I think the easiest and maybe best of both worlds would be to go with a
Masterbuilt electric (mes40). I started with a
weber kettle, then toyed around with a
masterbuilt firepit that was kind of a octagon shape....not really a smoker but who knows what that was marketed for lol. I had a
masterbuilt dual fuel (charcoal/propane) for awhile, and now I have a MES40 (1st generation) and a
recteq deck boss pellet smoker.
The charcoal stuff (
weber kettle) is fun, but can be a bit to master. Same for the dual fuel one. They are all fun learning how to use. The
masterbuilt electrics are pretty nice, you are adding real wood but it still requires some touch to master the temps you want for different stuff, but still pretty easy. Maybe not as easy as a pellet, but not as difficult as a charcoal or a real stick burner offset type of thing.
But if he wants to tend to a fire, then maybe a stick burner offset type of thing is the way to go. By far though, from a cost and ease to figure out perspective you can't go wrong with a masterbuilt electric.