I am new to this site, but not new to bbq.
I am from SE Ohio where if you don't like the weather wait a day.
I love to use my little brinkmann smoker that I got at Home Depot for like $40.
I am looking to upgrade in the next few months and am going to lean on members for their advice on what I should get.
Welcome to SMF!
I, like you, am relatively new to smoking (less than 1 year). I started with a little brinkman...upgraded to an older, used New Braunfels Black Diamond SFB, and finally have made my own smoker out of a large commercial cooking/warmer cabinet.
There's a few items that will help guide your decision in what kind of a smoker fits your needs?
1) How much do you want to spend?
2) How many people are you going to smoke for?
3) Are you looking for the "experience" of smoking?
4) Are you more a set-it-and-leave-it kind guy?
5) Hot or cold smoking?
There's probably more questions to ask, but IMO, these will narrow down options. Most newer SFB sold at big box stores are not of the heavy-duty construction (thinner steel) and require some modifications to make 'em work properly...I will say that compared to the custom one of similar design, they are priced accordingly!?
I have made a few modifications to my NBBD smoker (as per many on SMF) that makes the smoking more predictable; however, still required an abundance of babysitting.
My newest smoker, I lucked into. It requires almost no interaction for 5-6 hours and is mostly a recipe specific tweaking. I use a
Tube/Pellet combo to produce smoke and a separate unit that controls the heat/air movement.
Good Luck with search/purchase...please feel free to ask some of the more senior members on here for advice...they will forget more about BBQ/Smoking than I will ever know?!
~Brett
The options (and amount spent) are almost endless...Cruise thru SMF and find what others are using/smoking!
