# Smoker



## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

I am, again, in search of a new smoker, I bought a Cajun Injector brand 2 door electric smoker on a whim last year, great smoker when it worked, but the controller is going out, the temperature control and the timer won't work. This time I want to do some real research and see what people have and what has worked. What do you have, gas, charcoal, electric, thermostat or just manual control, makes, models, ease of use, what has worked and what was a POS, I trust the folks here a lot more than reviews on websites trying to sell equipment. Thanks in advance.


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Love my egg. Can do 16 hour smoke or 600+ degree sear. Won't rot. Got mine several years ago and never looked back...


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

BGE. Best investment you can make cause it literally does everything. Truly a lifetime purchase.


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## Breeze (Mar 23, 2012)

I have a masterbilt 30 electric smoker. Not as fancy as an egg but does everything I need to do. Digital temp control and timer control. Have had it two years with absolutely no problems. If it were to quit on me today I would get another one. It only goes to 275 degrees but it's a smoker, so I don't need it to go any higher. Smoked a turkey yesterday and everyone said it was the best turkey they had ever had.. course they might have been just trying to be nice.. 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk


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## ChileRelleno (Jul 7, 2012)

I like the ease of gas, and I use a Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24".
I can use either propane or hook into the house's natural gas.
Nobody can deny the results I produce with it.


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## jaster (Oct 7, 2007)

I used an elec Cookout Supply Co smiker for the last 4 years. It has been awesome, hell still works even though its rusting up pretty bad mainly due to my neglect. I too have been looking and deciding, but wife and kids got me a masterbuilt for Christmas, so its fixing to get broke in! Will update in the recipe section in a few days!!


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## RMS (Dec 9, 2008)

Many people including me think that gas gives you the quality smoke flavor of a stick burner and the consistency and convenience of electric.


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## smooth move (Sep 25, 2012)

now y'all have me wantin to fire the ol girl up. last year i finally got it down pat. 110v oven burner for overall heat and a hot plate for the smoke chips. hope i remember all the mistakes i made.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

An old broken refrigerator with a hotplate and pot for wood of choice cover the pot. Put a vent on top or cut a small chunk out of the top door gasket. Drill a hole in side and stick a meat thermometer in for checking temps. Lasts a lifetime. Hotplate is only thing to replace that can go wrong.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Hey jaster that hospital food cart is exactually what I made and used for the last 10 years. Mine gets to 210 degrees how about yours?


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## stoner51 (Jun 20, 2015)

I have had my Primo XL for 12 years. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I can smoke, grill whatever. The only downside would be the size of all the Kamodo type grills. 
I paid $800 12 years ago, I have never wanted anything else. Which for me is odd. BGE or primo you won't regret it. Just get the grill and buy the accessories later. 

steve


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## halo1 (Oct 4, 2007)

It all depends on how much you want to work and stay awake tending it. I've owned them all. If you want just a smoker! I rank them in order from least to favorite.
Gas
Electric
Pellet
Charcoal
Logs aka stickburner
They all have pros and cons. 

Gas has good ease of use, very little babysitting, but in windy conditions burner will blow out and your hosed. Also not a deep smoke flavor.
Electric is the easiest to use, set and forget it. Wind not a factor, better smoke flavor but it's still wood chips.
Pellet is super versatile can cook low and slow or cook a steak or pizza. Decent smoke profile.very easy to use. Sometimes auger will get jammed but it's a nice multipurpose cooking rig
Charcoal aka Bge or kamado type ! Pd for pd best overall most versatile cooking grill/smoker on the planet. Better smoke flavor then the previous ones because it's lump charcoal and wood blocks. The Mack daddy charcoal smokers are the designated charcoal smokers that are gravity fed. Google Deep South smokers, stumps smokers,backwoods smokers. They can't grill like the kamado types but they do smoke better.most pro teams use these setups.
And to my fav
Stickburners. Most work, harder to control temps, no sleep, but to me when done right, reigns supreme on the BBQ flavor smoke taste test. Thin blue smoke coming from a stickburner is the goat! Another pro is you can drink more beers minding the fire since their will be no sleep in your schedule haha
I have a Shirley fabrication patio model that's a beast


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## smooth move (Sep 25, 2012)

sealark said:


> Hey jaster that hospital food cart is exactually what I made and used for the last 10 years. Mine gets to 210 degrees how about yours?


i can hold 250. anything over that and the wood will flare up and then the temp runs away. most of the smoking is done at 125 and then i rev it up to bring meats to the finished temp.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

smooth move said:


> i can hold 250. anything over that and the wood will flare up and then the temp runs away. most of the smoking is done at 125 and then i rev it up to bring meats to the finished temp.


