Gravity Feed Smoker Reviews/Opinions

[djtech2k]

I have an electric MES 40 and a FastEddy PG500 and love to grill/smoke.  I have also owned cheap models of a traditional horizontal stick burner and a super cheap drum smoker, bot those are long gone now.

The PG500 was a lot to spend, but I love it.  I have always admired the gravity feed smokers from afar.  I have always wondered what they were like, especially since I see a lot of cooks using them now.  So I thought I would post here to see what opinions/experiences people have with them.  For example, can you just burn wood and not charcoal in a gravity feed?  What brand/model seems to be a good purchase?  All the ones I have looked at online have been very pricey.  I see a lot about stumps, but again even a smaller one is $$$.

So please sound off with any gravity feed smoker experiences.  I am trying to determine if I should consider one, and if so how much its going to cost me.

 

[stabone]

You cannot burn wood in a gravity fed. They are designed to use either lump, or briquettes. In my opinion, gravity feeds are what many teams seem to be moving towards. They are extremely efficient and easy to use once you get the hang of it.

As far as models go, really the big names are Stumps, Rebel and Assassin. Superior has halted production for the foreseeable future from what I hear. Also, Humphrey's makes a gravity feed but I'm not familiar with those. A few teams around here have moved to them though. As far as price, the Rebel 17 is probably the cheapest at $2000, but also the smallest. The Rebel 23 (which is what I happen to have) is about $2500 +shipping. The small Assassin is about $2500 +shipping, the Assassin 28 is $3000 +shipping. The Humphrey's is well over $3,000 and the Stumps are the most expensive. I see Myron Mixon makes a gravity fed now as well but you are really just paying for a name. His smoker looks cheap to me but I have not seen it in person.

Really, everyone has pretty much just copied Stumps design so I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Just my opinion so hopefully others will chime in.

 

[bonzbbq]

Stabone is right, it is not designed to burn just wood, you do put wood chunks in the bottom pan, and you can load a few chunks as you put the unlit charcoal over the lit, I own a superior and do it all the time, I really like mine, I have a rather large one so don't use it all the time, if it is a small cook I have other smokers for those, but for a large cook I go to my gravity regularly, they are pricey but great cookers and will last a long time, good luck with your decision and keep us posted, with pics

Bonz

 

[cman55]

I recently did a 14lb pork shoulder on my Stumps GF and it really did the job over the entire 12hr cook time. I used Lump for fuel and chunks in the pan. I also used Hickory Pellets in the chute and they worked great! The gravity almost made the smoker act as if it was a pellet fed smoker. 

I won't hesitate to use pellets in the smoker in the future. Like Bonz said, the GF is a big 'un so when it gets warm, I'll go back to the Oklahoma Joe for smaller smokes.

If you have the cash on hand, investing in any GF smoker will produce dividends for years to come. You'll love smoking food in the winter as they're all very well insulated.