Ok, now that we got dinner out of the way...
For my first time on a charcoal smoker I have to say it wasn't bad. I made a few mistakes easily corrected, with the food, no worse for the wear.
Peppers were a bit overdone, the fault being mine, not the smokers.
Meatloaf was tasty, I was expecting more of a smoke ring due to the charcoal.
Turkey was excellent, moist and juicy even though I didn't brine; the injection helped.
In the turkey I could definitely taste the difference. I wouldn't say the taste was "better" with the charcoal, just different.
Unfortunately I guess I'll just have to do a lot more testing with other meats before I arrive at a conclusion.
I will say I was amazed how easy it was to maintain a steady temperature; much easier then the CCSV which was a big suprise.
The downside was the difficulty getting to the turkey which was on the lower rack, very hard to spritz and also a lot harder to add water to the bowl then on my CCSV. I also have to consider a different thermometer set up as it was a pain disconnecting the wires from the transmitter when I wanted to remove the lid. I will also say that I didn't notice the big loss of temperature when removing the lid I had read about or experienced when i opened the door with my CCSV.
I also have to get smaller veggie racks as my larger one won't fit.
Overall I am quite pleased with this new toy, ummm I mean precision smoking instrument.