One year and smoking

[Suam461]

Hey all! Been lurking here since last summer when I caught the smoking bug. Thanks for all the tips! Bought a cheap charcoal Masterbuilt bullet for my husband to see if he would like it, but it turned out to be more of my thing than his. I had a lot of issues with it in the beginning, loss of heat and bad airflow mostly. Since then I’ve modded it in several ways to get a decent cook out my little guy (happy to share those mods but they are mostly from this forum).
So far I’ve made ribs, chicken (whole and pieces), pork loin, sausages, and my favorite; a turkey breast for thanksgiving. Got up early this morning to start my first smoke this year, a beautiful pork butt!
If all goes well, I’m probably going to look at upgrading my smoker this year. What are your favorite charcoal smokers on the market?
Thanks for reading!
-L

 

[Braz]

Glad you joined. I don't have a charcoal smoker but I know the Weber Smokey Mountain has a lot of fans and good reviews.

 

[tag0401]

Welcome to SMF
Adam

 

[Smoke23]

Welcome and glad you joined. Sounds like you’ve been doing some homework. I’m a big fan of the WSM, I have the 22.5” and I’m extremely happy with it. I’ve done no mods to it and I don’t plan on doing any either.

I went with the big one cause not too many times do you here of someone saying, man I wish I would’ve gotten a smaller smoker... and I wanted to do full racks of ribs. I can lay 3 racks down flat on each grate. Plenty of people have the 18” and love it too.
Whatever you decide to get, can’t wait to see some great looking Q coming off of it!

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
Yep, WSM 22.5 is about the best charcoal smoker you can get for the money!
Al

 

[gmc2003]

Welcome to the site, and I echo what others have said - WSM. Toughest choice will be deciding which size.

Chris

 

[Suam461]

Thanks for the recommendations! I've had several Weber grills over the years so I'll definitely check out their smoker options.
Pork turned out pretty great yesterday! Took about 8 hours total to do a 7.5# butt. Kept it about 225°-250°- 4 uncovered and 3 wrapped in foil plus and hour of rest. May be a new favorite cut-seems like it would be hard to dry it out if I tried!
-L