New to smoking - need some basics

kimball

Newbie

Original poster

Apr 20, 2015

1

10

• Apr 20, 2015

• #1

Hi My husband & I just bought the OK Joe Longhorn grill/smoker.  Have two initial questions:

1) picture in manual showed starting the charcoal using the charcoal started over the side burner.  what is the correct method to do this? Do we still put newspaper in the base of the starter & then set on top of the sideburner?

2) I see where some smoker's talk about using a water pan.  Is this with just the veritcal smokers, or also with the side firebox?

I am sure I will have a lot more questions as we figure this out!

Thanks,

Dori & Clyde

Hondo, TX

 

gary s

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

OTBS Member

Jan 6, 2011

26,255

4,705

• Apr 20, 2015

• #2

  Good evening and welcome to the forum, from a sunny and cool day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary

 

bluewhisper

Master of the Pit

OTBS Member

Apr 1, 2014

3,587

455

Columbus Ohio

• Apr 20, 2015

• #3

Welcome to the board! Use the Search to look up your smoker and see how people use them. I'm running an offset stick burner and I've never used a water pan.

 

themule69

Epic Pitmaster

Oct 7, 2012

12,884

350

live north of fort smith arkansas between alma and

• Apr 21, 2015

• #4

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

 

omapilot

Newbie

Apr 21, 2015

21

11

Omaha, NE

• Apr 21, 2015

• #5

I used to use a water pan every time with my vertical propane smoker. I noticed that Myron Mixon has a line of water smokers as well. So it must serve some type of purpose, but I've heard both sides too. I don't use one with the Blazn, but some folks do add a small foil pan witb water to those too. I feel that its a preference for your personal technique and application.