# Cardboard Box Cold Smoker



## tjohnson

This is my *"El Cheapo Cardboard Box Cold Smoker"*

*** Updated 10/9/10* **

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and found over 30 hits Google for "Cardboard Box Smoker", so I decided to make my own.  All of the "Cardboard Box Smokers" I found, used dowels & wire racks, and you had to load/unload the food from the top.  It made more sense to me for the cover to be removable and the racks stay stationary.  Picked up some cheese at SAMS and loaded it up.  It was either smoke the cheese or the kids fruit snacks......

Started one end and smoked for 4 hours with cherry sawdust.  Came out with very nice color and cheese sticks tasted GREAT.   I pulled the Cheese & Kielbasa at 4 hours, but left the Kosher Salt in until the sawdust burned for 8 hours total.   Vac Packed the cheese and "Napping" in the fridge for a week or so.

75* outside and temp in box got to 82*.  Did not add ice.  Cheese did not melt, but just started to sweat.

1st attempt on yesterday, was really a test run, and it went great, so I decided to do a real cheese smoke today.

Here's my 2nd attempt at it.

THANKS for Looking!!!

Sharp Cheddar, Cheddar, White Cheddar, Pepperjack, Cheese Sticks, Kielbasa Sausage & Kosher Salt






$9 Stackable Cooling Racks, Wife's Cookie Sheet, and a 6x6 AMNS With (1) Side Started









El Cheapo Cardboard Box Cold Smoker Loaded and Ready To Go









16"x16"x16" Cardboard Box with Exhaust Vent...Can You See The Cheese?....Nice Cherry Smoke!!









Cheese & Kielbasa Finished after 4 hours on El Cheapo Cardboard Box Cold Smoker






Cheese & Kielbasa Sitting On A Pretty Plate......Vac Sealed and Will Rest for a week or so 









OK, I know it's LAME, But what do you really want from $9 Cookie Racks and a free cardboard box?!?!

Yesterday, I had my first trial run, and it far exceeded my expectations.  Today, I loaded it up for a real smoke.  Very inexpensive and easy to use.  Obviously, I'm going to use my A-MAZE-N-SMOKER, but a can with a soldering iron and chips or pellets would work good.  So, for someone who does not want to invest alot of $$$ to cold smoke food, this is a cool way to do it.

A hotplate would just get too hot and I would be concerned about "Fire"!!!

Tried to find a box that was both fireproof and can survive a flood, they were plum out-of-stock!

THANKS FOR LOOKING!!!!

Todd


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## bluechip

Now that is pretty cool.. The sky is the limit when it comes to smoking.


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## dave54

No go on the fruit snacks then?


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## tjohnson

Damn I miss BuckWheat!

LOL!!!

Todd


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## chefrob

nice to see ya pushing the envelope todd 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





........love to see someone MacGyvin' it up!


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## Dutch

Looks like a great idea-Alton Brown had an episode on Good Eats where he had something similar, but you have him one upped-you have the a-maze-n-smoker.

You might want to push your themo probe THRU the apple, not just stick it into the apple-you'll get a more reliable reading that way.


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## meateater

TJohnson said:


> Damn I miss BuckWheat!
> 
> LOL!!!
> 
> Todd


Remember this?


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## tjohnson

OMG!

Buckwheat Lives on!

TJ


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## nwdave

Shoot, I thought he was smoking the apple.  Boy, talk about thinking outside the box........sorry, couldn't help myself.  I just want to know how we're supposed to be influencing SWMBO that we need to purchase another fancy smantzy "tool" for our smoking habit when you do this?  j/k of course.  Gotta delete this thread before she sees it though.


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## tjohnson

$9 Wally World Racks

$0 Shipping Box

$0 Wife's Old Cookie Pan

$0 Rotten Apple

Todd


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## chefrob

just referred a fellow (cigar) smoker to the AMS...........


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## squirrel

I didn't even see this post until MossyMO mentioned on the thread I started about your cardboard smoker! I'm doing it right now and loving it. I see you didn't put anything under your cheese, I did, but am going to take it off right now. Thanks!!!!


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## scarbelly

When I got your email I just started laughin. Todd has way too much time on his hands but these results look great. And I too love the Buckwheat!


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## Bearcarver

TJohnson said:


> Damn I miss BuckWheat!
> 
> LOL!!!
> 
> Todd


Personally I liked Stymie more, but most of you guys aren't old enough to remember him.

Bear


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## Bearcarver

This is the first I saw this post !!!!

Almost missed another one!!!!

I think you guys are doing this on purpose to keep me from starting trouble!!!!

Well anyway:

Todd, I think you stole this idea from the UK.

I think they had cardboard boxes for a long time!

Maybe even as far back as when Paul Revere was riding around warning everybody.

Just sayin',

Bear


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## tjohnson

They use "Special Cardboard" and I used a "Freebie" box..LOL

Todd


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## tjohnson

Scarbelly said:


> When I got your email I just started laughin. Todd has way too much time on his hands but these results look great. And I too love the Buckwheat!




Trust me, I was laughing just as hard!!

Never would have thought it would work as good as it really did.

TJ


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## Bearcarver

TJohnson said:


> They use "Special Cardboard" and I used a "Freebie" box..LOL
> 
> Todd


I wasn't talking about what "they" used, or what you used.

I'm talking about you stealing the idea of a cardboard box (usually a brown thing made of paper).

