Ideas for buying a reliable Offset smoker

[Nshamy]

Never owned an Offset. Thinking about buying one. Any recommendations? Reliability being king. Thanks!

 

[gary s]

What is your Budget

Gary

 

[Nshamy]

What is your Budget

Gary

$600 - 700 Max

 

[Chasdev]

At that money, search Craigslist for a used one.
Lots of guys spend $2000 on an offset stickburner and then tire of the level of commitment involved in achieving top shelf results so with luck you can snag one for half price or less.
New units at that money, then Old Country is probably the best.
OR you can invest $500 in a Masterbuilt gravity cooker and save yourself endless hours of tending fires, searching for decent aged firewood and storing same (insects, rats and mice go with the territory).
Gravity smokers burn charcoal with hardwood added to the bin and produce meat that's darn close, but not quite as good, as an offset stickburner but with 1 10th the effort.

 

[fivetricks]

Or spend 100 bucks and have the same results as a MB gravity feed and build yourself a UDS :-)

 

[Nole4L]

I'm with Chasdev. If you're patient you can find folks who don't realize the amount of work that goes into a stick burner and then end up selling them at a loss. That's how I ended up with my Lang. :-)

$600-$700 is sort of no man's land for new stick burners. More than a box store cooker but not enough for a new higher end cooker.

 

[Nshamy]

I'm with Chasdev. If you're patient you can find folks who don't realize the amount of work that goes into a stick burner and then end up selling them at a loss. That's how I ended up with my Lang. :-)

$600-$700 is sort of no man's land for new stick burners. More than a box store cooker but not enough for a new higher end cooker.

Good info, thanks

 

[JWFokker]

Check out the Old Country Smokehouse and the Over/Under. Both great cookers in your range. The Smokehouse is a vertical stick burner, big cook chamber, great for hanging ribs, pretty fuel efficient because it's straight vertical. The Over/Under is the same design as the Good One Open Range. VERY even heat distribution. If you can find a used Lang or Horizon for cheap, they're obviously a more expensive cooker, but you can't go wrong with Old Country smokers. Oklahoma Joe and the like are just a bit too cheaply made.

 

[findyong]

Never owned an Offset. Thinking about buying one. Any recommendations? Reliability being king. Thanks!

what did you end up getting? I'm in the same boat as you and right now considering a barrel/drum smoker (used in competitions)

 

[SmokinAl]

If you can pick up a used Lang, I’d go for it. I love mine.
Al