Hey all. I'm looking into getting a smoker, and was curious to know what everyone thought were the pros/cons of Electric/Propane/Charcoal/Wood smokers. What do you like or dislike about them? I want a smoker really bad, but with all the options out there, I want to know more about them from people who know, rather than just reading some manufacturers spiel about their product. Thanks!

I prefer wood and fire nothing in my opinion beats the taste, but with that comes nursing a fire, some people prefer the "set it and forget it" method,in my opinion all gas has a taste if you close a cut of meat in a box with gas for ten hours you can taste that, even if that gas is burning wood chips or pellets, as does wood/coal and fire have a taste, if i didn't have a wood/coal smoker id use my electric, if i had to pick between NG gas and propane id pick NG, if i was you id start with wood/coal because you can do that in a 15 dollar BBQ as long as the heat is indirect, you can smoke some tasty stuff by just putting coals with wood chips on them on one side of most any BBQ and the meat on the other side, then you can master smoking and will know just what you want, myself what i want in the end is a tasty smoked cut of meat for me and my guest's..... i've seen guys with ten thousand dollar smokers turn out crap and guys with 150 dollar smokers take ribbons, in my opinion most of it is your skills as a pit master............jim

I have a home made stick smoker and I like it. However, you are likely to loose some sleep smoking a 12# brisket or butt, for instance. When you have to smoke for 18 hrs to reach donness you are not likely to eat the same day that you started the cook. With a set it and forget it, you can put the meat in the night before and tent it the next day after reaching optimum meat temp. and eat at a decent time in the evening. Also, keeping the temp. constant requires constant attention wint the stick smoker. The other thing to consider for stick smokers is how easily do you have acess to wood. I've laid in a good supply of oak now so I'm good for the next several months but it took some doing.
I decided that on long cooks I will smoke the night before the meal until the meat reaches 140-150* then wrapp in foil and finish the cook in my grill, hood down, indirect heat, at 220* until the morning and more if necessary. This way I'll get my sleep and the wood barby flavor as well. Of course for baby backs, spares and pultry (4-5 hr cooks) I'll go for the stick smoker every time.

Well, I have plenty of access to wood, I live in MA out in the middle of nowhere. The problem I face is an unpredictable work schedule, so maybe an electric smoker might be best.

I think your right cowboy even if you did like i suggested and used a BBQ you could go a couple hours over wood/coals to get a good flavor, then toss it in the electric and come back in ten hours, the electric is fantastic for jerky also...... good luck with it..................jim

Choosing a smoker type, gas/wood/electric/charcoal is almost a life style choice.

Do you have the time, the area, the wood to do wood fire smoking, or charcoal?

Do you want some convenience, no hassle with gas, or charcoal?
Are you interested in set it and forget or do you want to tend the fire?

While some will say you can't beat wood fire, or charcoal with wood, others will tell you that either gas or electric is capable cooking Q as good as either wood or charcoal. The truth is its not the cooker, its the cook that will make great Q. In the last 2 months I have had ribs, pulled pork, tri-tip, chicken and sausage at 4 different local BBQ joints. My backyard Q using an electric MES, my weber gas grill plus Weber Kettle, turns out better Q than any of the BBQ restaurants I ate at.

Choose your style and what heat source you want, then ask again, you will get a lot of specific suggestions

I've pretty much decided on an electric smoker, since that is something I don't have to tend to all the time. It becomes difficult trying to plan around when I'll have enough time to cook and balancing work and sleep, so I feel like that would be the best choice for me.

Thats a good choice Cowboy I use mine alot although it doesn't influence the flavor of the meat one way or the other, you know you have to use wood pellets they are great though they produce very little ash and burn a long time. this is the one I have it was around 1600 bucks http://store.cookshack.com/c-66-amerique-sm066.aspx but they have lots of models to choose from and the wood you choose will really dictate the flavor you get and in my opinion if you like beef jerky you cant beat an electric unit it dehydrates with smoke but keep in mind alot of them will only reach a max temp of around 300 degrees a wood coal smoker you could of course get to 500-1000 degrees if you wanted, ive done butts that way smokem on 225 for 7 hours then bring my wood/coal smoker up to 450 after a thick mop of bbq sauce just to put a smokey glaze on the butt, like we have all said it's the cook not the box/grill your cooking in/on

[quote name='Cowboy88' date='Jul 31 2009, 04:36 PM' post='45568']
I've pretty much decided on an electric smoker, since that is something I don't have to tend to all the time./quote]

When I was trying to choose a smoker I thought I'm hard core I like paying the price wood/charcoal, but my life style prevented me from going in that direction, I just didn't have the time, and my neighborhood association may not like a lot of smoke coming from my backyard each weekend. So electric was the choice.


