# Puff the Magic Dragon



## zardnok (Jan 29, 2007)

Many of you have asked me to post pics of my rig and I finally got my phone and my comptuter talking to each other, SO wish me luck!

For those that do not know the story behind Puff, he was a Smoker built by my Uncle for my Father.  My Uncle has built a number of homemade smokers for family and friends over the years and learned from each of his builds.  Puff is the final iteration in his repertoire.  When my father died, this Smoker was one of the few things I actually "wanted", well this and his Harley, but he made Mom promise not to give me the Harley!  











This is a picture of the "hot-plate" that forces the heat and smoke through the channel over to the Smoke chamber.





And a picture without the Hot-plate installed when Puff is in "Grill mode".  The handles on the sides raise and lower the coal level.





This is a pic of the air intakes on the side and the removable lower ash-tray to make cleaning Puff out relatively simple.





This is the beast with his mouth open wide!  There are 4 racks total, each rack mounted on a swivel that swings out wide.  This pic has two out and two in to show the swing action.





This is a shot of the diffuser plate on the bottom of the smoke chamber.






Rear-view showing the counter-weight system to help lift the firebox/grill lid.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





And a reverse view of the counter-weight with an old smoker in the background that has now been relegated to "wood warmer" for Puff.  You can see the Gold-painted "grease bucket" hanging beneath the smoke chamber as well as the Drainage hole for use when cleaning him out.







After going through these pics, it is obvious I need to sand Puff back down and give him a new coat, or 3,  of paint!  He has developped a lot of rust since my last Smoke.  Hope you enjoyed the pics!


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## dgross (Jan 30, 2007)

Wow Zardnok, that's a nice smoker with some priceless history  :) . Glad to have you here. Your uncle sure knows how to build a smoker! Great plan and thanks for the awesome pics  :D  :D ! Enjoy your smoke, Daun


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## bud's bbq (Jan 30, 2007)

Zardnock, what a rig.  Mighty fine look'n cooker there.

bud


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## up in smoke (Jan 30, 2007)

Thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s wild! That counterweight system looks like the tonearm on my old audiophile Transcriptor Turntable. Heck of a rig! Sure looks like a well planned out effortâ€¦Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m totally impressed! Bet that sucker turns out some sweet Q!


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## vulcan75001 (Jan 30, 2007)

Really nice pics...thanks


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## vulcan75001 (Jan 30, 2007)

Really nice pics...thanks


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## deejaydebi (Jan 30, 2007)

Zardnok -

A true piece of art! Well thought oit design. Bet it works like a dream!

Debi


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## bubbly top bbq (Jan 30, 2007)

That's one fine cooking machine!  The craftsmanship is excellent and there are some real good ideas there.  Thanks for sharing...


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## gunslinger (Jan 30, 2007)

Very nice. The swing out grates are cool, but I really like the way he built those vents. May have to do it like that on my next firebox. If you don't mind, that is.


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## cheech (Jan 30, 2007)

Whew what a nice rig, nice to have such a heirloom


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## mrgrumpy (Feb 10, 2007)

Thanks for sharing.  That is one really sweet well designed looking rig.  I am sure a lot of sweat went into that.  Be sure and load it up and let us see how it really "puffs".

Bill


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## zardnok (Feb 12, 2007)

By all means.  That is the glory of a forum like this, we can take each others ideas and try new things!

My uncle is getting a new welding shop this spring, so he should start building smokers again.  He is constantly refining his designs, so I am sure his next incarnation will take into account some of the things he learned on Puff.  

My only wish is that he had made the intake vents a tad larger and perhaps a tad more space between the fire rack and the removable ash grate at the bottom.  The fire rack does raise and lower, but for smoking, I keep it in the lowest position so I do not block any of the Smoke chamber intake pipe.  After 12ish+ hours smoking, the ash tray does tend to get full and I have to try to move the ashes around a tad to get sufficient airflow underneath.

Perhaps when he gets his new shop I will load it up and see if he can inlarge my firebox intake vents.  The plates that block the intakes are large enough to block an enlarged vent, so hopefully it is just a matter of cutting a bit more out of the top of each hole.


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## salbaje gato (Apr 16, 2007)

now thats a nice rig.  im building a new smoker now and i thought that i came up with a new idea but as it turns out not new at all. thanks for the pics.  wildcat,  or just call me "copycat"


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