# wood vs. pellets?



## messyp (Mar 30, 2017)

I have a gas smoker, and want to get a 2nd smoker.  I want to get an electric.  Should I go with a wood smoker or a pellet smoker/grill?  Any thoughts?


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## jake0531 (Mar 30, 2017)

Wood will give you the best smoke flavor. Pellet is easier


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## randyrayd (Mar 30, 2017)

Your question confuses me, but I'm easily confused. You say you want an electric smoker but by "wood smoker" do you mean a grill with an offset firebox or do you mean an electric smoker using wood chips? 

I just bought an 40" Masterbuilt Electric Smoker (MES) that is designed for use with wood chips and I love it. It didn't give me enough smoke for my taste so as suggested here I got an A-MAZE-N pellet smoker /https://www.amazenproducts.com/.  This will work with any type grill or smoker.

Hope this helps.

rd


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## messyp (Mar 30, 2017)

I was looking at the Masterbuilt or something similar or for the pellet something like the Traeger grill.


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## GaryHibbert (Mar 30, 2017)

Afraid I've never used a pellet pooper, but I have a MES 30 Gen 1 (Masterbuilt Elect) and except for the thermometers I can't say enough nice things about it.  Add on a mailbox mod with an AMNPS and a digital twin probe therm and its pretty set and forget.  

The MES puts out some food.  Just isn't great in the bark dept.

Gary


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## tripleq (Mar 30, 2017)

I went with a pellet smoker, I had an old stick burner, it was a cheapie and I wasn't very good with it. I have a pellet grill now and love it. Im sure its has more to do with the advice I've gotten from this site but I've gotten many many more "Those are the best I've ever eaten" with my pellet pooper than I ever gotten from any smoker or grill for that matter, that I've used.


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## daveomak (Mar 30, 2017)

Pellet smoker can be expensive to operate vs. electric heat and an AMNPS for smoke...   

My MES 30....   I use approx. 5 to 10 oz. of pellets per smoke...  3-6 hours...    I buy AMAZING pellets and they run about $2 delivered or something like that...   sooooo...

If I smoke 12#'s of pork butt or a couple racks of ribs,  ~$1 worth of pellets for 12#'s  of meat.....   the cost is about 8-10 cents per pound of meat...  and I can change the smoke flavor as I choose...    Todd, at AMAZN products has some awesome pellets and great service...

I do wait and purchase 30-40#'s at one time...  He has sales about every 2 months...   You will not find a better guy to deal with...    He started his business on this forum... many of us were testers for his products....

https://www.amazenproducts.com/category_s/62.htm

Check pellet consumption on a pellet smoker..  pellets are about 8,000 BTU's per pound....


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## tripleq (Mar 31, 2017)

Dave is correct, I use about one 20 pound bag of pellets per 8-10 hour smoke at $10 a bag. I do get to off set that expense by only using about 500 watts of power for the entire cook as opposed to the 10000 to 15000 watts the electric element uses.


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## randyrayd (Apr 5, 2017)

messyp said:


> I was looking at the Masterbuilt or something similar or for the pellet something like the Traeger grill.


I love a strong smoke flavor and IMHO the Masterbuilt didn't give enough smoke to the meat with chips.  I use the AMNPS now and it gets smoke in the chamber!!

rd


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## amlong88 (Apr 5, 2017)

I have a Masterbuilt as well. I use the amnps in it, and I'm very happy with it. 2 of my uncles have pellet smokers one has a traeger tailgater and the other has a Louisiana. The Louisiana had a fire in the hopper. I guess it's common with that brand.


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