- May 29, 2016
- 25
- 14
I'm looking to purchase a smoker in the near future and would like to know what are the top 3 things I should look for in a smoker?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Hmmm...cold smoking sounds like something I'd like to do with fish and bacon...although some fish are better raw IMHO.Wood smoker and stick burner would be pretty much the same. Cold smoking would be for cheese or bacon or fish anything under 100 degrees. I would say if you are ok with tending a fire every hour to hour and a half look into the offset smokers that burn wood or charcoal or both. If you want set and forget look into electric or pellet. With a $1000 budget you can get yourself into a pretty good smoker whichever direction you chose to go.
Hmmm...I guess SmokingAl has a point with multiple smokers.If you want to go low temp, you' re going to need to go electric.....
LOL!Don't break the bank on your first one. Get something to try for a season (Do you have seasons in Hawaii?) and see if it's really your thing. Then you can expand to suit your tastes. Sometimes more than one is the way to go. I started with electric, but had home wiring issues so moved to propane, did a mailbox mod for low temps, then picked up an offset this year, but kept the gasser because with the mailbox & a small hotplate it was just too handy for sausage & cheese. It's a slippery slope, Kalua. Next thing you know you'll be checking out grinders, stuffers, slicers, bigger garage freezers, mini-fridges for cheese and combing the ads looking for meat sales
By the way, welcome to the Forum!
Dan
A mailbox is a cheap metal mailbox attached to your smoker with piping, in which you use an AMAZN pellet tray or tube to pipe smoke into your unit. Search mailbox mods on the site....LOL!
Yes we have seasons...hot summer and not so hot summer...I was looking forward to experience some winter weather here in TX, but it only got to 30 degrees for about 3 days, then back up to the 40's - 50's.
Ok, so what does a mailbox have to do with a smoker?
I'm looking at an electric Masterbuilt 30" as a starter...Sportsman Guide has it on sale and the member discount brings it down to around $190, then again there's also shipping that will bring that price back up...I'll check out Lowes first.
I know what you mean about a slippery slope...I was that way with my cars always looking for the next mod...the mod god just loves to tempt me!