If you were going to buy a smoker?

Gas,charcoal,wood burner,electric? Which one and why? What are your experiences?

charcoal and/or wood burner ... I am old school in this regard plus it can be fun/relaxing to fire it up for a 8-12 hour burn.

I love my LyfeTyme, double-lid with vertical smoker. 24" diamter x 40" horizontal pit, 24" diameter vertical smoker with 3 racks plus firebox. They make a slightly smaller version that is 16" and another that is 20" diameter ... just depends on how much you will be attempting to cook. LyfeTyme ... These come out of Uvalde.

another one I would look closely at also would be from Schmoker's Custom Pits out of Early, TX. Schmoker's Custom Pits ... he can custom build whatever you want. I follow a lot of his builds on his Facebook page. Schmoker's Facebook page

wood/charcoal...look into a UDS, they are great smokers and almost idiot proof

I've owned all but electric. All work, and it kind of depends on your situation and what's important to you.

Gas is set it and forget it, electric should be too. If you want to put a brisket on in the morning, take kids to ball games, run errands, and leave it unattended for a while, this is a good way to go.

If you want to play with it, and are around the house all day, stick burners are the way to go and they're more of an "event". Gotta add wood and tweak it every so often. Not fool proof and not something you can walk away from for an extended period. I think you get better results with this than you do with gas or electric.

I currently have a Big Green Egg which I think brings the best of both of the above. They are pretty much set and forget. I've done 18 hour cooks (including overnight) and still had charcoal left over and the temp doesn't budge once you lock it in. I also think the meat comes out better than either of the above two options and it also functions as an outstanding grill that is capable of cooking anywhere from 225* to 900*. Downside to the Egg is capacity. Even the biggest Egg holds a lot less than the others. I can put a good size brisket or pork butt on mine, but am limited to about 4 racks of ribs if I use a rib rack.

Wood fired is the only way to go. Look into Lang for some top notch professional built smokers. Also could check into local custom builders in your area. Mine is custom built out of a 350 gallon propane tank with tuning plates. Cooks some awesome BBQ. I also built a PID controller for my pit. Basically it powers 2 fans mounted on either side of my firebox and I put a temp probe in the cooking chamber. I had to mess with the settings to get it right, but now it holds my pit within 5 degrees of the set temp throughout long cooks. I've tested it up to 14 hours and it held steady the whole time. The whole controller cost me about $100 to build, which is significantly cheaper than some of the other professional temperature controllers on the market. Once it gets up to temp, I just have to check on it every few hours and add a split when needed. No messing with smoke dampers or adjusting anything. The controller and the fans take care of that for you.

I have a gas grill for quick stuff....burgers, hotdogs, chicken breasts/thighs, sausage, shrimp, etc....

Large meats.....pork shoulder, brisket, ribs, whole pigs.....wood ONLY!

I also have a small round (14" wide and 10" diameter) charcoal/wood pit I keep in my work pickup in case we get stuck out on location....very flexible to cook a wide variety of meats/vegetables...but for the home see the two above.....

With wood I know temp is critical so you can't skimp on price. I was looking at the propane smokers but I never even use a gas grill. I always grill on charcoal and oak. Grill I have now will smoke just because of the way its made. Heavy thick walled pipe that seals really well. Thought about building my own. I've seen those electric ones with the wood chip pucks or whatever. Just not really sure. I used to use an "Ole Smoky" and I could cook on it but man it was a pain maintaining temp.

Buy or build a temp controller like I did to help maintain temps. I do nothing other than add a split every few hours as the fire needs it. My temps stay within 5 degrees of the set temp and no constant tending. Cheap parts and easy to assemble, or you can buy one online.

Stick burner. Mike Gunter(Ramball36) built this for me last year

Electric. It's just too easy.

I

I'm not an expert smoker, but I really like my Kamado Joe.

I was at a friends house and they fit 7-9 racks of ribs in the background big egg.

