Hello from Northampton, UK

Hi Vic. Thanks for joining. Once you get to know its individual quirks no BBQ needs to be a bad BBQ. They may not all be good all-rounders however they will usually have their own niche.

The Azuma will certainly be good for cold smoking and should also be fine for most other BBQ too. You just need to learn how to regulate the cooking temperature inside. When you first use these types of BBQ the tendency is to get a nice raging fire going in the fire box - then wonder why the meat comes out incinerated on one side. Use a relatively small fire and learn how to control it using the air vents to give consistent cooking temperatures between 110C and 180C and you should be able to produce as good BBQ on it as well as anyone.

The first thing to invest in though is a good twin probe digital thermometer so you know exactly what the BBQ is doing. The Maverick ET-732 is a good inexpensive all-rounder.

There are a few regular members on here from your general area. Post any questions you like and we will be happy to help where we can. You will also have the combined knowledge of the US smokers on here to help out too. I hear they BBQ a little over there as well sometimes   

Use a relatively small fire and learn how to control it using the air vents to give consistent cooking temperatures between 110C and 180C and you should be able to produce as good BBQ on it as well as anyone.

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The lower end temperatures will be used for pulled pork, ribs, brisket etc whereas the higher end temperatures are good for things like beer-can-chicken and standard roast joints.

Hello and Welcome to our addiction.  Many good folk here with a load of experience that they are more than willing to share.  If you have specific questions just start a thread and someone with experience will be along soon to offer advice.  All info you can provide us with such as smoker type, location and so on will help us answer any questions you may have, and pictures help a bunch.  Spend some time doing some research on the forums, tons of advice and recipes already available there.  Check out Jeff’s 5 day smoking E-Course ( link below ) that will help you get started.  We look forward to your contributions.  Have fun.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

http://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-basics-ecourse

Cheers!!   Welcome to the group from Sunny San Diego!!!

Scott

Hello and good evening from East Texas, welcome to the forum. Lots of great information and real good people here.   

Gary S

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David