What was your first grill or smoker?

I learned on a brinkman smoker without the interweb's help. Trial and error taught me how to drive it.

My first was a brinkman smoker I did leg quarters they came out great then I moved to a vertical smoker had it 10 years then the bug hit me and I built my own trailer smoker and used parts from the vertical smoker for a warming oven than the wife told me I could smoke more if I didn't have such a big smoker so I built my USD and I'm always looking at how I can make my next one

My first Grill was a 16" truck split rim with a piece of expanded metal on top,cooked many a steak burger and dogs on it. My first Smoker was a Tx Hibachi and it served as a grill too you name it it probably got cooked on it. The X bought me an Old Smokey like 26 yrs ago so I guess you could say it was my first store bought cooker.

First grill that was my own, Weber Genesis Gold C. First cook, steak. It served me well, but I stopped using it about 4 years ago after I had my OTG for over a year. Sold it last year and it's getting love again from one of my friends. He couldn't be happier with it.

First smoker, ECB. First cook, ribs. I only did about two or three cooks on it over the course of a few years (I hated cooking on it) and then when I got my OKJ, all hell broke loose and I've been addicted ever since.

I've had my Char-Griller Smokin' Pro for 11 years now and have cooked on her exclusively till this past February when I got my WSM. She has taught me the finer points of fire management and I still use her when I have the time to "feed" her.

One of those cheap kinda square kettles I was 12 or so. Cooked a lot of pork chops from the local gas station/market ran into rats far bigger than my pork chops!

First smoker was my Bradley digital. First cook was pork butt. Of Corse it turned out great it was like cooking in an oven. I used it for a few months and decided I needed something more challenging .... Well I got what I asked for, lol first ribs I cooked on it were beautiful but when my daughter was eating them it sounded like she was eating corn on the cob... Lol ...poor thing kept telling me they were great. Same results went on for almost a month at which time I realized the gauges n the smoker were not accurate to grate level... 50 degrees hotter on gauge than cooking area... Been smokin good since I figured out the problem...

First grill was a Weber kettle, about 30 years ago. Cooked a lot of burgers, steaks, chops, brats, and dogs on it. As far as I can remember, they all turned out pretty good.
First smoker is a WSM, bought just last month. My first cook on that was St. Louis spares. I didn't start with enough charcoal, and had to finish them in the oven. They still turned out pretty good though.

ECB as a teenager getting drunk and cranking out smoked salmon from the Lake Michigan spawning run. That fish was so salty and covered in copious amounts of billowy white smoke it would have probably kept on a shelf for months. Instead we ate it all to keep us thirsty for cheap beer.

I killed many a cow and pig and forced my young kids to endure some bad hamburgers and hot dogs. I went through about 13 different gas/coal grills over 20 years.

Then I remembered what my Dad said (God rest his soul). "It's the section between the rod handle and the boat seat that counts boy!" Started to get it together at that point with BBQ and life in general.

My first grill was a cheap gasser. I ruined a lot of meat on it.

My first REAL grill was my 1995 redhead 22.5 Weber kettle. I still have it, and in all that time, I don't recall ruining any meat on it. Some cooks are better than others, but they have all been good enough to eat.

CD

My first grill was a red brick charcoal grill that came with the property purchased in 1968, it was big, and a pain to clean out. Chicken was my first item cooked on it, nothing fancy, just cooked chicken.

My first smoke was a Brinkman Smoke-n-Pit Professional purchased in 1995. I tried ribs in it but was not happy with the results. It didn't get a lot of use after that as I would use a friends Spicewine smoker or his Southern Pride smoker when I wanted to smoke with great results. In 1998 I made some modifications to the Brinkman to extend the burn time and make the cooking chamber temperature more consistent.

First grill was a square charcoal of some brand I can no longer remember. Worked pretty well.

First smoker was a homemade clay pots with a hot plate in side pretty similar to the one Alton Brown made. First thing was a pork butt that came out amazing and got me hooked. Turned out a ton of butts and tri-tips and turkey on that thing. It was really hard to find a hot plate that would get to the temps that I really wanted. 10lb butts taking 17 hours was getting old fast. Kamado Joe saved my life!

My first grill was a cheap square kettle grill. I made lots of awesome steak, burgers, dogs, and chicken on it. Unfortunately, my x-wife ran it over with my truck pulling in the garage one day. My first offset is the Char Broil gourmet I have now. Yeah, it's crap. I've ruined some good pork on it...but I've also made some killer ribs and redeemed myself in the pork butt category. I'm about to build a stick burner to replace this cheap one...so I can't wait.

first Grill: In 2000 my fiancé and now wife and I had just moved into an apartment and needed a little grill so I bought a Weber go-anywhere gasser. Never ruined anything on it but it's not that big so no real epic cooks but it has always been a faithful companion to many a camping and tailgating trips. I even replaced the the flavorizer grate on it and the igniter still even works.

2nd: A POS COS given to me by my Uncle that was moving out of state. He had never really used it much and I hade some great cooks and some epic fails. I did some research and tried a few mods but was never really happy with it. I was able to turn out some good pork buts, chickens, turkeys, and salmon. But every time I tried a brisket it was just an epic fail.

3rd: Weber Q100 wanted something a bit bigger than the go-anywhere for camping. I like it but man it runs HOT!! I have charred some stuff on that baby!!

4th: 2006 The wife and I bought a house and needed a patio grill so we bought a Weber Geneses Silver C. It has turned out many a fine steaks and your typical fare. I ruined a couple of nice porter houses on it due to a grease fire :-(

5th: 2013 found the Brethren and built a UDS and love it!! Everything that comes off there is awesome. I'm not a saucer or a looker so the UDS was a perfect match. And I finally nailed that brisket I was looking for!!

6th: Had to buy a Weber 22.5 OTS for the lid for my UDS, I love it too!!

A little long winded but that's my grill story!!

just some cheap gasser long ago.

Got into grilling 3 years ago and bought a Weber 22.5 OTG. Shortly after caught the smoking bug and my kettle is still my main device. I also use a Mini WSM I put together a few weeks ago.

My first grill was very similar to this one. I liked that you could raise and lower the charcoal grate three diferent levels from the cooking grate.