# Oklahoma Joe Longhorn Reverse Flow??



## ebman74

Is this brand new? Does anyone have one? I can't find any info at all. Searched the this site and didn't see anything.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Oklahoma-J...1-Sq-in-Charcoal-Horizontal-Smoker/1000172201


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## wimpy69

Interesting. Weird stack placement but it says there's an optional location. Curious to see what gauge steel is for that $600 price. Riding the reverse flow train?


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## SmokinAl

That's pretty interesting.

It must be a brand new model.

I checked & my Lowe's doesn't have them in stock.

I would like to see one in person so I could see how well they are designed.

It almost looks like there are holes in the RF plate, but it's hard to see.

Maybe someone else on here has seen one.

Al


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## ebman74

I have been wanting a reverse flow for a while. Looked at the Lang 36 Patio, just not in my realistic price range. Thought about building one, just not in my realistic capability range! Need to up-grade/replace my modified Brinkman that the fire box is rusting out of. Even this is a little out of my range, but doable. I need to actually see one. Actually seen it on a BestBuy link for $499, but it says it is a special order item and not available yet?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/oklahom...-charcoal-grill-black/5669726.p?skuId=5669726


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## hardcookin

ebman74 said:


> I have been wanting a reverse flow for a while. Looked at the Lang 36 Patio, just not in my realistic price range. Thought about building one, just not in my realistic capability range! Need to up-grade/replace my modified Brinkman that the fire box is rusting out of. Even this is a little out of my range, but doable. I need to actually see one. Actually seen it on a BestBuy link for $499, but it says it is a special order item and not available yet?
> 
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/oklahom...-charcoal-grill-black/5669726.p?skuId=5669726


Keep watching Craigslist maybe something will come up. You will not regret buying a heavier metal smoker.


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## hardcookin

To me that OJ almost sounds like it can be an offset or reverse flow by moving the stack and using tunning plates.


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## ebman74

hardcookin said:


> Keep watching Craigslist maybe something will come up. You will not regret buying a heavier metal smoker.


That is what it looks like. May be cheaper to just modify a regular Longhorn.


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## crippledcracker

Capture.PNG



__ crippledcracker
__ Dec 30, 2016






This model only has 22 reviews on Amazon so I'm assuming it has to be a new model?

Just realized this is the Highland and not the Longhorn. My bad


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## beano

I actually went to fleet farm last night and they had the reverse flow assembled. It seems to be made out of pretty heavy gauge steel and for $399 I don't think its a bad buy.  I plan on picking one up next week for myself. And yes it did have a cap on where the exhaust would be installed in a normal offset setup


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## ebman74

Hopefully I can find one locally for $399! The closest Fleet Farm to me is about 1k miles! Thanks for the response though. Hopefully some people start checking them out. By the looks of it "from photos", it looks like they listened to what modifications people were doing to the Longhorn.


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## ebman74

I can't even find any info on Oklahoma Joe's or Char Broil's websites about the thing!


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## beano

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__ beano
__ Dec 30, 2016


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## wimpy69

ebman74 said:


> Hopefully I can find one locally for $399! The closest Fleet Farm to me is about 1k miles! Thanks for the response though. Hopefully some people start checking them out. By the looks of it "from photos", it looks like they listened to what modifications people were doing to the Longhorn.


This would fit that niche for people that dont have the skills or resources to do the mods. Some self stick nomex seal if needed and some expanded metal for basket is all you might need.Not a bad marketing model for that off the shelf ready to go smoker for $400.


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## ebman74

beano said:


> IMG_2318.JPG
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> __ beano
> __ Dec 30, 2016
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> is a Highland, not a Longhorn, but wow. Now it is confirmed they are out there! Thanks for the photo! BestBuy shows this one for 379, but same message about availability ect.


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## wcmaness

I just bought the Longhorn model - had to order it off the Lowe's website and have it shipped. They aren't stocking them.  Been wanting a reverse flow for a while, so here goes. Burning it in this weekend.


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## lign

So what is it like wcmaness ? I'm so excited I just discovered that Oklahoma Joe now has a factory reverse flow model. Actually they have two now. The Highland and the Longhorn.  I've been looking for a used reverse flow smoker for over a year. (Can't afford new ones that start at $1,000) Extremely interested in your feedback.


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## dond13

I'm really interested in this as well...looking at replacing my char griller outlaw that has finally fallen apart after cooking probably 10 times it's weight in meat.  Been looking at various mre expensive options, but cant justify the expense right now.  If I found one for $399 locally I'd be assembling it now.  Let us know how it works out


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## wcmaness

I'm pretty happy with it. You don't get the massive temperature variation across the smoking grill based on proximity to the firebox. Sure,  it is naturally a little bit hotter closer to the firebox, but the variation from left to right is only about 10°. I can stick the temperature, and keep it there pretty easily. I'm a fan.


