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[Olympus]

Hey everyone new member here, but not new to smoking. I currently have a Green Mountain pellet grill that I've been using for about 6 years now. It has been a fantastic pellet grill and it has not given me a lick of trouble in whole time I've owned it. I bought it because I was new to smoking at the time and I liked the simplicity and the ease of "set it and forget it". But now that I've got a lot of cook time under my belt, I've been thinking about getting a second smoker to play with and wanted to go with something different.

I'm leaning toward charcoal smoker as the next logical step in terms of learning curve as opposed to a "stick smoker". I have a 4 year old so I don't have just tons of free time to get a stick fire going and babysitting it all day long. I do have more time than just plugging in the pellet grip, setting the temp, and walking away though! :)

That being said, our family is pretty small, just me, my wife, and our 4 year old son. So I don't think I need some huge smoker. Nor do I think my wife would enjoy looking at a huge smoker in the yard all time when I already have a perfectly good pellet grill in the garage. So obviously the Weber Smokey Mountain is what seems to be high on everyone's list of recommendations and that is probably my number one choice also right now. Small footprint, comes with a nice cover, and still seems to be pretty easy to get regulated and running right. I'm consider the 14.5" and the 18.5".

But aside from the WSM, what are some other smokers for me to be considering? I smoke a lot of pork butts, ribs, chicken thighs, pork loins, and the occasional brisket when we can find them on sale. I'm not into competitions, just good backyard BBQ!

 

[Odysseus]

An Oklahoma Joe Highland offset smoker (charcoal + stick) is what I chose. With the addition of a LavaLock convection plate, the entire cook surface (18x35") is within 5 degrees of the same temperature. It takes more tending and more practice, but an offset smoker can give you bark and smoke ring that other styles of smokers just can't quite achieve.

MSRP $299, but you can find them on sale occasionally for $200 -usually on holiday weekends.

 

[mike243]

I would go with the 18 wsm ,would love to have a 22" and maybe for Christmas If I been a good boy this year I may get 1 lol, you can always have too much space without any problems,too little is what is a pain imo. uses a little more charcoal but worth the trade off to me.

 

[pineywoods]

You can never have to many smokers but with that said maybe it's time to spend that extra time on doing things like bacon or sausage or cheese.

 

[gmc2003]

Weberholic here. My vote is for the WSM. A 26" kettle would work well also - just saying.

Chris

 

[Olympus]

Thanks guys. My neighbor has a homemade vertical smoker that he built that is HUGE and he does all the pork and deer sausage smoking. We work together when it's time to smoke a batch of sausage and he does a LOT of sausage.

As for bacon, I prefer to cook that on my Blackstone 36" griddle! I HIGHLY recommend the Blackstone griddle if you don't have one. I cook on it about 3 to 4 days a week generally. It's so versatile!

This year I bought a little Weber Smokey Joe grill for fun so that my little boy can help me cook. I think I'd rather go with a dedicated smoker as opposed to a Weber Kettle.

 

[gmc2003]

This year I bought a little Weber Smokey Joe grill for fun so that my little boy can help me cook. I think I'd rather go with a dedicated smoker as opposed to a Weber Kettle.

I understand fully. However anything under six hours gets done in my kettles, anything over gets done in the WSM. Good luck with whatever you choose and let us know what it is and how it works for ya.

Ribs = kettle
Chicken = kettle
Brisket = WSM
Butt/shoulders = WSM

Chirs