Eric6711
, the MES 30 Gen 1 was the first and only smoker I ever bought. When our budget can afford it, I'd like to step up to a 40", possibly one of the Gen 2.5 models or perhaps another brand. I'll make that decision
if the money ever comes in. I have a friend whose wife bought him a propane Smoke Hollow and he loves it. As for MB owning those two brands, this is the first I've heard of it. But Google has always been my good chum so I could readily find that out.
Costco sells pork belly, and makin' bacon is on my to-do list. The
AMNPS is a great smoker, hampered by the intrinsic challenged air circulation in the MES smokers. I've found mine works best in warm weather. I started out using wood chips, and my family told me the meat was harsh and too smoky. I learned about A-MAZE-N here in the forums, and switching to it and wood pellets changed everything. Also, for a short while I tried using the gel lighter stuff instead of a propane torch. The pellets kept going out after the gel was burned up so I switched back to the torch.
I've never smoked bacon. Why did you smoke it for 14 hrs? It probably got all the smoke it needed after 6-8 hours, although I've gone 10-11 hours with pork shoulder (15 hours with a whole packer beef brisket because it smoked overnight). I was given a whole bag of Traeger applewood pellets a couple of years ago (THAT'S when I did my research!). I was excited about using them until I read that Traeger pellets (at least when the article or post was written) used flavored oils when making the pellets; the pellets themselves were made from one wood type for the east coast, and other for the west. The woods might have been white oak and alder, I can't really remember without finding that article again. The writer said that info was given to him from a Traeger phone CSR. After reading that, I gave the bag of pellets away to a friend of mine who owns a Traeger. I've used other brands of wood pellets. But Todd and Rhonda Johnson, owners of A-MAZE-N, provide such outstanding customer service, I buy everything from them.
Rick