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## gr0uch0

I don't understand the need for a reverse flow on such a small rig.  RFs are typically used for large spans (towable rigs) and have a solid plate tacked in below the cooking surface.  At the Highland size, this is largely a marketing ploy:  similar results can be obtained by using tuning plates (4x16x0.25) that float under the grates to even out the heat in such a small space.  Take a look at Horizon's backyard smokers:  Horizon are the Davidsons.  The Davidsons are who started Oklahoma Joe in Perry OK, sold to CharBroil, and OKJ are now being pumped out of China.   None of their smokers have a RF stack on them, unless it is a special order, and there's a reason why you don't see one:  it's really overkill and unnecessary.  Nor did you see them prior to them selling out to CB.

Similarly, if you want to cook something hot and fast, you don't have the flexibility with a RF rig like you have on a conventional by moving the tuning plate(s) out of the way and putting what you want next to the firebox.  Glad it worked out for you, wc, but I don't see the need.  My $0.02.


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## wcmaness

I have the Longhorn model - which is a bit larger than the Highland (but still not towable size).  These DO have easily removable tuning plates, and a re-locatable smoke stack for quick cooking purposes.

In the picture attached - you can see the port on the side on the left (opposite the firebox) to move the smoke stack to when you want to go "traditional".

Overkill or not - I like it for its flexibility as a regular grill, smoker, or RF smoker.  It's obviously not for everyone, but for me, it works great.

  













RFgrill.JPG



__ wcmaness
__ Feb 26, 2017


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## gr0uch0

Thanks for the update, wc.


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## hardcookin

wcmaness said:


> I have the Longhorn model - which is a bit larger than the Highland (but still not towable size).  These DO have easily removable tuning plates, and a re-locatable smoke stack for quick cooking purposes.
> 
> In the picture attached - you can see the port on the side on the left (opposite the firebox) to move the smoke stack to when you want to go "traditional".
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> Overkill or not - I like it for its flexibility as a regular grill, smoker, or RF smoker.  It's obviously not for everyone, but for me, it works great.
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> __ wcmaness
> __ Feb 26, 2017



Thanks for sharing! Looks like it will do a good job for you!


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## fully81

I am interested in buying one of these, but can not decide between the highland or longhorn model. Anyone have suggestions?


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## hardcookin

Fully81 said:


> I am interested in buying one of these, but can not decide between the highland or longhorn model. Anyone have suggestions?


It all depends on how much smoking your going to do. Rather it be smoking for just you, or the whole gang on the weekend. The Longhorn is bigger than the Highland


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## fully81

Most of the time I would be just cooking for me and my wife, but would like the capacity to cook for the whole gang and also I do my own venison snack sticks and summer sausage


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## hardcookin

Fully81 said:


> Most of the time I would be just cooking for me and my wife, but would like the capacity to cook for the whole gang and also I do my own venison snack sticks and summer sausage


Myself I would go with the Longhorn. It will give you a little extra room when you need it.


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## roblamb256

I just purchased the Highland Reverse Flow last night from Amazon. It was $379 with free scheduled shipping through Prime. I also ordered 30ft lavalock gasket to make sure all of the cracks are filled. Cant wait to get it put together and seasoned.


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## comer4tide

gr0uch0 said:


> I don't understand the need for a reverse flow on such a small rig.  RFs are typically used for large spans (towable rigs) and have a solid plate tacked in below the cooking surface.  At the Highland size, this is largely a marketing ploy:  similar results can be obtained by using tuning plates (4x16x0.25) that float under the grates to even out the heat in such a small space.  Take a look at Horizon's backyard smokers:  Horizon are the Davidsons.  The Davidsons are who started Oklahoma Joe in Perry OK, sold to CharBroil, and OKJ are now being pumped out of China.   None of their smokers have a RF stack on them, unless it is a special order, and there's a reason why you don't see one:  it's really overkill and unnecessary.  Nor did you see them prior to them selling out to CB.
> 
> Similarly, if you want to cook something hot and fast, you don't have the flexibility with a RF rig like you have on a conventional by moving the tuning plate(s) out of the way and putting what you want next to the firebox.  Glad it worked out for you, wc, but I don't see the need.  My $0.02.


Im with you, I have an older highland (still a CB made machine tho) and cant see RF being effective on it. I use a cookie sheet over the firebox opening when I dont want the chamber to be hot and it knocks the temp down 40 or so degrees on the FB side of the chamber and has about a 10 difference to exhaust side and overall with the cookie sheet itll run 220ish but without the sheet I can run it up to 300 or more if i choose or if i want to get a big piece done quickly or punch thru a stall on a butt or brisket.


