How good is the Smoke Hollow 44" smoker ?

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I guess I don't know how good one is, since this is the first smoker I've ever had, but after a little practice, I found that it is really reliable, repeatable, and built well.

I've had the Smoke Hollow 44" from Sam's for about 8 months now.  For my second job, my wife and I run a restaurant.  Mostly we are a steak house, but we have a pretty varied menu.  We were buying a smoked pulled pork from Hormel called Austin Blues.  I decided that we could save some cash if I smoked butts, so I bought the SM44.   I've smoked probably 500 lb of butts, 120 lb of ribs, 80 lb of chickens, and a few other things in the SM44.  I use the AMNTS to provide the smoke and burn traeger pellets.  I have 2 of the AMNTS's, and get about 3 hours out of each one.  I place the AMNTS on the bottom rack, all the way to the right, and light the right burner only set just a little below medium.  The chip trays are out, and the drip pan is lined with foil.  I have to change to the other AMNTS about half way through the 6 hour smoke.

Set up in this fashion, the SM44 will hold 225 - 250 pretty much rock steady.  I normally smoke 8 boneless butts about 8 lb each all at the same time.  I use a modified version of Jeff's rub, mustard to stick it, smoke for 6 hours, then into buffet pans with covers and a cup of Angry Orchard apple ale per butt, into the convection oven until the remote thermometer reads 205.  The quality of the pork is amazing, and beats the hell out of the stuff that we bought.

I can do about 8 or 10 smokes on a barbecue tank of propane, so I'm pretty happy with gas consumption.
 
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I have the 18". I get 5-6 hrs or more out of it. It also fit in my gas grill when I'm doing just a small amount of food. I can also use less pellets if needed. I got into cold smoking my meat for a while then put fire to it and found it takes on the smoke alot better than just smoking while cooking. 
 
Sorry, I forgot the 2nd question. I put my TS opposite of the burner I'm using(burning end and turn it around as it burns down).
 
Hi Folks
I am also thinking of buying a propane smoke hollow 44''.
But I have a couple questions that maybe you guys can help me with? ?
My partner and I are going to the Big Apple in the spring and I am hoping to pick up one of these.
We are from Ireland and I hope to bring one back with us.
I have checked on our airlines website and I have no problems with the weight if the smoker is a flat pack when I buy it???
Also do any of you know and can recommend a good place in manhattan for bbq ( beer and blues)???
Thanks for your help and SLAINTE!!!:41:
 
If you look for wood stove 1/4" seal tape you can get the doors sealed with a little adjustment of the side latches. Loosen them after the seal is installed to prevent crushing seal on the latch side or bending the hinges up.
 
I have had mine for 6 months and absolutely love it. You can use only 1 burner on low and will get down to 225. Love the rib rack, I did 6 racks of baby backs on 1 shelf only with plenty of room to spare. You can run it on 2 burners for about 30 hours before you go through a 20lb tank. Don't hesitate to buy one
 
I'm trying to get the external box measurements for this smoker, I keep finding different information online. Can someone please measure the box for me and provide, the width and depth. 
 
I've used mine--unmodified--for bacon, hams, pork shoulder and whole chickens....my only problem is that the temps are way too high.  I think I'm going to buy a  smaller heating element(LP) and use it on one side.  I had put a gasket to aid in the smoke leaking out around the door, and even opened the door slightly to try and decrease the heat, to no avail.  Sine the smoker has two elements, i will down-size one....OR build an outside smoke generator.  Mike
 
You can light a burner and turn it back past LOW towards OFF to get a flame lower than LOW. That's what I do.
 
I bought this from Sam's Club and assembled it myself with no issues.  So far, I have smoked 3 racks of ribs and 4 pork loins and they all came out great!  This is a large smoker suitable for cooking for a large or small crowd,  I used 1 burner on its lowest setting and the temp hovered around 250, to get a lower temp, I throttled down the supply valve on the bottle.  I am still using the same 20 lb bottle and yes, smoke comes out around the door a little but who cares?  It's a smoker and the meat will have the smoke flavor so I don't really see an issue with where the smoke comes out.  I had a set of hard roller wheels that I bolted to the bottom of the legs, this is a big smoker and carrying it around isn't something that can be easily done by one person, I keep my smoker in the garage and roll it out when I am going to use it.  The other thing I like about this smoker is that it comes with a cover that has a zipper on one corner and that makes it very easy to put on or take off.  I'm planning on using the smoker this week to make some hickory smoked jamaican jerk chicken wings, some fresh homemade bratwurst, and possibly a sausage fatty for the Super Bowl!  So far, I have really no complaints about this smoker as it doesn't have any issues that I can't overcome.  Happy smoking and I hope this review helps you make a decision one way or another!
 
You can light your burner on HI then turn back towards OFF to get a lower flame, even down to a pilot light flame.
 
I bought this from Sam's Club and assembled it myself with no issues.  So far, I have smoked 3 racks of ribs and 4 pork loins and they all came out great!  This is a large smoker suitable for cooking for a large or small crowd,  I used 1 burner on its lowest setting and the temp hovered around 250, to get a lower temp, I throttled down the supply valve on the bottle.  I am still using the same 20 lb bottle and yes, smoke comes out around the door a little but who cares?  It's a smoker and the meat will have the smoke flavor so I don't really see an issue with where the smoke comes out.  I had a set of hard roller wheels that I bolted to the bottom of the legs, this is a big smoker and carrying it around isn't something that can be easily done by one person, I keep my smoker in the garage and roll it out when I am going to use it.  The other thing I like about this smoker is that it comes with a cover that has a zipper on one corner and that makes it very easy to put on or take off.  I'm planning on using the smoker this week to make some hickory smoked jamaican jerk chicken wings, some fresh homemade bratwurst, and possibly a sausage fatty for the Super Bowl!  So far, I have really no complaints about this smoker as it doesn't have any issues that I can't overcome.  Happy smoking and I hope this review helps you make a decision one way or another!
When you get tired as I did of messing around with those chip trays that came with your smoker, here is a link to the mod I did to mine so I could get up to 12 hrs of Thin Blue Smoke http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/155584/getting-rid-of-the-wood-boxes-in-my-smoke-hollow-44-gasser
I no longer have this smoker{gave it to my son} but I will tell you you can do all of the mods in the world to it and you will not be able to get it much below 200 deg. All in all though it is a very nice hot smoker.
Keep Smokin!!!
Wolf
 
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