Good luck.

With aftermarket racks and/or cutting them in half before cooking you can squeeze an extra 2 or 3 on there.

I may be the lone voice, but I like electric smokers. I use a Masterbuilt 40" electric. I like the ability to precisely control the temperature and the relatively hands-off operation. I smoke meat to eat it, not for a religious experience. I use mine for both hot smoking and cold smoking with an A-Maze-N Pellet smoker.

The electric produces great brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, loin, tenderloin and chicken. I've used it for smoked sausage, summer sausage, cured & smoked bacon, and even ham. It will hold enough meat for a pretty large family gathering, but isn't a commercial product.

The ONLY issue that I see is that because there is very little combustion (and the resulting nitric oxide) there is no smoke ring. Here's an interesting article about NO and smoke rings.

http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/sranoxring.html   (it appears to be original research)

Also shows that trimming fat will improve the smoke ring on non-electric smokers. If you absolutely have to have a ring for home-cooked in an electric smoker, use a tiny bit of Morton Tender-Quick in your rub.

I've used chunk smokers,charcoal smokers with chunk, propane smokers with chunk, and I'm still very happy with electric smokers. I smoke to eat, not eat because I smoke.

Do you want to just cook stuff for family and friends or do you want to be a bbq man? Anybody can plug in a smoker from Wally World and go back to knitting while watching The Pioneer Woman, but if you want to walk around with some swagger while you drink a beer and poke fun at the neighbors you need real coals.

Love my green egg, but it's limited in size and it is a bit of a pain to clean and start. Gas grills with a smoker box are good if you like wine coolers. Pellet smokers are the easiest, but have little versatility. My big pit with a firebox and smokestack is my favorite to cook on. It eats wood like fat kid eats cookies, but it's the best at setting up heat zones and flavoring anything I put on it.

I've smoked briskets and pork butts side by side on a Masterbuilt with an A-Maze-N pellet smoker tray and in my large wood fired pit, and there is absolutely no comparison in flavor. The brisket off the Masterbuilt doesn't compare. Just like most brisket cooked on Southern Pride and Ole Hickory LP/Electric smokers does not compare to meat cooked on straight wood fired pits. Old school is the only way to go if you want the real bbq flavor. Now, I only use the Masterbuilt to smoke small batches of summer sausage and other sausages.

Wood....you want REAL not imitation

www.pitbarrelcooker.com

Even I cook perfectly on this.

Love my Green Egg, only cook for 2-6 people on average and it does everything I need it to.

Weber Smoky Mountain best bang for the buck. Lots of recipes-commonly referred to as WSM

http://virtualweberbullet.com/ Offers good support

Chicken on the Pit Barrel Cooker today. Cut in half Season it. Put on smoker 2 1/2 hours voila'!
www.pitbarrelcooker.com

That looks bad a!

It cooks bad a$$






Do that with an oven/electric/pellet or egg "smoker".

I have a propane and an electric, love the ability to cook without constant checking. I have the electric at my cabin- plug it in at noon, come back from the evening hunt to a meal. Couldn't be any easier!

Several have mentioned the A-Maze-N Pellet smoker and I agree- awesome way to roll smoke without flare ups or inconsistencies. Pound of pellets, set the temp, see you in 10 hours.

CB66-- I can cook a brisket that looks like that, minus the smoke ring, that will taste every bit as good on an electric smoker. I smoke low, and very slow (about 16 hours) for a full packer brisket. The smoke ring is pretty, but doesn't contribute anything to flavor. Heck, if I want to make a ring, a little Tender Quick sprinkled on the brisket just before smoking will produce a great smoke ring. I usually have better things to do than sit in the yard with the smoker. Also, I smoke something about once a week with the electric smoker, sometimes twice. Do you have that much time to devote to tending a fire?

KC-- I only use the A-Maz-N pellet smoker for "cold" smoking. For hot smoking, I like the higher volume of smoke that I get using the Masterbuilt internal chip tray.

