Time to get a smoker...

[BigDee]

So a lot of you really like those pellet smokers, huh? I've often wondered about them and used to lust for one, but never really knew much about them so I moved on to the cheaper options. I'm all about easy, hassle free, and great results though. May have to go have a looky.

Once you become a pellet head there's no turning back. Why go through all the hassle of maintaining an old school wood burning smoker when you do not have to? The Traeger smokes meat just as well if not better than an old school smoker due to the fact that you do not have to constantly monitor the temperature.

[Sparky]

Thought about one of these for my weber performer

http://www.americansundancer.com/index.html

[ANADRILL]

just downed a bunch of home brew, ate some baby backs from the green egg, all is perfect at my place....

[Aloha_Shooter]

How about the Alton Brown terracotta smoker?

+1 for the Alton Brown smoker ... Jump to about the 10 min mark

[jerrymrc]

Growing up, we used an old military field cooker. Pretty much the outer shell of the one below.

Glad you said that because that M2 burner on the bottom was well known for blowing up. We used them for the old field sterilizers.

[Blockhead]

Another vote for Traeger. I've had one for years and love it. Well worth the money

[Ah Pook]

After reading this thread, yesterday, I started googling different smokers.

THANX GREY!!!

I've always wanted to build my own but since I still don't have one, this might be a sign that it's time to look at production smokers. A $1000 plus smoker is not in the near future.

The Char-Griller Smokin' Outlaw Charcoal Grill looks interesting. Comes in at under $300. Ample grill surface and a large fire box. Adding some propane burners to the left side would take care of the everyday grilling.

For those who can't leave well enough alone, here is a 20 page thread of mods to the smoker.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/5...h-firebox-mods

[hobowh]

I had one, they work well if you go through and seal the air leaks, and the heat baffle mod

[Parf]

The first smoker I built was an Alton Brown style terracotta pot smoker. I killed a couple of different electric burners before I found one that would hold up to any significant use. One important tip is to make sure you put a heavy pan directly on the burner, preferably cast iron, so that it doesn't just burn itself out. It was never big enough or reliable enough to justify the cost of building it. It sucked checking it in the morning, and finding out that it had died sometime in the night, and my brisket was now garbage.

[dodgefreak8]

Look Into MAK grills. Traegers are junk made in china. Mak Grills are 100% American made and the features are outstanding. They get hotter than traeger, re-light if they go out, have a cool down period and are extremely programmable. They have thicker metal and a powder coating that withstands hotter temps. They also have a great warranty! Some awesome accessories as well like flame zones etc.