Put the wood in a pot with a metal cover over it and you get nothing but smoke no flairups or runaway temps. Plus the drippings on the top puts more flavor in the fish or meat.

PLUS get a timer after you get the time to cook down pat just set the timer for the cook time. I'm gonna go look for one now for mine. My last batch of mullet I did I forgot about checking and they were a little over cooked, Like leather but still were edible.


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

I've built some smaller smokers in the past, the best one I did was the flower pot smoker from Alton Brown's show, I made some damn fine BBQ in that thing. I have a stick burner, side box on my charcoal grill, so that is always an option, but like said above, there's no walking away from that one, that's what I likes best about electric, with a thermostat, I could go to bed and wake up every few hours and give it some chips and it would be fine. I'm not quite sure what I'm leaning toward yet, I'm not going to spend 2K or more for some of those listed above, but I haven't ruled an egg type out. I appreciate the replies, this is exactly what I was looking for.


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## Paymaster (Jan 9, 2012)

I like my CharGriller Akorn Kamado cooker. Won't outlast the BGEs but is 1/3 the price. Been cooking on mine for almost five years 3-4 times a week.


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## Breeze (Mar 23, 2012)

Paymaster said:


> I like my CharGriller Akorn Kamado cooker. Won't outlast the BGEs but is 1/3 the price. Been cooking on mine for almost five years 3-4 times a week.


How long can those go without adding charcoal when smoking? I looked at those before but figured it would be a pain to have to add charcoal in the middle of a 13 hour smoke. I do like cooking with charcoal though.. and how much meat can you do at a time? I can do two butts, ribs and a meatloaf or chicken on my mes at the same time... Still playing with the akorn idea down the road sometime but wondering if it is comparable to size of my mes.


Sent from my RCT6513W87 using Tapatalk


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## Paymaster (Jan 9, 2012)

Breeze said:


> How long can those go without adding charcoal when smoking? I looked at those before but figured it would be a pain to have to add charcoal in the middle of a 13 hour smoke. I do like cooking with charcoal though.. and how much meat can you do at a time? I can do two butts, ribs and a meatloaf or chicken on my mes at the same time... Still playing with the akorn idea down the road sometime but wondering if it is comparable to size of my mes.
> 
> 
> Sent from my RCT6513W87 using Tapatalk


I have done two cooks that lasted over twenty four hours and had charcoal left over. It is very efficient with fuel. In five years of cooking on the Akorn, I have never had to unload and add fuel.


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

What kind of life expectancy should I expect out of an egg or other similar ceramic type grill/smoker?


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

My Momma has one that is upwards of 20 years old, still going strong.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

had my kamado joe for over 8 years now. just snapped the lower band. 50$ to replace. almost killed the dog and hit mommas leg when she opened it and the whole thing fell apart. they are the same as the egg except the cap and the gauge. was my fault cuz the band got rusty from being outside. the lid did not even get a scratch. boy was I lucky. gonna build a nice stand like downtimes once I go get a new band from pcola hardware.


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## MaxxT (May 9, 2015)

Gas or ele all the way, set and forget. you put the same wood in you want for the flavor. I like that hospital food cart idea!


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

DLo said:


> What kind of life expectancy should I expect out of an egg or other similar ceramic type grill/smoker?


Lifetime. Change gaskets every 4-5 years and let’r eat.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Here ya go my hospital cart smoker. Put 6 small mullet in at 1230 pm out 4 pm temp got to 200 degrees. Picture is start and what left from a couple. Pecan wood and fish no coatimg.


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Did a tad of smoking today too. 2 and a half hours at 225°. Just chicken thighs and legs.


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## smooth move (Sep 25, 2012)

sealark said:


> Here ya go my hospital cart smoker. Put 6 small mullet in at 1230 pm out 4 pm temp got to 200 degrees. Picture is start and what left from a couple. Pecan wood and fish no coatimg.


Burp!


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)




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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Old post here, but it started getting to me not having a smoker, so I looked at the options and took the advice here to heart and ordered a Smoke Vault 24, it is the one ChileRelleno uses and I can't argue with his expertise, I actually want to be Chili if/when I grow up. Thanks for all the responses, I'll post some food porn when I get it dialed in.


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## ChileRelleno (Jul 7, 2012)

Bwahahaha! LMAO!
My wife says she is still waiting for me to grow up.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

if I could just figure out how to get their wings to hold the news paper.


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Hehe...the smoker fairy left this under my pillow


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## Catchemall (May 8, 2018)

Nice! The bride bought me a Master Built and it works well.


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Just a little piggy after 14 and a half hours....


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