Just like if you used a pencil to take notes. They were using pencils in the UK & other places before you were born. You copied using pencils for taking notes!

Bear


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## tjohnson

Bear,







TJ


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## Bearcarver

TJohnson said:


> Bear,
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> TJ


LOL---Don't feel bad. I copied using a pencil to take notes on every smoke I ever did.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I used a cardboard box during my last smoke too, as a wind deflector. I guess I should post it---It worked real good.

Works good for MES owners anyway.

Bear


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## tjohnson

Do you think the "Cardboard Box Police" are watching?

TJ


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## nwdave

Cardboard Police??


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## Bearcarver

TJohnson said:


> Do you think the "Cardboard Box Police" are watching?
> 
> TJ


You better hope not!

They are a dastardly bunch!

They'd tell the Bobbies, and have you dragged off to some cold dark dungeon, never to be seem or heard from again!

Please be careful,

Bear


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## squirrel

Make my day cardboard boy....


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## jojo22

I see a lot of posts on here about temperature, and I have to say that I can see a distinct advantage to this design over some of the fancier ones such as old smokers and fridges. IF the ambient temperature is within acceptable smoking ranges (and I'm a noob just building my first cold smoker) then this design would work best, as cardboard is not a great insulator, which means any small amounts of heat would be easily transfered to the outside of the box and preventing overheating of the cheese/fish/bacon. 

Am I wrong here?? Also does anyone see an issue with running one of these in ones garage or basement?


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## tjohnson

jojo22 said:


> I see a lot of posts on here about temperature, and I have to say that I can see a distinct advantage to this design over some of the fancier ones such as old smokers and fridges. IF the ambient temperature is within acceptable smoking ranges (and I'm a noob just building my first cold smoker) then this design would work best, as cardboard is not a great insulator, which means any small amounts of heat would be easily transfered to the outside of the box and preventing overheating of the cheese/fish/bacon.
> 
> Am I wrong here?? Also does anyone see an issue with running one of these in ones garage or basement?


The cardboard box was kind of a "Tongue In Cheek" post because I have always claimed "You could even smoke in a cardboard box."  I tried it and it worked beyond my expectations. 

Ambient temps greatly effect the process, and an insulated smoker box can be a benefit from extreme cold, but also you can put ice blocks inside an insulated box when the ambient temps are warmer.

I'm not a big fan of smoking in the garage, but I suppose you could.  Smoking in the house just plain old creeps me out!  In the right conditions, with the right ventilation, you could get away with it.

Todd


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## jojo22

Cool, Since I figured this could be done for under $20 (using the can and solder gun method) I would give it a go, got everything but some smokin chips (and I'll get those tomorrow). If things work out I'll be looking into the a-maz-n-smoker or something similar for ease of use, but for some reason I like to start rough (my first smoke was on a small square grill with coals on one side meat on the other). So we'll see how it goes!


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## scarbelly

NWDave said:


> Cardboard Police??




 I hear they have Todd boxed in


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## tjohnson

Duplicate Post

Delete Me Please!


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## tjohnson

jojo22,

Here's a pic of a cardboard box on my grill.  I did this to show customers that they really do not need expensive equipment to get started.  I was really surprised how well it worked.  I used my A-MAZE-N-SMOKER, but a soldering iron in a can with chips or pellets would work too.  You don't need a lot of money to get started cold smoking. 

You need to keep the flap open to let out excess heat and smoke.

Very simple to use, cost effective and good results.

Todd


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## Bearcarver

Hey Todd,

Probably get even more smoke, if you light that gas grill, but it wouldn't last long.

I'd probably move the thermometer first though.

Bear


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## scarbelly

I also notice that you are using free boxes for this gig 
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
  Just sayin LOL


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## dave54

Scarbelly said:


> I also notice that you are using free boxes for this gig
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 That's called being cost effective


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## squirrel

I totally love the cardboard box method. It works great for me as I have it set up on my back porch. I'm thinking about getting a giant cardboard box like say a refrigerator would come in and make a few mods. and get a few more AMS's, some cinder blocks, some shelving. Man please, I could do some cold smokin' then. Especially with the temps around freezing outside. Maybe I can get a BEAR in there.


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## tjohnson

Cold Smoked Bear?

Now that would be interesting!!

TJ


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## Bearcarver

Squirrel said:


> I totally love the cardboard box method. It works great for me as I have it set up on my back porch. I'm thinking about getting a giant cardboard box like say a refrigerator would come in and make a few mods. and get a few more AMS's, some cinder blocks, some shelving. Man please, I could do some cold smokin' then. Especially with the temps around freezing outside. Maybe I can get a BEAR in there.


You can't do that:

Nice Bears are too nice to smoke, and mean Bears aren't nice enough to smoke.


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## monoxide

i hate to bump a old thread but when using a small box like the last pic how did you put the rack and the smoker. also is the vent on the side the only vent you used? i am just getting into smoking and would like to try this.


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## alblancher

Monoxide

You just don't want stale smoke.  As long as it is moving you are fine with the vents.  Also depending on what you are using as your smoke source you may need to let the heat escape


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## monoxide

alblancher said:


> Monoxide
> 
> You just don't want stale smoke.  As long as it is moving you are fine with the vents.  Also depending on what you are using as your smoke source you may need to let the heat escape




i was looking at getting a a-maze-n pellet smoker since i see so many good reviews here and seems very easy to use. but at first i may use a hot plate and try to control the temp.


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