Just further proof that KCBS is a broken model. There's no defending that.
Look, I mean no disrespect to you or any competition cook here. Hell, I'd LOVE to be a good competition cook. Yall are good at competition, and I'm not. Enough said. Yall are better than me. I can admit that and be OK with it. Satisfied?
I've wanted to get into competition BBQ for a long time. I became a KCBS Certified BBQ Judge, excited to learn the ropes in anticipation of becoming a competition cook. Just for fun, with winning as an "icing on the cake" proposition.
Then I learned that the objective of the majority of KCBS cooks was to create a "one bite" explosion of flavor that overwhelmed the judges' taste buds to the point of making a big impression, yet unwelcome by most "dinner eaters" standards for a full meal. And I experienced it myself, as a KCBS BBQ judge.
I got so sick of over-salted, over-spiced, MSG-filled meat that I quit judging altogether. I much preferred my backyard BBQ to the "professional quality" meat I had been eating at KCBS competitions.
I'm sorry if I'm offending any of the "professionals" here. The term "professional" tends to be as over-used as the term "engineer" these days. And everyone wants to be called an "engineer".