Newbie Needs Help! Should I Buy?

[Eric Thibodeaux]

i came across a Cadillac Cookers Commercial Rotisserie Smoker for $6000. Its about 4 years old. I know that the company has been defunct, and has poor ratings with BBB-but it wouldn’t be warrantied anyway. The thing listed for $11k new. Still—is this something to stay away from? Seemed well-built and current owner said he had no problems—he’s just retiring and don’t need a big cooker anymore.

 

[oldsmokerdude]

As the original owner has said, do you need that big of a cooker? My concern is that even though you won't get warranty repair, you will undoubtedly need repair parts in the future and if the company is defunct, well you can see where this is going.

I personally would have a hard time parting with $6k just because it's a good deal, especially if I didn't need all that capacity.

 

[Eric Thibodeaux]

What is your intention for its use?

Our church youth group would use it about 5 times a year. They usually smoke about 200-250 pieces of meat divided randomly between turkeys, hams, and butts. Our church would utilize it an additional 6-8 times for other events. And then a couple of community groups would use it 2-3 times. So, on average about 2 weekends per month. We have been borrowing and getting volunteers over the past 7-8 years every time we cook. We are just looking to have something that’s ours that’s big enough to handle whatever we need it to do.

 

[Eric Thibodeaux]

Our church youth group would use it about 5 times a year. They usually smoke about 200-250 pieces of meat divided randomly between turkeys, hams, and butts. Our church would utilize it an additional 6-8 times for other events. And then a couple of community groups would use it 2-3 times. So, on average about 2 weekends per month. We have been borrowing and getting volunteers over the past 7-8 years every time we cook. We are just looking to have something that’s ours that’s big enough to handle whatever we need it to do.

That’s 200-250 each time they cook.