New and Confused

[lama1]

Would like to smoke with electric but the more I read, the more questions I have. If y'all would be willing to shed a little light, I sure would appreciate it.

My smoking will be on the casual occasional side rather than serious every weekend. That said I'm looking at a MES 30". Is that a decent starter? If no, would appreciate suggestions. If I go with the MES 30, What advantage will be gained with the digital model vs analog? How long can I expect the heating elements and control units to last? Does the window model provide smoking advantages over the non window? Now for the really dumb questions. I see references to Gen l and Gen ll models. What are they? Also what does AMNPS stand for? And last (for now) what are chips vs pellets and are they interchangeable?.

Apologies for my ignorance and thanks in advance for any help. From LAMA1 in Ohio.

 

[chestnutbloom]

Be sure to type key words into the search bar at the top of the page! You will get tons of info!  

 

[chestnutbloom]

A-Maze-N-Pellet-Smoker is what amnps stands for and you can buy them from a link on this site. I use chips in the chip loader of my mes30 and it works fine, but some people do have problems with it and use the amnps. ---Rich

 

[chestnutbloom]

The mes30 is my first smoker. For a newbie it is pretty easy to use since you can keep a constant temp. The window does help me a bit because I am used to eyeballing if meat is done instead of using a thermometer. You will definitely need to monitor the internal temp of your meat (and the smoker itself) because the mes30 setpoint and probe temp cannot be relied upon. Lastly, once you have it set up, put a level on the top (front to back) to make sure you are level for proper drainage of fluids....