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concordeer

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Mar 28, 2013
88
15
Mullens, WV
 Well I joined SMF about 2 years ago. I smoked my first slab of ribs using indirect heat and smoke on a standard gas grill. After a few months I broke down and bought me a Brinkman 2 Door cabinet style charcoal smoker. I used the darn bottom out of that thing. I learned to smoke ribs, butts, burgers, and chicken on that thing. A neighbor that has a house across the way saw me out one day smoking the pants off of a nice boston butt with the shoulder in. I smoked it to 205 and the thing just fell apart. Made some tangy sauce and homemade cole slaw and fix him and his old lady up a nice platter of barbecue sandwiches. He came over to thank me the next day and told me that he had a Brinkman Smoke n Grill that he bought (He lives in South Carolina but has this second home in WV to visit family) and he only used it a couple of times to smoke a ham but he never uses it. He said he'd much rather give it to me and see me out using it rather than him watching it set at home. He brought it the next time in so I've been smoking on it for the last year and a half. I modified it and learned to smoke my first brisket on that baby. The thing burns okay. I turned the legs inside out and use a grill wok for a charcoal basket and I can make some great barbecue on it but it is hard to control the temp do to having no dampers for intake. 

The wife gave me the green light. When we get our income tax back later this month she gave me a $1,000 spending limit to get me a real good smoker to fix some quality barbecue on that will last us years to come. She has seen how much work these cheap smokers are. You can fix good barbecue but it takes constant watch.

I'm eyeballing a Yoder Cheyenne wood smoker. I can have one delivered from allthingsbbq.com for right around $1,025. Any input or recommendations please? Anyone else have this model? Any feedback is muchly and greatly appreciated! 
 
from my understanding a stick burner needs to be babysat a lot and can have large variations in temps across the cooking chamber.
 
Since you're already familiar with vertical smokers, I'd suggest a 22.5" WSM and a BBQ Guru controller. You can get into that for under $700 and you'll have rock solid temps, no babysitting and some seriously good food. With the extra few hundred bucks you can stock up on meat, charcoal and smoking wood. That Cheyenne looks nice, but it is gonna take some babysitting. I'd check craigslist for used stickburners if you're dead set on one. You might get into one for $500-600. If you blow your whole budget on just a smoker, you're gonna be scraping for wood and food to cook in it.  
 
i agree. i have that exact setup only i spent a little more to get the Guru Wifi. i like that i don't have to use it all the time. for short smokes i usually don't use it unless i know i am not going to be able to attend to it very much. but for overnights or those long 10-18 hour smokes it is well worth every penny. i can set up my rig and put meat on at midnight, go to sleep with no worries whatsoever get up about 7:30 shake some ash and reload some coal and go back to bed! it really is a set and forget setup. the only thing is that i HATE using the lower rack. i only ever use the upper rack and do my food in batches usually. i now smoke things a day or two ahead of time anyway. i'm over the stress of cooking for people coming same day. 
 
Yoder makes quality smokers.
the Cheyenne is a 16" diameter, so if my calculations are correct it will have a little less area than a WSM 22.5".
If you can swing the extra $95 for the heat management plate it would be well worth it, makes a huge difference in temp control.
I have all 4 sizes of the WSM (includes my mini) and they are very hard to beat.
 
 
 What is a guru wifi? 
i would post a link but i think off site links are a no no. just google it.  but in a nutshell it is a very capable temp controller that gives you many options beyond just temperature control. 
 
I have a WSM and weber kettle, an offset and Bradley four rack.... About 6 months ago, had the benjys saved up and got a pellet grill... Landed a GMG Daniel Boone and I'll tell ya what, ya talk about good, moist and flavorful bbq.... Damn... Still hold on to all the previous smokers and probably always will. However, IMHO ya can't get much more of set it and forget it than a pellet grill. Grit the GMG DB and ya would still have some $ to play with... Just my 2 cents. WHB
 
I have the Masterbuilt XL propane smoker and it's ok. I got a Vision Grill Kamado for Christmas and I love it. I've never used a stick or pellet smoker so I can't say much about them. All I can say is, get what you want and have fun with it. Let us know what you get and how it works.
 
I agree with Shinny, we can all give ya our opinions but comes down to what YOU want and will enjoy... Research a little on the ones your interested in and get what YOU like..., We're all here to help if ya have a question on any type of smoker... Between all the members here I don't think there is a smoker out there that someone either does not own or has not at least seen first hand. We are all here to help each other out. Last thing IMHO, enjoy the experience. Don't get to buy yourself a new smoker everyday, enjoy it.... Then when ya get it ya will really enjoy it... WHB
 
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