Seeking Advice on Which Smoker to Get - Newby

[universalfrost]

Awe smoked food, nothing better.

I have 2 smokers; one I built called an ugly drum smoker, it uses hardwood charcoal. Cooks a lot of meat if needed.
The other is Masterbuilt Electric. Never wanted this unit until I started looking at cold smoking. With an A-Maze-N-Smoker http://www.amazenproducts.com/ you can cold smoke because you are using the unit to make heat just to hold smoke and your product. I have smoked cheese and it is great. Have to keep the temperature below 90 degrees F for cheese.

ive got the cheap masterbuilt electric and added the smoke tube (similiar to the amazen on ) and load with pellets and smoke for hours

 

[TimmyWit]

thanks for the heads up on the deck... i was seriously looking at the composite stuff, but now i dont know if its worth it.. my wood deck has held up better than that over the past decade with the only complaint being the need to strip and restain and seal every other year. (hence the reason i wanted to replace it...)

We ended up getting 4 estimates on the deck and here is what we learned

- The deck we have is a mix of wood & plastic. It seems contractors around here are not installing that anymore because of all the problems it causes. Ours was also installed by the builder which probably indicates it was the cheapest choice at the time.

- When you get an estimate, head over to contractortalk.com to see what the pros are saying about the product your company wants to install

- pvc and vinyl seem like they might be solid choices and some companies are offering 25 year warranties that even include fading which is important especially if you have a SW exposure like I do

- If you can find a contractor willing to install Ipe, that stuff looks awesome. It's a Brazilian hardwood that you don't have to stain if you're ok with the weathered look. You can find stories online about this stuff standing up for 75+ years. The problem is since it's so hard it's also hard to work with so if you find a contractor who will do it, be prepared to pay extra for labor

- We are leaning toward a product by a company called Deckorators. It includes the 25 year warranty and even waterproofing for the area below. We're waiting on the final numbers but his rough estimate looks like it's actually going to be the lowest cost for the best deck and it includes the best warranty. Getting multiple quotes is a must!

 

[ssears]

I'm a little late to the party here, but I made my "Little Brown Egg" for $35 15 years ago out of Flower Pots. Today it would probably cost $50 or $60. I have owned 4 commercial smokers and it is by far the best one of the batch. Someone offered to give me a Pellet Smoker and I turned it down. My Flower Pots have about an 3/16" crust inside and it is almost as set it and forget it as it gets.

In fact I converted the Cabella's 7 in 1 smoker to a Pizza Oven after using it for ribs. Way to much attendance needed and the Ribs didn't turn out as good. The Flower Pot Pizza Oven Works GREAT though.

 

[cwise]

Another vote for the pitbarrel. Not too much of a learning curve, and does not need too much baby sitting. The only downside that I can see with it, is that it is hard to get it to cook lower than 250°.

 

[Jiffster]

I'm a little late to the party here, but I made my "Little Brown Egg" for $35 15 years ago out of Flower Pots. Today it would probably cost $50 or $60. I have owned 4 commercial smokers and it is by far the best one of the batch. Someone offered to give me a Pellet Smoker and I turned it down. My Flower Pots have about an 3/16" crust inside and it is almost as set it and forget it as it gets.

In fact I converted the Cabella's 7 in 1 smoker to a Pizza Oven after using it for ribs. Way to much attendance needed and the Ribs didn't turn out as good. The Flower Pot Pizza Oven Works GREAT though.

Now you can't make a post like this without showing some pictures of this creation!