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## comer4tide

but its still a good cooker and the flex options on the RF are nice and I can see the advantages


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## beano

I enjoy reading these comments. I've never had a reverse flow and wanted one. Didn't know it wouldn't do much good on a smaller unit in your opinion. Just thought for the $ how could you go wrong.


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## gr0uch0

beano said:


> I enjoy reading these comments. I've never had a reverse flow and wanted one. Didn't know it wouldn't do much good on a smaller unit in your opinion. Just thought for the $ how could you go wrong.


I'd posted elsewhere that in this category, Old Country (lifetime warranty) and Horizon (Davidsons who were OKJ before selling to CharBroil) are where I'd be kicking tires.  Rather have companies who stand behind their products and use higher quality materials and builds:  there's really not a comparison to be drawn vs. other "price point" manufacturers.


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## roblamb256

I finally got my Highland Reverse Flow on Friday. Put most of it together that night. The rest of my parts came in yesterday. It now has Fireblack gasket on the cook chamber, 1000 degree lavalock gasket between the fire box halves along with on the fire box door. I wrapped some Fireblack gasket around the cap for the hole on the left side of the smoker and on the smoke stack. Locking clamps installed for the door to keep it sealed tight. Rubbed down inside and out with peanut oil. Once I got the dampers position figured out, it held perfect at 225-250. She should be nice and seasoned now.


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## hardcookin

Enjoy your new smoker!


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## ebman74

I am happy this thread has taken off! I should be getting my Highland Reverse flow in May! Have any of you posted mod threads yet? Would love to see. Did it actually come with a charcoal basket like in some of the photos?


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## roblamb256

I will upload some pix from my computer here in a while, for some reason I can't upload them from mobile. And yes, the charcoal basket did come with it.


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## vthokies92

I bought my  Oklahoma Joe  verse flow smoker on Amazon about three weeks ago got it in a couple of days in perfect condition. Assembling it was a breeze.   I received it on time and the box was in perfect condition.   It was heavier than I expected.  The assembly was easy and it looks great. Also, the baffles are thicker than I expected. They are thick coated metal similar to an oven broiler pan.  I've had a char griller grill for years that I love for grilling but it doesn't cut it for really smoking barbecue. This is my first venture into a real smoker and I wasn't ready to spend $1000 for a higher end smoker....yet. I did a lot of research on smokers and expected to do some modifications because it is a lower end smoker.  I finally got a chance to season it and cook on it this past weekend.
I added the gasket around the doors. I sealed the other gaps with the black RTV silicone, (it looks much better than the red). Seasoning the smoker was easy.  I smoked a few racks of ribs and a Boston butt this past weekend. There is plenty of room to do a Boston Butt and 2-3 racks of ribs.  It produced the best barbecue and ribs ever! Weather was great with temps from 65-75. I did not have a problem keeping to keep the temperature where I needed it. I had to put wood and a few pieces of lump charcoal on about every 45 min to an hour. The wood is great for the smoke and lump charcoal helps the most in keeping the temperature where I need it.
The fire box paint is holding up well. There is discoloration on the bottom and in the back that is 













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__ vthokies92
__ Mar 28, 2017





working it's way to the top but that's to be expected. I plan to season the outside of the firebox with vegetable oil next time I cook.
The baffles work excellent! They make for very even heat across the cooking surface. The heat runs along under the baffles and up the left side so I kept food from over the opening on the left and still had plenty of room.
I tried the fire box as a grill last night for some sausages and it worked great also.
I guess I'm just being picky but, I will add a smoker toggle latch to either side of the main door.
I do have a couple of small leaks around the main door but it did not affect my first cook. I am very pleased and cannot wait to cook again.


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## coque

Another way to spruce up an OKJ without breaking the bank is checking out bbqsmokermods.com 

They have a pull down menu in the upper left and you can select up OKJ.  They have tuning plates and special gaskets devoted OKJ.  I've ordered from this company and I was satisfied with their product.  The water pan was helpful to me because it fit just over my tuning plate and holds about 3 liters of water.  I hope this helps!


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## comer4tide

i notice you have a lang 36" patio hybrid. Im actually debating on purchasing that exact smoker or getting a tow behind greasy hill or black warrior (unfortunatly the lang tow behinds are not in my budget right now)


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## coque

I'd say, unless your big on the comp circuit or cooking for the church or little league, getting as much patio as you can is a better bet.  The Lang 36 Hybrid Deluxe Patio was what I could afford and I'm happy with it.  

Even though it's only 4 days in my possession, I'll confess that I'm eyeing other Langs for the future.  For whatever reason, their website doesn't have a picture of the Lang 60 Deluxe Kitchen, even though they make one and even though there's a standard price for it.


