# Cabelas/Masterbuilt 7 in 1 smoker/Tips



## mr porky (May 3, 2008)

I recently bought one of these as my first smoker, and was wondering if anyone else has one and what tips they have.

The main concern I have is that, when assembled per the instructions, the charcoal pan has like no clearance betweeen it and the water pan.  You can see that can be irritating for having to remove all the sections to add wood or coals, and not to mention smothering the coals.  

So far, my work around involves settng the water pan on the lower grate thus providing a more reasonable amount of access for recharging the coals.

The unit itself, seems to otherwise get up to temp ok and seems to be constructed well.  The only quality issue I have with it, is that I happened to buy one that the burner mount did not get 2 holes tapped on one side of the bracket.  Fortunately this is a non issue since I'm just smoking with charcoal for now.


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## abelman (May 3, 2008)

I've had one for about two years now and haven't had any problems using the water pan as designed. 

I know what you're talking about but I use a chimmney to get the charcoal going and then just level it out in the pan. 

I live in Colorado and haven't ahd any problems with temps. In the cold stuff, I use sand in place of water and it works great.


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## mr porky (May 3, 2008)

For the most part I agree that it works as is, albeit time consuming for gaining access to the coal pan. The big issue it seems is the access door itself is rather small, and there isn't much room to fit coals or wood with the water pan in place thus the need to tear it all apart.

At what ambient Temp do you change to sand in lieu of water in the pan? I'm planning on smoking tomorow with temps in the mid 60's


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