oklahoma joe longhorn at home depot
 

I went to the local home depot and they have an oklahoma joe longhorn offset smoker. Now I have seen pictures of the New Braunfels Oklahoma Joe and they look different. I don't know if they are made by a different company. If they are are they just as good. Thanks in advance for anybody that can help. they are usually $479 but they are on sale for $379

I'm pretty sure I've lifted the lid on that model before and it seemed like it was made from decent steel. The price was a little high when you can still find good, thick, used ones for sale on CL. YMMV

im not sure, but someone on here will know better. from my understanding the OLD Ok joes were made much better. 1/4" steel ect. the new ones arent as good.

Yep, there was an original for sale here in the Memphis area for 400 that I would have snapped up if I'd had the fundage.

X2

also the story of MY life :mad2: :doh: :tsk: :drama:

Look at the label closely. The ones had HD around here are made by Charbroil (or somebody) and manufactured in China. Usually the alignment is off on the doors and there are other minor issues. The are huge though and I am sure they are better than other COS's but for the money scour craigslist for a legit thick gauge metal offset.

grilling with offset
 

I have another question on a unit like this. It might be answered on another thread somewhere but I could not find it. Are you able to get a good enough of a fire in the firebox to get the main chamber hot enough to grill hot dogs and hamburgers. I like to do corn on the cob and other vegetables as well on the grill. I realize by doing this it will not be a direct grill but I also don't want to them low and slow either. I don't want to take 30-40 minutes to do a dog or burger. I would probably like to do a steak or maybe even some brats as well like this also. I was just wondering if this can be done.

Some offsets have a grate in the firebox and you grill directly on that. Seem to me like those that don't have that could be modded pretty easily.

That's the way I've done it on my offset, but I know other folks have actually built a fire in the smoke chamber and done it there. Grilling in the smoke chamber from coals in the firebox? I kinda doubt it.

I agree, Arlin. Even if you could get the main chamber that hot with coals in the firebox, you'd need to repaint the firebox for sure.

$379 seems like a killer deal

I too am planning on getting a semi-cheap 20" diam. offset, but will wait til next year since my daughter's wedding is in December. I've done some looking though, and you might want to compare this Char-broil version of the Longhorn with the Old Country cookers at Academy Sports. No promises that your store will have all models in stock, though. The last one that I went to in MS had models I didn't even know existed going by what our local store has carried and what's been on the Academy website. Good luck with your purchase, though! I can't wait to get another offset. I just can't quite duplicate the wood fire flavor on my wsm, but it'll be nice for cooking butts or briskets on after I get the "real smoke" on with the stickburner.

id never put coals in my cook chamber. i thought of doing this BEFORE i purchased my smoker. now that i have it... no way. its my baby. fire in the firebox only for me. mine has a grill area above the firebox, but ill prolly never use it.

id say get a nice smoker to smoke things. buy a cheap charcoal grill to grill on. i have a gasser so i just use that to grill.


when i was down in florida i stopped at academy and looked at the old countrys. they arent half bad. pretty nice for a store bought offset. give em a try.

i did a TON of research for my offset. if u want to step it up a bit from the store bought old countrys, then call old country themselves. the ones they make for customers are a higher quality than the ones at academy. thicker steel and such. but they jump in price up to about the 900-1100 mark. but thats the cheapest ones i found using 3/16th steel that are still high quality. after that you jump up to the 1500 big boys. the gators and jj pits of the pit world.

re: my Hondo offset...
Never had a fire in the cook chamber, or cooked in the firebox.
Another reason why we need more than one cooker.

the metal is thinnish. they did add extra to the lid so it seems heavy when lifting the lid. i was kinda bummed.