New smoker recommendations

Not knowing your budget..Your Backwoods,Pitmaker, Backyard Bomber or similar pits might be something to look into. If you have a small budget the Eggs or a WSM might be the way to go. More info would help in the decision.

Since you are in KC, check with Bob at KCK.com. He's local to you and carries a pretty wide variety of cookers. I bought my Kingfisher from him and I live in FL. :mrgreen:

If its in the budget i would go with a Backwoods smoker just purchased a Fatboy and it holds temp like a champ.

lots of options.
As an Egg owner, I love mine, but here are pros and cons based on your write up and how you plan on using the egg....

pros:
- can hold the temps like a champ in hot weather, cold weather, etc
- can also use it as a grill, pizza oven, etc

cons:
- transportation to comps is not easy - teams do it, but an Egg is ceramic and you run the risk of cracking it, takes a while to cool down before you can load it to go home, etc
- even with the biggest egg - XL, could not see doing a 4 meat/KCBS style contest on just one Egg, so you'd have to get at least 2. space/weight/capacity is just not super ideal if you ask me if you need 2+ eggs.

If you wanted to do comps, you have to think how are you going to transport your smoker to the event? open or enclosed trailer? back of a pick up truck or SUV, etc?

For just home cooking, my XL is a champ. with some tools from the ceramic grill store I can do 6-9 racks of ribs laying flat, I can do multiple butts and briskets in a breeze. I can make some nice large pizzas, I can do a huge quantity of wings or burgers for parties. It's really fantastic.

Luckily, the person I compete with has a Lang we take to contests, but ironically, he owns multiple Eggs and I own eggs, yet we dont use them at competitions due to transportation issues.

I cooked ribs on Sunday. It was pretty cold and windy.
Fired up an 18.5" WSM and placed one wind screen around it. With one lower vent open 100% it held 275 with out my help, and required no refueling.
The ribs were freaking awesome too!
WSMs are excellent cold weather pits IMO.
Just sayin'.

Never argue with the Harbormaster. WSM.

What Eggzlot said. I'm an Egg owner who lives in KC... Use my Large all year round. Very low charcoal consumption, very easy to maintain, no babysitting it during a cook, is an excellent grill and smoker... makes excellent Q... But it stays on the deck. If you do go with a ceramic cooker, check out the Kamado Joe as well as the Big Green Egg. The quality is equal or better and you'll get the side tables and stand for the same price as a bare Egg.
If you prefer the Egg, check out the Hot Spot in Liberty... Larry is very knowledgeable and is a KCBS member. Also get a Potlifter http://www.potlifter.com/ It makes moving the 130 lb. flower pot easy.

At the Royal, I saw several teams using Eggs... Dizzy Pig uses 3 (or more) but they're sponsored by BGE. A couple of teams used 2 XL Eggs. They're not THAT fragile but you would have to plan how to lift and secure them during transport. They won't give you an excuse to stay up and drink beer all night... one load of lump and they're good for 20 hrs. They hold temperature extremely well but for a competition, I'd invest in a temp controller like a the Guru... then you can sleep like a baby... or drink without worry.

If you can find a well-cared (used) Bubba Keg Grill - same size for a fraction of the cost for a large Big Green Egg.








OTOH - there is nothing wrong with Harbormaster's advice working WSM's thru the Winter.

Get a MJH from Backyard Bomber. A short roadtrip saves on shipping to. 10 - 15 hr burns Insulated all the way around and cooks just like the Backwoods. Verticle Reverse Flow.

I live a in the southeast corner of Kansas and my 22" WSM works like a champ. However, I almost pulled the trigger on a Good One smoker made up there in your neck of the woods.

Ya, 22.5 WSM's are great cookers. But I love the insulated cookers. Also I really like cooking from the top down.

You could build you a UDS till you decide on something else.

Yoder is in your area. Big steel kegs are great, but probably hard to find, so I would recommend an akorn over that (or a couple of akorns- they're not quite as good as bge's, but they're a hell of a lot cheaper, and they're much more mobile and don't break if they break when you move it/wind/kids/dogs/etc).

WineMaster said:

Ya, 22.5 WSM's are great cookers. But I love the insulated cookers. Also I really like cooking from the top down.

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I still cant get over how big of a difference insulated verticals are compared to wsms in chit weather. Love my wsm but its not in the same league

If gravity feed interests you, check out Superior Smokers. Our cookers are fully insulated and you can't beat the efficiency. I don't know what your budget is, but you won't find a more affordable gravity feed unit.

I have definitely been smoked at a contest by a guy with 2 BGEs and a stoker. Plus these guys were playing cornhole and boozing the whole time. Pretty versatile grill/smoker and if you do start competing you can always get a WSM for the shorter cooks in cold weather.

Yeah, if you can spend big bucks, I'd take a look at superior, stumps, pitmaker or assassin. A lotta people on here have been going with backwoods the last few months (I think partially b/c there is a very short wait time).

WineMaster said:

Get a MJH from Backyard Bomber. A short roadtrip saves on shipping to. 10 - 15 hr burns Insulated all the way around and cooks just like the Backwoods. Verticle Reverse Flow.

Click to expand...

Check out there site. I drove up "just to look"......pulled the trigger and waiting for the build.

damn, Im looking hard at an MJH and feel like I need to score before their prices go up.