Smoker purchase question?

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zump

Fire Starter
Original poster
Apr 26, 2015
31
10
Hi all, thank u for all the kinds welcome messages! I'm brand new to smoking meat and my wife is buying me one for my birthday (may15th). I love in Southern California so it's relatively summer all the time! I am currently playing around with smoke on my grill! I was wondering which smoker I should get? I'm leaning towards charcoal. Opinions on that? Basically just looking for weekend smoking for small groups(8at most), relatively inexpensive $500 max! I was planning on getting the Weber smokey mountain 18' but after reading around on here I need input! Please help!!
 
You will not be sorry if you purchase the WSM....It's a great design. The 18" should work fine for your stated purpose. Heck for $500 you can get 2 WSM's if you can find a few used ones. 
 
Like I said I'm new to this whole thing. Kettle? Please don't laugh at my ignorance haha
 
Since you are familiar with charcoal, definitely the WSM.  The WSM, especially the 18.5" will give you plenty of capacity for 8 people.  This is the time of year to find them on Craigslist if so inclined.  I've seen a bunch of 18.5"ers up here in Sacramento in the last two weeks.  Even saw a 14.5" mini WSM the other day.  They don't last long, typically only a day or two, if that.  Most were only $50 bucks or so under list but they were all brand new.   

I checked CL for LA, Orange County, and San Diego but only found Kettles for sale, no WSMs.  A bunch of Big Green Eggs, but those will bust your budget big time. 

If you pick up a Kettle, get the 22.5".  You'll be glad you did, but you already have a grill, unless it is gas.  You can smoke on a Kettle, I do it all the time, but it is easier on the WSM especially for long smokes of 6 or more hours. I only do short smokes (1-3 hours) these days on the Kettle.    
 
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