Old Country Brand Smoker - Academy Sports
 

Anyone have one? I fondled a heavy duty horizontal offset this weekend that was pretty nice, but today's Sunday ad shows a Bandera-like vertical pit by the same manufacturer. Wondered if anyone has one.

Arlin

I saw those in the ad today too. I was out at Academy a couple weeks ago and did not see it in stock. Believe me, if they had it, I would have gone over to check it out. Must be a new stock item.
I'm curious about hearing some reviews about it as well.

Bob

It doesn't look bad in the ad, but if it's anything like the Charbroil one, they can keep it!

Looks like a charbroil. How much steel can you get for $299

I look at these every time I go in there. I don't think Char-Broil makes anything as heavy as these. They have more welded seams than any other cooker that I have seen in Academy. Pretty solid actually.

If it is the one I saw in there last week it is pretty solid. Welded expanded metal shelves looked real nice.......

I've had an Old Country 20" BBQ Pit for 3 years and i like it. Made of 3/16" steel and all welded. Not sure about the Bandera clone. Since i built a UDS, the Old Country is mainly used for grilling steaks.

Tanks, guys! Guess I need to go look at one.

I bought the vertical offset last Sunday. I haven't tried smoking anything with it yet, just seasoned it so far and made a charcoal basket for it. I am fairly new to smoking, have a Chargriller offset as well.

Here are some pics of the Old Country. they are a Texas company, but the pits are fabricated in Mexico.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1665.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1666.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1667.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1668.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1673.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1669.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1670.jpg

The charcoal basket.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1677.jpg

Fits nicely in the firebox.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7/DSC_1676.jpg

Not a bad looking smoker.

That does look pretty good. Thanks for the pix!

Thanks for posting those pix - nice work! That cooker looks good esp. for the price - I like that they have sausage rods in there.

I looked at one last nite at Academy and it looks like a nice unit for the price. Just have to convince my wife i need it. :becky:

No problem. This thing seems pretty solid to me, my guess it weighs 250 lbs or so.

I went into Academy today to get some pecan wood chunks and they had another Old Country pit out, for $1499. Horizontal offset with the vertical cooking chamber on the end. They don't list it on the Academy web site, but it probably is on the Old Country web site.

ETA: I found a pic, not sure how it compares to the other Pit brands, seemed nice to me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2..._SMOKER_12.jpg

Strangely enough that $1499 pit is on their Web site but the Bandera clone is not.
http://www.bbquepits.com/backyard_bbq_pits.htm

I'm having a hard time, though, figuring how they came up with $1400+ for what appears to be something less than a $799 (Old Country price) horizontal and a $299 (Academy price) vertical welded together with a single fire box.

Thanks for the update!