# Need a new smoker



## thill (Aug 23, 2006)

LGB said:


> I went with a Pellet grill. I've had Masterbuilt 30" upright wood chip/chunk smokers. They worked great but needed babysitting. Wood chips/chunks need replacing every hour or so. Decided I wanted a model that needed no babysitting and the pellet grill is that smoker. 20lb hopper lasts over 12 hours. I went with a Pit Boss 850 Pro. Think it was around 550.00 at Lowe's. It's an upgrade from the Walmart Pitt Boss grills. Heavier steel and a few more options. I've smoked several things and love it. Clean up is fairly easy also.


I have a pellet grill with a 20 lb hopper. I enjoy cooking with it and it is super easy to cook with precision for short or long cooks, but they are grills, not smokers. I've been tinkering with mine for over a year trying to get the full smoky flavor my masterbuilt or cheapo bullet style smokers produced and I've finally realized I need a dedicated smoker. I've tried the Pro and PID mode, raising and lowering the chimney cap, adding 1 and 2 smoke tubes, different brands and flavors pellets, placing the meats on the raised racks...and nothing compares to the flavor from a real smoker. This weekend I cooked 4 boston butts, a dozen drumsticks and 10 lbs of potatoes on my pellet grill and they were cooked to perfection, but only a thin trace of smokiness. I want to be punched in the face with a full smoky flavor.


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## J Mac (7 mo ago)




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## J Mac (7 mo ago)

I did seven slabs of baby backs yesterday. Here was the end result…. Have a great day fellas!


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

thill said:


> I have a pellet grill with a 20 lb hopper. I enjoy cooking with it and it is super easy to cook with precision for short or long cooks, but they are grills, not smokers. I've been tinkering with mine for over a year trying to get the full smoky flavor my masterbuilt or cheapo bullet style smokers produced and I've finally realized I need a dedicated smoker. I've tried the Pro and PID mode, raising and lowering the chimney cap, adding 1 and 2 smoke tubes, different brands and flavors pellets, placing the meats on the raised racks...and nothing compares to the flavor from a real smoker. This weekend I cooked 4 boston butts, a dozen drumsticks and 10 lbs of potatoes on my pellet grill and they were cooked to perfection, but only a thin trace of smokiness. I want to be punched in the face with a full smoky flavor.


Ya I think that's a good accurate description of what I have. I call it a pellet smoker/grill but it's still a grill with much less smoke flavor than what smokers offer. I had an offset charcoal smoker but the babysitting it for 12 hours wasn't fun most days. Occasionally I didn't mind it cause drinking a few and relaxing combined was my kinda nice. Most times I have things to do while the grills cooks/smokes the meat. I almost bought the charcoal smoker. Masterbuilt makes a nice one that also uses wood chunks in the hopper.


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## bapotter (Aug 20, 2014)

I'm enjoying my Char-Broil analog electric smoker. They also make a digital and propane version but I wanted simple. So far so good. Use it most weekends and sometimes during the week. I choose it over other similar models because it appeared to be better built...good hinges and latches, thicker materials. So far so good. Get just over an hour of smoke with each fill of the chip tray. A little longer would be nicer...


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## textox (Jan 30, 2020)

Word of warning Masterbuilt customer service NOT the best by any means........


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

bapotter said:


> I'm enjoying my Char-Broil analog electric smoker. They also make a digital and propane version but I wanted simple. So far so good. Use it most weekends and sometimes during the week. I chose it over other similar models because it appeared to be better built...good hinges and latches, thicker materials. So far so good. Get just over an hour of smoke with each fill of the chip tray. A little longer would be nicer...


Try the chunks. Start one or two with a propane torch and put them in the tray. They should give you a couple hours easily


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## Papa Liver (May 20, 2016)

I have the Camp Chef Woodwind 36. It’s a Beast 1,236 SQ inches of cooking area and holds 22# of pellets. All controlled from your phone. Plus has the side sear burner and I have yet to get it, but you can get the jerky rack and a few other accessories. Can control heat/smoke everything without even being out there. Holds some serious amount of meat. Pricey but it’s the big dog! That’s a pic of the jerky rack. Scared to order it lol. Meat sweats


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## wannabeup (Aug 16, 2006)

J Mac said:


> View attachment 840979
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Dude, you're making me hungry!!!


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## J Mac (7 mo ago)

wannabeup said:


> Dude, you're making me hungry!!!


Haha sorry brotha!