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## comer4tide

COQue said:


> I'd say, unless your big on the comp circuit or cooking for the church or little league, getting as much patio as you can is a better bet.  The Lang 36 Hybrid Deluxe Patio was what I could afford and I'm happy with it.
> 
> Even though it's only 4 days in my possession, I'll confess that I'm eyeing other Langs for the future.  For whatever reason, their website doesn't have a picture of the Lang 60 Deluxe Kitchen, even though they make one and even though there's a standard price for it.


how much meat can you get in it? Like racks of ribs and butts? not trying to hijack the thread here just noticed you have the exact smoker im so close to pulling on


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## coque

No worries comer4tide, it's not hijacking the thread if it's all part of the community of smokers.  You always can PM if we become a nuisance, but this'll probably be my last Lang post in the OKJ thread:

I had the extra "true" 2nd rack slide out shelf in rails in place--not that silly 4 legged upper-level table that used to come with them.  The "true" 2nd shelf adds a lot more real estate.  I'm admittedly only one cook in but here's what I'm confident I could get into the smoker side of my Lang 36 Hybrid Deluxe Patio:

1) 8 racks of full St Louis spares (4 upper , 4 lower) laying flat; I'm sure you could double this if you got dedicated rib racks

2) If I packed shoulders so they're grazing each other, I'm sure I could get a dozen in there (6 upper, 6 lower)

3) 6 packer briskets (3 upper, 3 lower)

This is to say nothing of the warmer box, which I'm only just getting ready to tap.  My wife likes seafood and veggies so I'm probably going to dedicate the warmer box to these lighter items.  You mentioned mobility and I'd highly recommend the $300 factory upgrade that includes 4 pneumatic boat trailers tires and a T arm to swivel the front axel.  It made rolling it on and off the flat bed trailer a breeze!!


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## dwilburn

Mines coming in on Friday!  Have you managed to find a decent cover for it yet?


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## boatnick1958

Dwilburn said:


> Mines coming in on Friday!  Have you managed to find a decent cover for it yet?


  They have them here. orcharddepot.com/products/oklahoma-joes-8877263p04-highland-reverse-flow-smoker-cover


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## dwilburn

Boatnick1958 said:


> They have them here. orcharddepot.com/products/oklahoma-joes-8877263p04-highland-reverse-flow-smoker-cover


    Great!  Thank you!


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## ann-marie gortz

Just ordered this for my husband for Fathers day. Anything he might want to know/modify?


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## vthokies92

Ann-marie Gortz said:


> Just ordered this for my husband for Fathers day. Anything he might want to know/modify?


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## vthokies92

See my post on 3/28/2017 for the mods I made. The gasket I bought was LavaLock 12 GREY High Performance BBQ gasket smoker seal SELF STICK.


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## resillience

Question, im fairly new to this but have been doing alot of research my self. I have a question regarding this reverse flow. For those familiar with the OKJ RF and bbqsmokermods.com do you think it would be more advantages to get the tuning plate to fit the grillfrom there being as though it will sit much lower in the main compartment, or do you think that the baffles that come with the grill are just as good


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## jamesdeanreeves

Resillience said:


> Question, im fairly new to this but have been doing alot of research my self. I have a question regarding this reverse flow. For those familiar with the OKJ RF and bbqsmokermods.com do you think it would be more advantages to get the tuning plate to fit the grillfrom there being as though it will sit much lower in the main compartment, or do you think that the baffles that come with the grill are just as good


I've been eyeballing those plates as well, and to be honest, I think we're better off with the stock plates that come with the OKJRF.  I say that for a few reasons:

1) the folks at Island Outdoor said those tuning plates were originally designed for the standard OKJ - the one that only has one stack opposite the firebox and no plates.

2) those tuning plates sit pretty darned low in the smokebox - I have to open the firebox cleanout door all the way to get enough O2 for a clean burn, and since those tuning plates appear to be sitting around the same horizontal level as the upper opening of the firebox cleanout door, that makes me think a lot of smoke is going to be pushed out of the firebox door as well - I can't say for sure 'cause I don't have them (and not about to plop down the cash to find out).

3) those tuning plates should probably be hard mounted per the video demo, otherwise they can move around and won't seal very well - hard mounting them pretty much stops you from using the smokebox as a standard grill - one of the nice features they put into the OKJ Reverse Flow.

4) the stock plates have been working fine for me.

I'll stay with the stock plates until someone does an actual comparison.


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## jwg299

I just ordered 1 of these today. 

I had a Brinkmann Trailmaster Limited Edition and after a few years my firebox has rusted out. I've take the grill to a metal fabricator for them to put me a larger and heavier steal firebox on but in the meantime I ordered the Longhorn RF.

I'm due to get it on the 22nd, ill report back later how things work.


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