What was your very first smoker?

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Bride bought me this back in the 80's I think.....   This thing has seen probably 1500 #'s of fish throughout the years....  I really can't remember that far back.....  For consistently smoked excellent fish, this is my GO-TO-SMOKER..... After about 2 years I tried smoking a turkey in it......   Tasted like fish.....  Bride don't allow me to smoke fish in anything but this now.....

 
New Braunfels in the mid 90s - Imported back to the UK from Houston. It cost me more to ship than to actually buy!
 
My brother gave me one of the infamous red electric Brinkmanns back in the early 90's. I had no idea of the concept of low and slow, and assumed it was broken the one time I tried to use it because it didn't seem to get very hot. It stayed in the garage from then on. 20 years later I read up on BBQ and got a used charcoal ECB. Then made the mini WSM.
 
My dad had one of those red electric ones. Back then you could get a box of danish pork ribs ( very small baby backs . 3 to 4 rib peices)  for next to nothing and he would put them on there with no wood chips or anything and dry them until they were like Jerky.

I had a neighbor years latter buy one and called me over to check it out. He was trying to smoke some country style ribs and I noted that he still has the wood chips in the water pan. We ended up in an argument due to the picture showed the wood chips soaking in the water and he felt that is how the unit was designed to run.
 
Like a lot of you, my first smoker was a Brinkmann Gourmet Smoker - charcoal. Used it for a few smokes years ago, but because the temp was so hard to control, I gave up on smoking and just used it for grilling. Just now getting back to smoking but use my MES 40.
 
Good Afternoon Everyone,
I came across this thread looking for a good idea as to what to pick up as my first smoker. I grew up in Chapel Hill, NC so eastern style pork is a weakness of mine. I live out in the mountains of NC now and you can't get any good bbq out here let alone quality pulled pork. No restaurants out here can smoke anything well, the best smoked meats I have had since moving out here have all been from backyard smokers and homemade pits. I love food and I love cooking and I have put off beginning my personal smoking odyssey for far too long. I am a renter so I can't really go all out with a big rig (nor should I as a novice who doesn't really know what he is doing) but I am looking for some advice as to what to start out on. I was looking at some Brinkman and Char-Broil vertical smokers between $80-$150 both the cylinder and cabinet styles. Sorry for rambling on but I would love some advice on what you guys think is a good starting smoker. Thank you for your assistance and sorry for posting this in the wrong place.

Brother , if you can swing the roughly 300 bucks , you would do real well with a weber smoky mountain. My first cheapo smoker was a royal PITA !
The WSM is a great smoker. Uses charcoal. You don't have access to free wood , do you? If you do , then a stick burner would make perfect sense.
You might be able to pick up a used WSM for far less than retail.
I'm just saying I've been real happy with mine.
 
Its been so hot out lately, I have no desire to fire up a wood burning smoker.......but I just bought everything to start making my own sausage ( something I can do in the air conditioning)

So, I'm thinking an electric unit would probably do better for sausage.   Anybody on here big on sausage making and had any luck with the small electrics?  
 
My first was a cheapish propane cabinet, after a year I acquired an 18.5" WSM. I am currently building an RF out of a 35 gallon or so compressor tank.

I like the propane cab for ribs, the WSM for butts and brisket, hoping the RF will be good for everything.
 
What they used to call a "water smoker", the upright cylindrical thingy seen at the beginning of this thread. Don't remember the brand name and I never liked it. Cheap, thin metal, and hard to keep consistent.
 

The Original Charcoal Brinkman ECB, AKA R2D2

A pain to start with, but once you gave it some mods turned out consistently good smokes

Served me for 34 years or so. Retired it last year.
 
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