but it was well worth it. The other is that the directions that come with it sucked. The paperwork was close to a dozen pages of how to assemble and then half a page of how to light the grill. It didn't really give great details on using the grill, so be prepared for some trial by error when getting the temperature right.

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i am seriously considering buying the costco "grand cafe" propane gas smoker. (yes, i am not a purist, but i am tired of tending fires.) has anyone had any experience with this machine?

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You seem to know how to make good Q, so why not have the best. 

Pits by David Klose. 

http://www.bbqpits.com/

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I'm thinking of buying a smoker...anybody have one they like?

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