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## perchjunkie (Feb 8, 2011)

I built a 5x5 8' tall block smoker with a 4" poured roof. it has a couple of hooks in the ceiling and 6 sets of racks that are 2'x4' each. I use an old BBQ (the kind with the rotisserie hood on it to build my fire). It's 30 years old and all it needs is a paint job. I put a air regulating knob off of an old woodstove to keep it at desired temp. I also have a 40" electric Masterbuilt that was a christmas present a few years ago that I have only used once. The old block smoker is always my go to because it keeps the heat more stable for longer periods of time and I can burn anything I have laying around for fuel. Cherry trees grow all over my property. JM2C.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

@thill

Glad your considering the off set style stick burner.... Cut my teeth on a cheap char grilled offset.... Required alot of tending, mods, learning curve, but IMO the food was a notch above anything I've cooked on or had prepared cooked on...

The lack of smoke flavor you see from other units is not a problem with a stick burner.... I'm not talking pungent smoke flavor but the flavor you get from good clean blue to no smoke... I ran straight apple for everything had a pile readily available for free... Even with a light wood like apple it provided the perfect amount of smoke flavor to compliment the meat and rubs used....

If I were to go stickburner again which I will and working on some form of lower budget not Lang, Jambo etc I would look at a vertical cabinet style stick burner.... It eliminates some of the heat differences from side to.side you get with "affordable stick burners" . The Oklahoma Joe Bandera is the type of cooker I was.looking at.... Char griller has also upped there game with the Smokin Champ which is an upgraded version of the smokin pro I modded and seems to.be a good affordable offset option...

One option not talked about is gravity fed charcoal smoker/grills.... If things were different I'd buy this today... The lack of smoke flavor people talk about with pellet poopers is taken are of with this unit... The ease of use with the pellet pooper but with the more robust flavor of wood and lump.... Also it has the ability to get.much hotter than the easy bake oven for.men for searing steaks... My sister has a traeger and I have been totally unimpressed with the visually unappealing steaks they turn out... Chargrillers makes one the 980 it's also Bluetooth and wifi controlled.... https://www.lowes.com/pd/Char-Griller-Char-Griller-980-Gravity-Fed-Charcoal-Grill-37-76-in-Black-Barrel-Charcoal-Grill/5001374831?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-sol-_-ggl-_-LIA_SOL_119_Grills-_-5001374831-_-local-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzqSWBhDPARIsAK38LY-UBInJHis5ZvMl_2yOYvz7Kby9SHHT20xlXLiaFouJG2D4rT_VRS8aAqL5EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I had a chargrillers akorn for years, small learning curve minimal.adjustments, fuel supper, great for cold weather... That winter we were regularly in the -teens I would fire up my akorn and it would chug along all day sipping fuel on arctic days...They now have the auto akorn which is an awesome upgrade wifi/Bluetooth control and only ,$150 upgrade from standard model
The WSM mentioned is the King of water smokers and is loved by all....

One thing not mentioned that has a cult following is the Ugly Drum.Smoker... If your handy at all one of these even decked out can be put together for relatively cheap.... People that have them love them...
Y'all are killing me... Beautiful Saturday no plans, I miss it... Going from smoking 3-4 times a week for 10 years to quitting cold turkey, I'm ready jump back in.... Got "burnt" out on bbq food no pun intended, but miss it now....


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## thill (Aug 23, 2006)

DEDGOOSE said:


> @thill
> 
> Glad your considering the off set style stick burner.... Cut my teeth on a cheap char grilled offset.... Required alot of tending, mods, learning curve, but IMO the food was a notch above anything I've cooked on or had prepared cooked on...
> 
> ...


Just ordered an old country bbq pits Brazos DLX. It looks like a great value for a 1/4" steel smoker. It should be here in a week or two. Researching quality stick burners was an eye popping experience. Once you begin looking at smokers 1/4" thick or greater, the prices skyrocket! The Oklahoma Joes were tempting but I kept reading/watching/hearing people say to stay away from thin walled smokers, especially for the firebox and OK Joes were pretty thin. I guess the original OK Joes were made with 1/4" thickness until they were sold and manufacturing was moved oversees and the thickness switched from 3 gauge to 12 or 13 gauge. The original owner of OK Joes started up Horizon Smokers and they're made in the USA with 1/4" steel but the prices are up there. Langs, Franklins were all more money than I was willing to part with. Old Country bbq pits Brazos kept coming up in my searches as a good value and after you do a quick and cheap chimney extension mod, they'll cook as good as a $4k Franklin. 

