What type of smoker is the best?

This is actually pretty easy to answer… None of them are the best.
Well, maybe all of them are the best.  It all depends on what you’re needs are.  Some people like to set up their smoking session and leave it until it’s done; some like to play with fire and tinker with the fire now and then.

The choices for smokers are pretty varied, from large to small, from electric heat, gas, charcoal or wood, from bullet style, kamado style, horizontal, vertical, reverse flow, etc., etc., etc.

Here is an excerpt from a post I made on the Barbecue Bible Forum:

How much do you want to be involved in your bbq?

Is it a first date, where you may not want to commit?    —  electric and cheap work well here.

Is it a good friend that you want to spend some time with, have great
memories, but not get too close? — propane fits the bill.

Are you going steady, but not yet ready to talk commitment?  WSM seems to fill in here well.

Is it time for the ring? This is a smoker you’re going to be
committed to, spending your time, money and energy on it, wooing it,
learning what it is that keeps making you dream of bbq? — Sounds like
a Chargriller to me!

Or is it time to walk down the aisle,
make a lifelong commitment to smoke on this smoker and no other till
death, rust or your psychiatrist do you part? — Time to choose a big
boy!

Horizontal Smokers

I haven’t upgraded yet, and I use a couple of Chargrillers and a Brinkmann grill.  The CG is a great little grill, and you can get it from Lowe’s for about $150 if you get them to price match.  The CG is a good starter offset, and it has a pretty good capacity.  I’ve done 2 briskets, 3 butts, a slab of ribs, and a mess of chipotles on it at one time.  It’s not at all perfect, but hard to beat for the money.  It is leaky, but it does great with a few easy modifications, like a heat baffle.

Upright Smokers

The Weber Smokey Mountain is pretty much considered the Cadillac of bullet style smokers (pictured at top).  This is more of a set it and forget it model, where you can smoke all night without missing a wink of sleep and not worry about your temps.  A lot of competition teams use these, actually.

Another vertical style smoker is the Big Drum Smoker. 
These look like simple metal barrels, but the maker has engineered them to work very efficiently.  They also hold a tone of meat, I hear.  Naysayers are generally people that have never tried them.  The idea is a bit different from a WSM in that the fire is more of a direct heat, but a good distance from the meat being smoked, which can give a different flavor.  There are accessories to increase what the smoker holds, and a larger version than the original, too.  For $250, it may be worth a try!

Another type of upright smoker is the cabinet style smoker.  These come in all forms of fuel, whether
electric, gas or live fire.  The Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain is a good example of this type.  In gas and electric, all that needs to be added is wood for smoke.  You can cook for hours and hours without any real interaction, and they hold a bunch of meat.

Ceramic smokers are unique in that they are very well insulated upright smokers.  The original is the Kamado, but the Big Green Egg is

also very popular.  They tend to be more expensive, but sometimes you get what you pay for.  These can be used to smoke all night on a handful of charcoal or to cook steaks over a 750 degree fire.  They are versatile and true set it and forget it units.  The Kamado is unique in that the ceramic smoker can be dressed up with tile.  For the truly over-rich, Viking makes a stainless stell version of this type of smoker (they clad a Primo ceramic in stainless steel and charge $2500 for it!).

The Real Deal!

For those that want to be able to cook a herd of cows, or just like the thought of it, there are the big rigs.  Klose, Bates, Lang, Gator and many others make some great towable units that you see on those shows on TV.  Mark, my teammate, and I are considering building our own, but we can drool over the big rigs we see at the competitions.


There’s a smoker for just about any budget and need.  Start off with something small.  If you like playing with fire like I do, get something like a Chargriller; you’ll learn a lot about how to control your fire.  If you’re more interested in just the food and not the process, the Weber bullet is great, or try the Big Drum. Any of these are $250 or less.  If you have a bigger budget, then your options really open up.

Just remember, if you are going to get into it and start spending money, get just a bit more than you think you’ll need.  You’ll need it before you know it!