Trying to decide what to get was the next problem, and what would my budget be. To be honest I love grillin and if I was going to spend anything over $500 I would rather upgrade my lowly weber genesis silver B now 10 years old. So I decided to pay less for a smoker and upgrade my grill next time. $300 was my budget, after search and reading a lot I decided on the Masterbuild Electric Smokehouse, or MES. As you most likely know there is a 30" and 40" model. The one thing I wanted to do was lay racks or baby backs or st louis trimmed out flat, not cut em or roll like I had to do in my weber kettle. So the 30" model was too narrow for that, plus I wanted a bit of capacity since we do 3 or 4 BBQs each year for up 20+ people. The 40" from Sam's Club comes all Stainless Steel, insulated, double wall construction, includes a digital temp control and timer, allows you to add wood without opening the hatch, and on one smoking forum had a lot of great reviews. I managed to get the 40" from Sam's with 1 year ext. warranty, and shipped to house (local Sams didn't have them) for just under $300.

I bought the MES 40" a little over 1 year ago. 2 weeks after purchase I did 10 racks of ribs for a 4th of July BBQ, got rave reviews. We did our daughter's college grad party for 30+ people, the menu would have cost us around $1000 from a caterer, we did the whole thing ourselves at a hotel for under $600 with several smoked meats. My Sis just had me do her daughter's Master degree grad party for 30+. So the MES can turn out enough smoked Q to feed just your family or a crowd of Q lovers. The cost per hour is only 10 to 12 cents per hour on your electric bill (expect that to double if the fools in washington pass the Cap and Trade bill), depending on where you live.

If you want true set it and forget it convenience you will need to also purchase a Smoke Daddy, this will get you 3 to 6 hours of continuous smoke. Or you can build your own smoke daddy type external smoke generator. Without such a generator you will have to hand load chips every hour.

Newer models include a glass window in the door, and a build-in meat temp probe. I'm not sure if the glass door is a plus or not? It would be nice to see your Q without having to open the hatch, but I have had a oven glass window fall out. Time will tell. The probe is great idea, I don't know if when the probe set temp is reached if the MES will turn off or go to a preselected warming temp?

This forum and SMF has many MES owners. You will learn the MES isn't perfect, but you can find fixes and mods. I used to be in the HVAC business and called on sheetmetal shops. To have a SS double wall insulated cabinet and separate door made would easily cost you over $400. Thus even if the MES fails after one year, the cost of new element and a new digital controller with even more features than the OEM controller is under $100, so the MES is a good investment that you can mod and keep alive for years if you care for the cabinet.

Have fun with the decision and buying process.
Good Q is just a purchase away.

I have both a great, large charcoal/wood smoker and a 40" MES. The MES is very easy to use compared to my "The Good One, Rodeo" but they make a different end product. The MES produces some pretty good Q with not a lot of work. Not as intense a smoke flavor but very easy to do an overnight plus next day smoke with a smoke pistol or smoke daddy like suggested by deltadude. The charcaol/wood smoker gives a much more intense Q flavor. Way more than any smoke pistol type unit can give in the MES. I see a use for each smoker. I use my MES when I dont have time to mess with the charcoal and wood. I can start the MES and go to bed, go to work the next day and come home to pulled pork done low and slow. The smoke pistol makes this possible since it keeps the smoke going. Otherwise, you can just stay up and add wood every hour or so for the first 6 hours or so. The Rodeo needs attention every 2 hours... all night... all day.... all the time. I don't care what they say, you still have to tend to the fire. I have a ceramic cooker that can pretty much go on it's own for many hours, especially with the addition of a guru or stoker. It is small. I can't put too much in it. I can do 8 butts in the MES and at least 18 butts in the Rodeo. Depends on how many you need to cook for. The rodeo is hard to start for just us 4.... It takes a lot of fuel. There are many smaller smokers that will use less fuel. I needed the rodeo for catering. There is a definate difference in flavor between the 2 smokers. Kinda depends on what you are after. Probably not that much help but may give you some input into your decision. The MES is a good way to go. Less work versus better flavor. Charcoal does make a difference.

Sink