I just read this entire (currently) 8 page thread and this is the most inspired and intuitive comment thus far and I appreciate your insight about the products.
This ProQ v AMNS battle is interesting. I currently live in the UK and can honestly say that before I purchased the ProQ cold smoke generator and discovered this forum I had no idea that the AMNS even existed. My suggestion to Todd would be that he needs to expand his brand abroad and at least associate similar search terms with his product as it did not appear on any of my searches when I was researching which product to purchase. As a consumer having choice is what, in my opinion, keeps industries accountable and encourages improvements and ensures that we as consumers have access to the best possible product available. If I don’t know you exist, I loose my ability to decide and instead have to settle for what I can find.
After receiving the ProQ CSG and using it for the first time I can say that it worked well however the durability of the wire meshing used in its construction is of slight concern. Like others who flagged up some of the disadvantages of the candle light method, I use a small cook’s torch to get the smoulder started and wondered if I was possibly damaging the meshing while doing so. Aside from that I would say it does what it says on the tin however I plan to pay much closer attention to some of the details that other posters brought up such as the capacity, burn times and temperatures and ease of use.
Seriously, all of this posturing is pretty silly. With that said I happen to also agree with Scarbelly about handling yourself in a professional manner regardless of the situation especially if you are representing a company which you are promoting. I’m afraid that Ian, in this situation, you have let yourself down. Also I feel like members of this board have got carried away with patriotic behavior and certainly haven’t put your most objective foot forward.
I am happy that there is a forum for this type of discussion (I know there are many but this is one of the best) and I look forward to learning as much as possible from my fellow posters and mods as well as from the various sales people with the latest and greatest. What I am not interested in is country or culture bashing in the name of patriotism. To me that is a played-out record, not to mention has nothing to do with gloriously smoked meats.
In the immortal words of Rodney King; ‘Can’t we all just get along’ and eat smoked meat?