Char-Broil Offset Smoker, Black - 12201570-A1

I read a lot of reviews before buying this smoker. Never smoked any foods in my life so I was a bit concerned about my ability etc. I watched a number of Youtube videos and digested a lot of useful information. I seasoned the inside with cooking oil and did a trial run. Biggest problem is keeping the fire box hot and regulating temperature based on such a small firebox. I also realized that you can't expect this thing to hold up under really high temperatures. I did not let it get above 300 degrees. Also added the temperature gage at the cooking surface. Big difference in temperature at the cooking serface, typically 50 degrees or more lower than at the top where the Char-Broil gage is located. I made my one rub and cooked a 6 lb pork shoulder (cut in half). I again had issues keeping the fire box going. Used charcole and smaller cut wood from my wood pile. After four hours, I started having more issues keeping the fire box warm enough to maintain 220 degrees in the cooker. So, I ended up finishing the Butt on my gas grill bringing the meat to 180 degrees F. I combined local honey, garlic, teriyaki and white wine into a spray bottle spraying the Butt every half hour or so. I have to say that I surprised myself. It was the best I have ever eaten. My family flipped out about it. The outer area had created a delicious crust with intense flavor and a jerky like consistency while the meat just under the outer crust was moist and delicious. We all ate too much and nearly got sick. I can't wait to cook more and likely I will get a more serious offset cooker. I plan to bring this one to my river house and like the simple fact that this is fairly light and easy to take with you. Just requires a little more attention during the cooking process. I purchased Strike a Fire on Amazon which helps get the chacole going and I'm going to keep a side charcole fire going to add warm Coles into the fire box along with wood chips etc. Looking for to experiementing more with this thing. By the way, the spray that I made was really good. Make sure you add wine as otherwise it is too salty from the teriyaki. I poured the marinade I made into a storage device with the left over meat. Yum!

It took me no time to assemble this smoker. It's small, relatively light, but large enough to handle normal cooking for up to 8 hungry people. There are charcoal grates in both the firebox and under the main grates in the smoker body, so you can use it as a 'normal' grill if you need to. The only drawback I can find is that the firebox's charcoal grate is a bit low for the use of a charcoal chimney, if you start your fires with a chimney that drops the coals out the bottom, rather than the invert-and-dump type. That's a flaw in the design of the chimney, though.I don't know yet how it will stand up to use or abuse. I expect it will perform admirably, given the solidity of its construction. The package was missing ONE flange nut, but I have tons of fasteners and other hardware on hand, so it was no great hardship (I could have assembled it using nothing but my own hardware, if the package had been missing entirely). One missing nut is typical, or even good, for items like this. I recommend the manufacturer start packing one or two extra nuts and bolts with each item they produce, though.I'm not a fan of using soup cans as grease catchers, and hate the hangers. I'm considering making a small shelf to go under the main smoker body, and placing an old bowl filled with sawdust under the grease hole, instead. Something else the manufacturer might consider.But for the price, this is an excellent smoker. You can't normally find an offset smoker in the sub-$100 range that's worth anything. Normally the metal is too thin, or they don't have charcoal grates, or the legs wobble, or the design is garbage entirely. This isn't the case here. It comes with charcoal grates across the entire unit, the cooking grates are cast iron coated in porcelain (fast heating, holds heat well, cleans easily with water and a brass brush), it has a sturdy shelf on the side, good handles, decent wheels, good dampers, solid hinges and a thermometer built into the main lid. Plus, it's large enough to do 8-12 large burgers at once, multiple sausages, several ears of corn or 2-4 brisket (depending on the size of the cut). And if you're thinking 'burgers? it's a smoker!' then you've never had slow-smoked burgers before.