Looking for a nice charcoal smoker!!!

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handcannon32x

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jan 3, 2012
80
12
Jacksonville, Iowa
I have a nice electric smoker now.  But its not very wide.  Not wide enough for me to do a full packer.  So I am looking for some suggestions for a nice charcoal smoker.  I am thinking an offset smoker.  I am paralyzed so I am thinking that the offset smoker would work better for me.  I want something that I can put a full packer on and something that doesnt break the bank.  I have been looking at the Brinkman Smoke N Pit.  Something like that is was I am looking for.  Thanks guys.
 
Brinkman smokers have heat management issues, stemming from problems with leakage, poor draft controls, issues with even heating out of the firebox, and poorly designed chimneys. That said, they're not bad, they just need alot of tweaking to get consistent results from.

I think your best bet would be to check out the reviews section to get an idea of which side-firebox units work the best out of the box, or spend some time googling mods and improvements to the Brinkman model you've got your eye on. Also check out what Meathead has to say about smokers at Amazingribs.com

I hope this helps!
 
I cheap offset smoker will make you lose your religion. ( been there)
You need a vertical smoker with adjustable airflow. WSM, Egg, napolean etc.
I have 4 of these type cookers, a mini WSM, a WSM, a charbroil Double- Chef , & a chargriller kamodo, and they all are easy to cook on. I think any of this type will work well.
A frozen ( I just tried it ) 15 lb packer will just fit on chargriller.
I know will not fit on 18 WSM, should easily fit on 22 WSM
 
It's hard to argue with any of these statements. The old saying "garbage in, garbage out" applies tenfold to charcoal smokers, it may hurt the wallet to shell out for a top-knotch piece of machinery up-front, but it'll save you from alot of nightmares down the road.
 
I cheap offset smoker will make you lose your religion. ( been there)
You need a vertical smoker with adjustable airflow. WSM, Egg, napolean etc.
I have 4 of these type cookers, a mini WSM, a WSM, a charbroil Double- Chef , & a chargriller kamodo, and they all are easy to cook on. I think any of this type will work well.
A frozen ( I just tried it ) 15 lb packer will just fit on chargriller.
I know will not fit on 18 WSM, should easily fit on 22 WSM
 
It is hard to beat the WSM for charcoal. Lots of guys here use them with great success.    
 
the WSM has a huge following, I dont have one but built my own vertical based on one. I also have a smoke'n pit. Yes it is a cheap offset, but the next step up to get a horizontal smoker that you dont have to modify out of the box, is way above that $160 price tag. I've got mine modified and have pretty decent luck with it. It does require babysitting but any horizontal type will. The big advantage is capacity. It really just depends on how much you want to be tending a fire. If you have any questions feel free to PM me I can lead you to my build or my mods on the brinkmann if you want to go that route. Either way I think charcoal will be a good step for ya! its a whole lot different than electric
 
What you want is a 22.5" WSM!
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I started with a cheap horizontal offset thinking I wanted all that rack space - spent $180 on the base smoker and $40 making mods.... it worked OK, not great.... just OK. After 8 months I sold it for $80 and bought a 22.5" WSM for $365 (local dealer). It was hands down the best thing I could have done! I have huge amounts of rack space, I can load the WSM with 20 lbs. of charcoal and have it run for 20+ hrs., it works great right out of the box without mods!

I can fit four 15 lb. packers on it at one time without any problem... could probably fit six of them on if I tried.
 
If you want charcoal go with the WSM 22 for a full packer.  You can leave it all night and sleep lile a baby.  I have a charbroil side by side (aka El Cheapo) that isn't worth the cost of the scrap metal for temp control.

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