Hey Everybody great site here. I started smoking Boston Butts when I was 13 and did I start big. Two weekends a month we did fundraisers in several areas of Middle TN cooking at the least 250 and the most 425. We used mostly 8-footer pull behinds at the time. When I was a year and a half into it at the ripe old age of 14 I decided I needed a Smoker. So me and mother ventured to The Jack Daniels Cookoff in Lynchburg.
Well I bought a Smoker alright. The Smoker was an upright homemade job. The entire bottom was a firebox lined with fire brick. Above that was a water pan with the grate above it. Comfortable could hold fifty butts or two small hogs. Had a drop down door for the front and also a lid on top to raise and lower the hogs onto the grate. Had two stacks coming off nearly three and a half feet. She was a monster.
The real kicker was that she was mounted on the rear of a 16' gooseneck trailer with a two-story concession stand and an 8' fold out deck! This started my Cooking career as well as my high school career. By my graduation day I had roughly 60% of all catering business in my area and had events lined up every weekend that summer. I suppose I did to much that fall I was burned out and disgusted with the concession and catering.
I was either going to have to open a restaurant or sell. Sadly I did sell and have regretted it every since. When I did sell out I had graduated from my behemoth smoker to a more economical Southern Pride Smoker.
I cant say enough about how great those smokers are. But to make a long story short I know have a Master Built 40" electric smoker which does well with my apartment and gonna start getting back into the making and selling of my meat. I will get some pictures up as soon as I can get a camera and my old pics scanned in. Any questions yall ask!! Thanks alot.