WSM was my 2nd option. Much better price point and produces excellent results. I'm glad I made my decision because the research was consuming my time and could have gone on for a while. 

This is an old review on the original brazos, but it's pretty close to the dlx version.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

thill said:


> Just ordered an old country bbq pits Brazos DLX. It looks like a great value for a 1/4" steel smoker. It should be here in a week or two. Researching quality stick burners was an eye popping experience. Once you begin looking at smokers 1/4" thick or greater, the prices skyrocket! The Oklahoma Joes were tempting but I kept reading/watching/hearing people say to stay away from thin walled smokers, especially for the firebox and OK Joes were pretty thin. I guess the original OK Joes were made with 1/4" thickness until they were sold and manufacturing was moved oversees and the thickness switched from 3 gauge to 12 or 13 gauge. The original owner of OK Joes started up Horizon Smokers and they're made in the USA with 1/4" steel but the prices are up there. Langs, Franklins were all more money than I was willing to part with. Old Country bbq pits Brazos kept coming up in my searches as a good value and after you do a quick and cheap chimney extension mod, they'll cook as good as a $4k Franklin.
> 
> WSM was my 2nd option. Much better price point and produces excellent results. I'm glad I made my decision because the research was consuming my time and could have gone on for a while.
> 
> This is an old review on the original brazos, but it's pretty close to the dlx version.


That's a helluva unit


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## GuppyII (Sep 14, 2008)

Look at Stumps smokers.. Seen one in action and am getting steel together to start building one in the next few weeks. It is a gravity feed charcoal smoker that you run wood chunks in with the coal.. I had a 250 gal reverse flow trailer I built about 10 years ago but had an offer on it a couple weeks ago I couldn't refuse. Demo'd a Weber pellet grill that I really liked but didn't seem to have the smoke that I like. Still rolling on a UDS but it is a bit small at times. The one I am building will have a 24x24x52 inch cook area with 8 racks and should be pretty cool..


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

Realizing my two Weber charcoal grills are needing new parts ( grates, leg repair etc), I'm looking at replacing them with a Masterbuilt gravity charcoal grill/smoker. I love the flavor of charcoal grilled beef. Having the gravity charcoal/ wood chunk fed hopper makes it a win, win for me. The 800 model comes with a griddle insert. The price of a new Weber performer set up is approaching 500-600.00. The 800 gravity grill/smoker runs around 650.00. Next year this will be my replacement for the two webers that are crippled.


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## thill (Aug 23, 2006)

LGB said:


> Realizing my two Weber charcoal grills are needing new parts ( grates, leg repair etc), I'm looking at replacing them with a Masterbuilt gravity charcoal grill/smoker. I love the flavor of charcoal grilled beef. Having the gravity charcoal/ wood chunk fed hopper makes it a win, win for me. The 800 model comes with a griddle insert. The price of a new Weber performer set up is approaching 500-600.00. The 800 gravity grill/smoker runs around 650.00. Next year this will be my replacement for the two webers that are crippled.


Can you combine your parts to have one working Weber? They’re always nice to have around.


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

thill said:


> Can you combine your parts to have one working Weber? They’re always nice to have around.


Most likely what I will do and use it for a mobile grill for hunt camp.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

LGB said:


> Realizing my two Weber charcoal grills are needing new parts ( grates, leg repair etc), I'm looking at replacing them with a Masterbuilt gravity charcoal grill/smoker. I love the flavor of charcoal grilled beef. Having the gravity charcoal/ wood chunk fed hopper makes it a win, win for me. The 800 model comes with a griddle insert. The price of a new Weber performer set up is approaching 500-600.00. The 800 gravity grill/smoker runs around 650.00. Next year this will be my replacement for the two webers that are crippled.


Gravity charcoal cookers are really alluring.... I want one...


My buddy was gonna buy his father a traeger for Father's day, I'm like let me show you something, we ples.upte Chargriller 980 and watched the video.... He's going that route...


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

DEDGOOSE said:


> Gravity charcoal cookers are really alluring.... I want one...
> 
> 
> My buddy was gonna buy his father a traeger for Father's day, I'm like let me show you something, we ples.upte Chargriller 980 and watched the video.... He's going that route...


Yep me too. I've been reviewing the Masterbuilt 800 series unit. I'm in love with it. Having the Pitt Boss 850 Pro pellet grill, it's roughly that size and it's tough to beat charcoal cooking. I'm in next spring. Gonna let the bugs get worked out on those units a bit and probably purchase one early next year.


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