For all the "must be wood" smokers, it's interesting that some people measure their manhood by the size of their smoking wood. I personally use a different yardstick.

I started smoking on a propane Oak Hollow which isn't a bad little smoker if you only smoke very little at a time. I now use a large stick burner that was custom made 40 or so years ago and I love it. But like already mentioned when I use it, it's an event and I make sure I cook enough to make it worth it to fire the old man up.

When I do buy a new smoker I plan on getting a gravity fed Stumps or a Stumps clone. I love the idea of a set it and forget it stick burner. When paired with a DigiQ you can hold these as steady as any electric or pellet smoker.

https://www.stumpssmokers.com/

http://www.firecraft.com/bbq-guru

I grabbed a 40" Masterbuilt electric for $199 on Black Friday and it's been awesome. Salmon, chicken, pork butts and loins, burgers and sausage, even steaks have all turned out great. Will be doing my first brisket very soon. I still have a stick burner if I need it but this is extremely convenient.

Have one of the Master Builts as well. Bought it because of the cold smoke option. It does a good job for an electric and for pouring more smoke in the cold smoke attachment works very well when smoking also. No need to open the door for more smoke in the chamber.

I also got a MES on Black Friday. Put bluntly; it works and works well. PITA to replace wood chips every hour though..

Dave Davidson,

Instead of loading wood chips every hour, load two trays of chips at one time. I fill the chip tray and dump it once, then put another load of chips on top. The chips in the second tray will drop down as the first chips burn. I still have smoke after 3 hours this way.

If I'm smoking overnight for lunch the next day (brisket or pulled pork) I fill the chips just before bed, then again as soon as I wake up. The meat still gets plenty of smoke.

Thanks Stretch, I hadn't thought of anything so obvious.

I bought the cold smoke attachment. 6 hours of continuous smoke.

Love my stick burner, but have been considering an electric smoker for quick things like salmon. There are times that I want a touch of smoke but ain't want to spend an hour building a fire for 30 minutes of smoking.

I would check out the Weber Smokey Mountain. You can get the mid-sized smoker (18.5) for $300 and cook easily for 20+ people. It holds the temps really well and is extremely easy to use. The hardest part is convincing your wife that smoking is difficult so you can sit outside and drink beer!

Yep. But if you want to cheat, get electric. I bet Tom Brady has an electric smoker.

me and the wife and most eveyone i know dont like smoked meats, if i can smell it while your cutting it , its smoked to long for my tasting, and forget oak, that stuff will make us burp smoke rings. i bbq a lot but my liking is very little smoking in the beginning and heat for the rest of the time, i want a nice color, i dont like my meat black. some people smoke waaaaay to long. never had anyone complain about my cooking, quite the contrary. i never use a fire box, always on a standard bbq pit. and my briskets are done in 6 hrs with a nice smoke ring and as tender as can be but not becoming roast. but like they say, to each their own. i have seen fools smoke chicken for 10 hrs.

if everyone had the same likes, there would not be any need for varieties ... My wife would tend to be closer to your liking on less smoke flavor, for me, you can't get too much smoke flavor ... to each their own

KILLER!

That's nice! How much did it cost?

Very nice smoker

Smokin-Tex here, built like a heavy duty stainless steel commercial unit, no computer boards to go out, simple & electric.

They are very good smokers,i have a 22.5

Among the responses there is some good info and opinions. You should also check out http://amazingribs.com/table_of_contents.html, most specifically:

* http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/zen_of_wood.html
* http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/meat_science.html
* http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/thermodynamics_of_cooking.html
* http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_guide/smokers/index.html

After reading each of those links in their entirety - yes they are a bit long but worth it - check out their reviews and recommendations for each category of smoker.

Hope that helps make a well informed decision.

Smokers are like firearms - different types for different needs and goals.

-Mickey

Good stuff